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Justin Willis should be a Heisman candidate in the next 1-2 years. He already as a freshman has a higher completion rate than Troy Smith (69.7% to 67.8%) the likely winner this year. Let's get this rolling. We have a potential Heisman winner on this team. By the time he is a senior should be a lock. Kolb won't even be the best QB on the field. Kolb you are going to be shown a thing or 2 on Saturday by a real Heisman hopeful.

It comes down to winning and playing at a high profile program. Kolb has just as good if nopt better numbers than Troy Smith does. Colt McCoy has BETTER numbers than Troy Smith does. Willis' numbers aren't very far off Troy Smith. The difference is Smith plays for the #1 team in the country and is leading them to an undefeated season.

Willis certainly should get promotion from SMU (just as UH did for Kolb) in his Jr and Sr seasons if next year he preforms as well as he has thus far this season. They key is getting enough wins for it to matter. If UH had only 1 loss, Kolb would be getting serious consideration for making the final 5, but bc they have 3 losses some fans make fun of his promotion as a Heisman candidate. This is in spite of the fact tht he has absolutely stellar numbers.

....and having a yards per catch greater than 7.

Personally I think the odds of a non BCS player getting the Heisman are about the same as a non BCS team getting a BCS bowl. It is possible but doubtful. You need a lot of exposure to the national media that the mid majors just do not get. And they want that Heisman winner to be playing on or after January 1.

FordtoTolbert wrote:....and having a yards per catch greater than 7.

He is a redshirt Freshman and averages 7.2 yards per pass but remember Troy Smith is not SO much better at 8.5 yards per pass. They key is winning games. SMU will have to be in the midst of a 1 or 2 loss season for one of our players to ever get consideration. Not even just for Willis but for any player we might have at SMU to be considerd. If you are coming from an inferrior program, playing inferior compeition you must be having a really amazing statisctical season along with a very succesfull year from your team. Look at Kolb and how his 3 loss season Heisman campaign has gone for evidence of that in my opinion.

..thanks for my PonyFans.com chuckle of the day....

Not to jinx Willis.. but I worry about his size and durability a little. Especially over the span of 4 years and him scrambling out of the pocket here and there. You know.. Flanigan did the same thing and he got beat up.. and Flanigan had some size on young Mr. Willis.

If we keep running that crappy snap.. OL freeze play.. he's not going to last long fellas.

One thing about Kolb.. he usually gets pretty decent protetion and has an offense that gives him an opportunity to distribute the ball quickly. That and him not being a running QB is a big difference.

Worst Heisman winner ever: Andre Ware who only got it by beating a freshman team. He was simply the product of a system that Ds had not figured out then. Look up his NFL "career" to see that I am right once again.

Kolb is as much a Heisman candidate as I am.

I don't know.. didn't Geno Torreta win it for Miami? That guy was awful..

Best Heisman tropy winner: Doak Walker. 'nuff said.

Freiberger still got ripped off in 1992. He definitely should have at least been a finalist

DanFreibergerForHeisman wrote:Freiberger still got ripped off in 1992. He definitely should have at least been a finalist

Yeah Cheeseburger!

Willis just needs to keep piling up the Ws and TDs and the YPC will not be so important.

Unfortunately stats aren't enough for a player from a non-BCS school. For serious consideration, we would have to at least win CUSA, maybe even make a BCS at large bid.

In 2004, Omar Jacobs from Bowling green put up ridiculous numbers (4000+ yds, 66.9% completed, 41 TD, 4 INT, 167.2 rating) and the team went 9-3. He was not even a finalist in the Heisman voting.

To make things even more difficult, there are a number of strong freshman QBs this year who Willis will always be competing against (Colt McCoy, Colt Brennan, etc.).

Justin is a great player and I'm ecstatic that he's at SMU, but I don't think we should be getting our hopes up for a Heisman.