Christilaw: EWU’s Kupp among best, but Heisman unlikely for WR
One game into the new season and our beloved Eagles have an actual, real-life, bona fide Heisman Trophy candidate in their midst!
The name Cooper Kupp already is said with a high degree of reverence among the EWU faithful. He’s more than earned that already. You win the Walter Peyton Award as the top offensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision, you get a lot of reverence.
But when you make a dozen catches for 206 yards and three scores against Washington State and lead Eastern to a 45-42 upset win in Martin Stadium? You get noticed on the national stage.
Kupp is on pace to break every significant FCS receiving record by season’s end, but it’s what he’s done against the Pac-12 that has earned him notice this week by Bruce Feldman, a columnist for Fox Sports, as one of five players to watch in the Heisman race.
Against four Pac-12 opponents – Oregon State, Oregon, Washington and Washington State – Kupp has averaged more than 100 receiving yards and multiple touchdowns. One scouting operation has him ranked the No. 4 receiving prospect in the 2017 NFL Draft.
But let’s not get giddy about the Heisman Trophy coming to reside in Cheney anytime soon. The Heisman is supposed to go to the best college football player in the country.
And if you believe that, there’s a timeshare on Mars that you can have for a low down payment and monthly installments spread out over a few decades.
The Heisman committee will watch Cooper Kupp. They’ll watch him put on weekly clinics against Big Sky Conference opponents.
But they won’t touch him with a 10-foot pole.
When it comes to that big bronze bust named for the former athletic director of the Downtown Athletic Club in New York City, Kupp starts with two strikes.
Strike one: He plays football at Eastern Washington University in the FCS.
They did away with the designation 1-AA a few years ago, but when it comes to special awards the NCAA doesn’t see much beyond the Big Five conferences and Notre Dame.
The Fighting Irish have had seven players win the Heisman, as have the Buckeyes of Ohio State. Southern Cal boasts six and Oklahoma five. Army had three and Navy two – all from the days when the service academies were football powerhouses.
It was a big deal when the Heisman committee picked Brigham Young quarterback Ty Detmer to winthe 1990 trophy – a year after it chose Andre Ware from Houston in 1989. It came as no surprise that, in 1991, after Detmer threw for more than 4,000 yards and 35 touchdowns as a BYU senior, the committee declined to give Detmer a second trophy and instead picked wide receiver Desmond Howard.
The committee isn’t all that committed to giving its award to the best college player in the country after all. Just remember: Paul Hornung, playing for a sub-.500 Notre Dame team, was tabbed for the trophy over Syracuse running back Jim Brown.
They aren’t dipping into the FCS ranks to find a Heisman winner.
Strike two: He’s a wide receiver.
The award has gone to 79 players in its 80-year history (it was awarded twice to Ohio State running back Archie Griffin in 1974 and 1975).
In its second year, 1936, the first year it was known as the Heisman Trophy, the award went to Larry Kelley, an end from Yale. And 55 years later it went to another wide receiver, Desmond Howard of Michigan. If that’s a trend, I’m a water buffalo.
In a sport where they like to say that defense wins championships, the Heisman has been awarded to a defensive player only once: cornerback Charles Woodson of Michigan in 1997.
Nope. The Heisman Trophy is awarded to quarterbacks and running backs. They award trophies named for Fred Biletnikoff to receivers – well, to receivers at the top tier, Football Bowl Subdivision colleges. Gabe Marks of Washington State is on that award’s watch list.
The proof of Cooper Kupp’s greatness as a college football player will never be disputed. He’s already proven he’s exceptional. Experts are predicting a long, productive NFL career for him.
No Heisman Trophy. No Biletnikoff Awards.
But a ton and a half of respect from the folks who write big checks to players who can catch footballs on Sunday.