The return of Gino Torreta

By Brian Cook Sports Central Columnist

There's a right man for the Heisman this year, and everyone knows it, even the ink-stained college football wretches who consistently put the "other guy" at the top of their list.

"Heisman" and "justice" aren't two words normally found in the same sentence -- the Gino Torretas and Andre Wares of the world have seen to that. Everyone knows that except in rare cases, the Heisman goes to the best skill position player on an undefeated or one-loss team. If no one seems particularly worthy, it defaults to the quarterback with the best stats.

Sometimes, this is all right -- when Andre Ware won the trophy the runners-up were Anthony Thompson, Major Harris, Tony Rice, and Darian Hagan, a murderers' row of people no one ever heard from again. Or possibly heard of in the first place. Sometimes there just isn't one person who is obviously a transcendent talent.

But when there is, sometimes, he gets it (Charles Woodson, Barry Sanders) and sometimes, he doesn't (Marshall Faulk lost to Torreta, Mike Vick never finished higher than third and lost to Ron Dayne). This is one of those years when there is an obvious best player in college football.

The problem is, he doesn't play for Oklahoma, the obvious best team in college football. As impressive as Jason White's ability to watch his receivers turn a seven-yard slant into an 80-yard touchdown is, anyone who's seen Larry Fitzgerald play knows he is this year's Woodson, this year's Sanders.

Fitzgerald's ability to make ridiculous leaping circus catches hasn't been seen in the NCAA since Randy Moss was at Marshall. He's without question the best receiver in the land. He set an NCAA record for most consecutive games with a touchdown catch. He has 1,282 receiving yards -- 203 more than his nearest competitor. He's been held under 100 yards once. He has 17 touchdowns.

No, he's not a quarterback, and no, he's not playing for an undefeated team. But take Jason White off Oklahoma and replace him with Average Division One Quarterback and Oklahoma is probably still undefeated, as ADOQ can also throw seven-yard slants and watch his receivers turn them into 80-yard touchdowns. ADOQ also gets to play on the other side from what's year-in, year-out the best defense in college football. Jason White isn't even the best player on his team (Tommie Harris) or his offense (Mark Clayton). Maybe the Sooners put up 63 against Texas A&M instead of 77.

Take Fitzgerald off Pittsburgh and the Panthers are looking forward to a trip to beautiful Detroit for the Motor City Bowl instead of a season-ending showdown with Miami for the Orange Bowl.

White is a good player, maybe even a very good player, but he's not obviously great. He's a worthy Heisman runner-up, the kind of player that people researching future articles about the Heisman will come across and say "wow, he was a very good college player."

The problem is that the next thing they say will be, "I wonder whatever happened to him."

The Heisman is a college award and it shouldn't automatically go to the player projected to be the first-overall NFL draft pick. Success at one level does not imply success at another -- especially for option quarterbacks like Eric Crouch. But there are times when two players are both statistical monsters, both have a great impact on their teams, but one is an obvious lead pipe cinch to be a very high NFL draft pick because his talent is obviously off the charts, and the other is the product of a system.

NFLDraftBlitz.com has Jason White 16th. Not 16th overall. The 16th quarterback.

Article courtesy of Sports Central.