My Heisman Ballot

I was asked to do a Heisman ballot for The Blue Workhorse, so I figured I'd post it here. It's funny. When I started thinking it through, my ballot didn't turn out how I thought it would. So here goes...

1. Toby Gerhart - The stats just don't lie. He leads the nation in carries, yards, and touchdowns. He's also fourth in yards per game. Where would Stanford be without him? Probably not in a tie for 2nd in the Pac-10 and ranked 19th in the country.

2. Ndamukong Suh - Nebraska played for, and nearly won, the Big 12 title. Have you seen their offense? Enough said.

3. CJ Spiller - I initially wanted to put Spiller at the top. If I were a defensive coordinator, I don't think there is any single player I'd be more afraid of facing than Spiller. I dropped him because his stats were nowhere near that of Gerhart's, and because he plays in the Almost Considered a Conference.

I have to give an honorable mention to Mark Ingram. He hasn't had a Heisman season in my opinion, but I have a lot of friends that went to Alabama and they'd kill me if I left him off altogether.

Accolades for Cox

Joe Cox is the Walter Camp Football Foundation National Offensive Player of the Week. Here's the official release. Congrats Joe! You deserve it!

Vote for Stafford

Stafford was named a semifinalist for the Davey O'Brien Award. Here's the official release.

University of Georgia junior quarterback Matthew Stafford has been named one of 13 semifinalists for the 2008 Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award, according to an announcement by the award’s selection committee.

Stafford, a 6-3, 228-pound native of Dallas, Texas, has completed 141 of 229 passes this year for 1,946 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also rushed for one touchdown against #11 LSU behind a starting offensive line consisting of two true freshmen, a redshirt freshman, a sophomore and a redshirt sophomore.

In addition to passing for a career-high 310 yards during a 26-14 win over Tennessee earlier this season, Stafford leads the Southeastern Conference in passing yards per game (243.3) and total offense (250.8).

He has also directed the eighth-ranked Bulldogs to have the top-ranked total offense (431.2 yards/game) and passing offense (258.8 yards/game) in the league while holding down the second-best pass efficiency in the SEC.

Stafford and the 12 other semifinalists were evaluated and selected according to their quarterback skills, athletic ability, academics, character, leadership, sportsmanship and reputation as a team player.

The 13 semifinalists will contend for the award until the list is narrowed to three finalists on Nov. 24. All finalists will be in attendance in Orlando, Fla., where the O’Brien winner will be announced during The Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards Show airing Dec. 11. The recipient will be honored Feb. 16, 2009, at the 32nd-annual O’Brien Awards Dinner at The Fort Worth Club in Fort Worth, Texas.

Fans are able to vote for semifinalist candidates once daily HERE. The voting will continue throughout the semifinalists and finalist rounds with 5 percent of the final tally coming directly from the fan vote.

Accolades for Knowshon, Gamble

In a complete no-brainer, Knowshon Moreno and Darryl Gamble were named SEC offensive and defensive player of the week respectively.

Now that I say that, I'm sure some may be surprised that the defensive player of the week plays for a team that gave up 38 points. But come on, an ncaa record tying 2 interception returns for touchdowns by a linebacker plus 13 tackles. No-brainer.

Accolades for Green

He leads the team and the entire SEC in receiving yards. He's the SEC Freshman of the Week. He's A.J. Green.

Accolades for Knowshon

From the official release.

Georgia redshirt sophomore Knowshon Moreno has been named a candidate for the 2008 Doak Walker Award, given to the nation’s top collegiate running back.

Moreno is one of 43 candidates for the award and one of only five running backs from the Southeastern Conference.

After leading the Bulldogs with 1,334 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2007, Moreno scored three touchdowns on only eight carries during Georgia’s 2008 season opening win over Georgia Southern. Moreno became the first Bulldog since Herschel Walker in 1982 to rush for 100 or more yards in five consecutive games last year and was second in the Southeastern Conference for yards per game (102.6) in 2007.

Garrison Hearst is the only Bulldog to win the Doak Walker Award after earning the honor in 1992.

In case you are wondering how Garrison Hearst is the only Georgia player to win the Doak Walker Award (Herschel comes to mind), it's because the award has only been around for 19 years.

Accolades for Three

A little something positive in what has been a disappointing season. Three members of the Georgia Basketball team received All-SEC mention. Dave Bliss is the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the year. Mr. Everything Sundiata Gaines was named to the All-SEC 2nd team, while Jeremy Price was named to the All-SEC Freshman team. The AJC also lists Yata as a member of the All-Defensive team. I guess that team doesn't play offense, or something.

Yata, Yata, Yata

Sundiata Gaines was named SEC Player of the Week today for his performances against South Carolina and Tennessee. Yata has been the man since Billy Humphrey got suspended. The AJC writeup points out how Zac Swansey's play has allowed Yata to explode offensively. Swansey has been playing so well at the point, that Yata has been able to play more of a 2 guard role. That was supposed to happen three years ago when Mike Mercer arrived on campus. But, let's just say Mike didn't have the pass first mentality. Congrats to Yata. He earned this.

Accolades for Price

Jeremy Price is the SEC Freshman of the week. More importantly, I think he has now earned the right to wear Chris Daniels' number. Now if only he could develop a mid-range jump shot (aka the newfound jumper).

