Despite what you might have heard or been told, DeAngelo Williams will not win the Heisman Trophy and he never really had a chance.
It really did make a nice story to talk about. DeAngelo, the most historic and accomplished football player ever to grace the field for The University of Memphis, was a legitimate Heisman candidate.
Almost like a candidate for candidacy.
All signs pointed to Williams. Features on ESPN.com and cbssportsline.com, Heisman watch list nominees in national college sports magazine across the country, and the first Tiger to receive his own school-sponsored Heisman campaign.
It made sense. It seemed Williams really did have a shot to win the coveted award after leading the entire country in touchdowns last season and placing second in rushing.
The truth, however, doesn't always make sense.
The truth is that college football's Heisman Trophy award is one of the great ironies of college athletics.
Officially, the Heisman Trophy is given each season to the most outstanding Division 1-A college athlete as decided on by a panel of six sports journalists.
Realistically, the winner of the "most prestigious award in college football" is selected out of a small group of high profile, well-televised members of the club known as the BCS.
Williams's conference, Conference USA, isn't in that club of schools designated by the NCAA as good enough to play for the BCS national championship every year.
Since its birth in 1996, no non-BCS school has ever claimed a Heisman winner for their school. Not one.
And even when the BCS didn't rule over the football world, "lesser" schools still struggled to get their star players credibility.
Many U of M students may remember sitting in their small desks in kindergarten eating orange slices and discussing the exploits of the Brigham Young quarterback Ty Detmer as he led the Cougars over Washington State with a 43-point second half. Detmer secured his name as one of the last small conference Heisman Trophy winners 15 years ago.
Yes, it doesn't happen very often, and it's not going to happen for Williams this season. It never was.
Do the math. It is almost physically impossible for Williams to actually improve on last season's performance when his name was not even mentioned for Heisman consideration.
Williams ran for 1,948 yards in 2004 and accounted for 22 of the Tigers 26 rushing touchdowns all while becoming an academic All-American and visiting cancer -stricken children at St. Jude in his spare time.
While it is unlikely, there are a few things that The University could do to increase DeAngelo's slim hopes of receiving the award:
1. Convince the BCS to allow The University of Memphis to join the BCS as the only C-USA representative. Around $1 billion should cover it.
2. Somehow connect Williams' bloodline to that of the famed Manning family. While Archie may be the only Manning to have actually received the award, sons Eli and Peyton were highly-touted candidates. After all, the Heisman committee loves name recognition.
3. Allow Williams to take over starting roles as runningback and quarterback. Williams attempted one incomplete pass last year but had no interceptions.
But when it's all said and done, Williams might not even need the trophy. The last two runningbacks to win the Heisman include NFL washout Rashaan Salaam, with Ron Dayne not too far behind.
After receiving 10 national awards already, I'm sure Williams would trade another trophy for a long, profitable and successful career in the NFL any day.
