The Heisman Trophy is considered the most prestigious in college football and this year the award likely will be going to Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston and the schedule for the presentation has it starting up at 8 PM on Saturday and ESPN will cover it on TV from New York City with six finalists coming, including Winston, Johnny Manziel, Jordan Lynch, Andre Williams and Tre Mason.
The ESPN coverage will have the opening of the ceremony and the rundown of the candidates before the actual presentation of the trophy and this marks the first time in over a decade that six players have been invited to the ceremony. Winston looks like the favorite for the award, while Manziel comes in after winning last season. McCarron looked like he would have a chance to win after making a 99-yard pass to Amari Cooper in the Iron Bowl, but Auburn changed all of that and the play of Tre Mason in the SEC championship game with four touchdowns likely got him into the mix as well.
Lynch comes in with some great stats throwing and rushing the ball, but after Northern Illinois lost in the MAC championship game, he likely will not get into the top spot. Winston of course had the possible sexual assault case hanging over things for a while, but now that it's gone, the Heisman voters and the media can start fawning over the bright young man after he passed for 3,820 yards and 38 touchdowns to set some records and with the Seminoles in the national title game against Auburn, there is a good chance he will win it.
Williams comes in as the national leader in rushing from Boston College with over 2,000 yards, while Johnny Manziel comes back after winning the Heisman as a freshman last season and he had 4,418 total yards and 41 total touchdowns, putting up better passing numbers than he did last season with 3,732 yards, although his rushing stats were not as prolific. Lynch led all six players with over 4,500 yards and 46 touchdowns, but the fact that he plays in a lesser conference will keep him from winning, while Williams rushed for 2,102 yards on the season with 17 touchdowns, while Mason was prolific with 2,137 total yards and 23 scores, including his great performance in the SEC championship game.
Manziel comes into the awards ceremony with 686 yards rushing after going for over 1,000 last season and he went down to eight touchdowns after having 19 a season ago as well. In any other year Manziel and McCarron likely would win, but with the stats Winston put up and Florida State going undefeated and him getting out of any charges in his potential rape case, it was an easy choice. Williams averaged over six yards per carry and is the first player over the 2k mark in four years and he said he was honored to be invited to the ceremony.
Mason rushed for over 300 yards in the championship game against Missouri and he rushed for 22 touchdowns this season and added four of those scores in the win over the Tigers. The six players will be in New York on Saturday night for the presentation, which starts up at 8 pm and will be live on ESPN and streaming on WatchESPN.