Image from OnlineAthens.

Your Unanimous SEC Freshman of the Year

Knowshon Moreno

I should have specified yesterday that I thought Knowshon had the SEC Freshman of the Year wrapped up. I agree with the anonymous commenter who said the national Freshman of the Year will likely be Crabtree from Texas Tech. Although, I think Knowshon has a shot. My guess is different outlets will pick between those two.

Gigantic Accolades For Knowshon

Knowshon Moreno has been named first team All SEC by the coaches. He shares the backfield with Darren McFadden who was the only unanimous selection to the first team offense. I guess the All SEC team needs no fullback...

Fernando Velasco and Dannell Ellerbe were named to the second team offense and defense respectively.

I don't know when it comes out, but I'm assuming Knowshon has Freshman of the year wrapped up as well.

More Accolades for Knowshon

This is the third time Knowshon has been named SEC Freshman of the Week. Not to mention the fact that he's also been named SEC Offensive Player of the Week once as well. Can we just go ahead and give him SEC Freshman of the Year?

A few quick things

So it looks like the Celebration video is a hit. It's already been viewed over 18,000 times. It's also generating a ton of comments. Here is the direct link to the vid on YouTube if you want to read any of them. It's funny to read the comments made by the obvious Florida fans.

On said celebration, Mark Richt has apologized to the SEC. His apology has been accepted, and it looks like no disciplinary action will be taken on Richt as Chip Towers had anticipated.

In other news, Knowshon Moreno was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week. Well duh!

Finally, I'm nearly done with the full game highlight video. I should have it completed by tonight, so it will be up on here either late tonight or first thing tomorrow morning. I'm also hoping to include my game recap in the same post as the video as I still haven't gotten around to doing that yet.

Go Dawgs!

Moreno, Coutu Receive Accolades

Knowshon Moreno was named SEC Freshman of the Week for the second time this season for his performance against Vandy. He also received this honor for the Alabama game. Paul Westerdawg over at the Georgia Sports Blog contemplates the possibility of Knowshon winning SEC Freshman of the Year.

Brandon Coutu was named a Lou Groza Star of the Week for his performance against Vandy. Likewise, Coutu also received the same honor for the Alabama game.

Brown Receives Accolades

Thomas Brown was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week. Duh!

Man, Brown and Moreno are starting to rack up the Accolades with Moreno getting freshman of the week last week. Also, amidst all of the complaining on the Coach O show, Ed Orgeron did say Brown and Moreno were the two best backs they would see all year. It was a nice compliment, but I could have done without his whining about questionable calls.

Moreno Receives Accolades

Knowshon was named SEC Freshman of the Week for his performance against Alabama. This was well deserved. From the UGA release:

Through four games, Moreno leads Georgia with 342 rushing yards for an average of 85.5 yards per game, which is ninth in the SEC (second for freshmen) and 56th in the nation. Also, Moreno is second on the team with 120 receiving yards and was part of a Georgia offense that generated 377 total yards against the Crimson Tide.

Leading the team in rushing and second in receiving? Wow! Obviously I need to look at the stats more.

Image from the ABH.

Yata, Yata, Yata

Sundiata Gaines was named SEC Player of the Week for his performance against Gonzaga. Way to go Yata! Your SEC Player of the Week. Image from OnlineAthens.com. The Athens Banner Herald has an article about changing the perception of this team. In part it's about the fact that Georgia is still not ranked. I love the attitude the players have on this. A quote from Sundiata in the article... Our focus is to just win and everything else will come later. Like Yata says, if this team keeps winning, the accolades will come.

Stafford, Weston Receive Accolades

Matthew Stafford and Kade Weston were named to the first team All-SEC freshman team. Stafford shared his first team spot with Tim Tebow. How is a fullback the first team quarterback? Matthew Stafford preparing to throw. Yes, throw Tim...that is what quarterbacks do. Image from OnlineAthens.com.

Accolades for All...Except Tony Taylor

There were plenty of accolades to go around this week. Yet somehow, Tony Taylor did not receive any (unless you count second team All-SEC). Tra Battle, Mikey Henderson, and Martrez Milner were named to the coaches first team. On the AP team, Daniel Inman was the only Bulldog to garner first team honors. Tony Taylor is not first team All-SEC? Riiiiiiggghhht. There were five linebackers on the coaches defense. Patrick Willis on first team. Yes. Olajubutu from Arkansas. I'm ok with that. Then we have Quinton Culberson from Mississippi State, Earl Everett from Florida, and Wesley Woodyard from Kentucky. Five linebackers and no Tony Taylor? Ok, so Everett and Woodyard tied, so really four linebackers... I guess Tony Taylor doesn't fit with the 3-4 scheme of the All-SEC team...

Mercer Receives Accolades, Dawgs Roll Again

Mike Mercer was named SEC player of the week on Monday for his performance against Wake Forest. But tonight it was Levi Stukes who stole the show. Going a perfect 6 for 6 from three point range, Stukes scored 20 in a 96-67 victory over Gardner-Webb. Takais Brown added 21 points to continue his impressive start since coming off of suspension. The team now has eleven days off before playing Gonzaga at Gwinnett Arena. Rest up Dawgs. This is going to be a big one. SEC Player of the Week Mike Mercer. Image from OnlineAthens.com.