|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Making the case for Weinke Heisman voters shouldn't hold age against him
This election is a mess. It seems like all eyes are trained on Tallahassee, Fla., trying to figure out which way it's going to go. How will it turn out when all the votes are finally counted? Of course, I'm talking about Florida State senior quarterback Chris Weinke's run for the Heisman Trophy, which has become embroiled in a controversy that has nothing to do with chad and everything to do with age. But let's start by putting that aside for a minute. Think of Weinke as just a college senior and consider his credentials: He's the quarterback on the No. 3-ranked team in the nation, a club that still stands a decent chance of reaching the national championship game, especially with a victory over No. 4 Florida Saturday night in Tallahassee. Weinke has passed for 30 touchdowns and only nine interceptions, and he is the unquestioned emotional leader of a team that he led to the national title last year. Off the field, Weinke carries a 3.4 grade-point average and will graduate in December. He has been awarded a prestigious NCAA post-graduate scholarship. I spent a couple of days with Weinke last week, reporting a story that appears in this week's issue of Sports Illustrated; he's a solid guy. Stop me when you've heard enough. Of course, the problem is that Weinke isn't just your average college senior. He's 28 years old. Several NFL quarterbacks are younger, including the Colts' Peyton Manning, who was the first pick in the NFL draft three years ago. This bothers some people, who have said they might leave Weinke off their Heisman ballots altogether as a statement of personal protest against an old guy playing college football. This just shows that the sports world is full of small thinkers, lots of whom have Heisman votes. Ditching Weinke is wrongheaded, illogical and mean-spirited, and anybody who does it hasn't given the subject 30 seconds of clear thought. First off, why is Weinke playing college football at such an advanced age? Because he was a minor league baseball player for six years after leaving high school in St. Paul, Minn. This is supposed to be an advantage for Weinke, because he's older and more mature, emotionally and physically. I give you that, to a point. But at the same time, I'll argue that Weinke's age has been every bit as limiting as it has been helpful. The guy didn't play football for six years. He wasn't just enrolling in college in 1997, he was making a comeback. Florida State offensive coordinator Mark Richt told me that Weinke was a mess when he got to Tallahassee in the spring of '97. Bad mechanics, bad footwork, out of shape, the works. He didn't have a head start, he was digging out of a hole. When Weinke did eventually win the job, in the fall of '98, he played 10 games and then suffered a severe neck injury. His career could have been finished right there, but he came back again. After taking the 'Noles to the national title last season, he could have gone to the NFL, but he wanted to get a degree, get better at playing quarterback and maybe win another national title. So he stayed. Then there's the obvious: The Heisman rules say nothing about a player's age. Federal law in the United States says it's illegal to discriminate against someone because of age. Beyond that, the value of age is terribly blurry these days. The Colts' Edgerrin James, Manning's teammate, might be the best player in the NFL, and he's supposed to be a senior at Miami. Daunte Culpepper is in his second year with the Vikings, tearing up the league. He's five years younger than Weinke. Being old is no guarantee of being good. This is not a banner Heisman year. At the start, it looked like Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Vick could win the statue just by showing up (and I'll stand by my assertion of a couple weeks back that Vick, at his best, remains the top player in the country, by far). Problem is, Vick struggled early and then got hurt, and he's out of the running. Period. TCU's LaDainian Tomlinson, whom I profiled for a Sports Illustrated story in October, is a terrific, durable back and a sweet kid with his heart in the right place, but once TCU got beat by San Jose State, his candidacy ended. It would be nice to see him get an invitation to New York. Then there's Purdue quarterback Drew Brees, another solid citizen who's loved by NFL scouts but whose team has lost three games. It's a two-man race, between Weinke and Oklahoma's tough and resourceful QB Josh Heupel. Weinke's numbers are better and he is more impressive to watch. Heupel's team is unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the country. It's a tough call that should go down to the last days before the Dec. 9 ceremony at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York. Could be one of the tightest Heisman finishes in history. Shame to see people ruin it for the wrong reasons. Sports Illustrated senior writer Tim Layden will contribute a Viewpoint every week on CNNSI.com. To chip in with your two cents, click here. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
