Young, Trojans Heisman finalists

The Heisman Trophy competition is a three-man race – just as it’s been all season.

Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart of Southern California will be back in New York on Saturday, along with Texas quarterback Vince Young, when the Heisman Trophy is awarded to the nation’s best college football player.

The Downtown Athletic Club, which hands out the sport’s most prestigious individual award, invited Wednesday only those three players to the presentation ceremony.

Last season, five players attended the Heisman ceremony and Leinart won. Since 1999, either four or five finalists have been invited.

Bush, Leinart and Young have been the front-runners since the preseason, and they’ve been jockeying for position all year.

Bush emerged as the favorite in the past three weeks with two enormous games. The 200-pound speedster had 513 all-purpose yards in a 50-42 victory over Fresno State and he rushed for 260 yards and two touchdowns in a 66-19 victory over UCLA, which completed a perfect regular season for the Trojans (12-0).

Bush, who finished fifth in last season’s voting, has rushed for a career-high 1,658 yards, averaging 8.9 per carry, and scored 18 TDs.

Leinart is having an even better season this year than last, when he became the sixth USC player to win the Heisman, and second Trojans quarterback in three years.

Carson Palmer won as a senior in 2002. Four USC tailbacks have won the Heisman – Mike Garrett (1965), O.J. Simpson (‘68), Charles White (‘79) and Marcus Allen (‘81).

Young would be Texas’ third Heisman winner, joining running backs Ricky Williams (‘98) and Earl Campbell (‘77).

•At Houston, Ohio State linebacker A.J. Hawk won the Rotary Lombardi Award as the nation’s top college lineman or linebacker, becoming the fifth Buckeyes player to receive the honor.

•Jackson (Miss.) State hired Tuskegee coach Rick Comegy to revive its sagging football program that once produced Walter Payton. Comegy will replace James Bell, who was fired during the Tigers’ third consecutive losing season.

•Fordham hired Central Connecticut State football coach Tom Masella, a native New Yorker. Masella replaces Ed Foley, who resigned after a 2-9 season.