# There's no college player better... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2002, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-college-player-better/142829 "2002-12-15T02:21:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-college-player-better/142829/1 "2002-12-15T02:21:33Z")
…than **Carson Palmer!!!** 🆒 Nobody (except my old college roommate) expected it, but Carson won it, and won it convincingly. And now the Orange Bowl is definitely _the_ bowl game to watch, as the nation tunes in to see if Banks was robbed. (He wasn’t.) God, this is such a wonderful day! Definitely a new age for 'SC, just you watch. 😃 - KKB, very proud USC alum ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-college-player-better/142829/2 "2002-12-15T02:46:06Z")
Obviously McGahee and Dorsey split each others votes. Just goes to show that the Heisman is even more irrelevant than usual. ---
**Author:** ![stylize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@stylize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stylize)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-college-player-better/142829/3 "2002-12-15T03:03:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WSLer \* > \*\*Obviously McGahee and Dorsey split each others votes. > > Just goes to show that the Heisman is even more irrelevant than usual. \*\* Too bad Carson got more points than both of them _combined_. Nice try though. Love, A Trojan Alum and Fan I can’t even believe this. I was preparing my first pit rant too. ---
**Author:** ![Splanky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@Splanky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splanky)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-college-player-better/142829/4 "2002-12-15T03:16:53Z")
Winning the heisman almost ensures you no future in Professional Football. So I hope Carson has a nice life working at McD’s. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-college-player-better/142829/5 "2002-12-15T04:52:57Z")
Through the course of the season, I saw all the contenders at least once. (Yes, I watch too much college football.) I would have voted for Carson Palmer all the way, based on how he played in USC’s games against Auburn and Notre Dame. How he does in Pro Football doesn’t matter. That has nothing to do with winning the Heisman. If his acceptance speech is any measure of his capabilities, he won’t have to look forward to a carreer at McD’s, pro ball or not. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-college-player-better/142829/6 "2002-12-15T06:09:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Splanky \* > \*\*Winning the heisman almost ensures you no future in Professional Football. So I hope Carson has a nice life working at McD’s. \*\* You mean like Ron Dayne (OK, he’s questionable), Ricky Williams, Charles Woodson, Eddie George, Ty Detmer, Barry Sanders, Tim Brown, Vinny Testaverde, Bo Jackson, Doug Flutie, Herschel Walker, Marcus Allen. So we have ten legitimate stars in 20 years. Plus two more stable NFLers (while not stars, they are nice utility guys) in Detmer and Dayne. Plus Charlie Ward, who didn’t wash out of the NFL as he went to the NBA instead. So 7 out of 20 were washouts. And I’m including Salaam in that figure, even though he was somewhat borderline. Not exactly ensuring failure. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-college-player-better/142829/7 "2002-12-15T08:13:15Z")
He’ll be good as a pro. Great mechanics, nice size (6’6’’), and good ability to read the field. We can only hope the Bengals don’t take him and ruin him ;). ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-college-player-better/142829/8 "2002-12-15T11:06:45Z")
_sniff_ Hey, who let all the grapes go sour? 😃 Personally, I’m just hoping some bizarre series of events lands Carson on the Broncos. I think he’d work well with their system and personnel. Don’t see it happening, but it would be nice. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-college-player-better/142829/9 "2002-12-15T11:42:11Z")
Y’all wouldn’t be calling the Heisman Trophy irrelevant or the property of losers if your boys had won it, right? Yeah, didn’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-college-player-better/142829/10 "2002-12-15T16:26:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Neurotik \* > You mean like Ron Dayne (OK, he’s questionable), Ricky Williams, Charles Woodson, Eddie George, **Ty Detmer** , Barry Sanders, Tim Brown, Vinny Testaverde, Bo Jackson, Doug Flutie, Herschel Walker, Marcus Allen. > > So we have ten legitimate **stars** in 20 years. Plus two more stable NFLers (while not stars, they are nice utility guys) in Detmer and Dayne. Plus Charlie Ward, who didn’t wash out of the NFL as he went to the NBA instead. > > So 7 out of 20 were washouts. And I’m including Salaam in that figure, even though he was somewhat borderline. > > Not exactly ensuring failure. (bolding mine) Ty Detmer a “legitimate star”? I don’t think so! He might have been in the NFL, but that doesn’t mean he was any good. Charlie Ward didn’t make it in the NFL because he wasn’t drafted. Anyway, I’m happy for Palmer, I wanted him or Brad Banks to win. I didn’t get a chance to see him play this year, but his stats looked pretty good. Palmer is getting a lot of hype for the NFL now too. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-college-player-better/142829/11 "2002-12-15T16:54:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dignan \* > \*\*Ty Detmer a “legitimate star”? I don’t think so! He might have been in the NFL, but that doesn’t mean he was any good. Charlie Ward didn’t make it in the NFL because he wasn’t drafted. > \*\* Hmmm…perhaps I was unclear. I listed 12 players. I said ten of those players were legitimate stars and two more were stable. Dayne and Detmer were the stables. True, he wasn’t drafted but that was because of his height and he was coming into an era where it was believed short people couldn’t be QBs. IMHO, I think that Ward would have been a not shabby NFLer, despite his stature and not great arm strength. But he was never given a chance. Anyway, looking back, I should have included him on the failure list since **Splanky** had merely said “no future in Pro Football,” which Ward definitely did not. So now the revised count is 8 with no future, 12 with a future. Still not exactly a condemnation of the Heisman. ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-college-player-better/142829/12 "2002-12-15T19:56:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Neurotik \* > \*\*Hmmm…perhaps I was unclear. I listed 12 players. I said ten of those players were legitimate stars and two more were stable. Dayne and Detmer were the stables. > \*\* Nope, not unclear. After looking over the post again (the one I quoted :rolleyes: ) I see that I just need to learn how to read. Though Detmer shouldn’t even be counted since he shouldn’t have won that year. Rocket Ismail should have won it. Detmer played in a joke conference against no names and was left in to pad his stats. But let’s not start a debate about the Heisman from 11 years ago.