Notre Dame's Manti T'eo was treated like he was the greatest football player to ever play defense. I'm not here to argue that he isn't good or anything like that. I respect his game and think he is a damn good defender. However, I don't believe T'eo did enough to be named a finalist.
T'eo has some good numbers, I don't think too many will argue that. The only problem is his numbers aren't great for defender and that's what they need to be to win the Heisman Trophy. Below are four other players who put up stats similar to T'eo and didn't get the coverage he did.
Players who I decided to compare against T'eo were: Jadeveon Clowney, Jarvis Jones, CJ Mosley and Bjoern Werner. These three, like T'eo were named First Team All-Americans.
Stats that I looked at were: solo tackles, assisted tackles, tackles for loss, sacks, interceptions, breakups, passes defended, hits on quarterbacks, forced fumbles and fumbles recovered. I then took these numbers and ranked the players, first place getting 5 points and last place getting 1 points.
Player Rankings:
Jarvis Jones: 40
Manti T'eo 37
CJ Mosley: 33
Bjoern Werner: 33
Jadeveon Clowney: 32
My point with these stats is the players are closely grouped but for some reason players not named T'eo haven't received the coverage he has. If a defender is going to be named a finalist, he should be head and shoulders above the competition. Instead he isn't even first and the others aren't too far behind him.
Manti T'eo, Notre Dame LB
- Solo Tackles: 52
- Assisted Tackles: 51
- Total Tackles: 103
- Tackles for Loss: 5.5-19 yds
- Sacks: 1.5-13yds
- Interceptions: 7-35 yds
- Breakups: 4
- Passes Defended 11
- Hits on QB: 4
- Forced Fumbles: 0
- Fumbles Recovered: 2-8 yds
Jadeveon Clowney, South Carolina DE
- Solo Tackles: 37
- Assisted Tackles: 13
- Total Tackles: 50
- Tackles for Loss: 21.5-102
- Sacks: 13-73
- Interceptions: 0
- Breakups: 2
- Passes Defended: NA
- Hits on QB: 5
- Forced Fumbles: 2
- Fumbles Recovered: 0
Jarvis Jones, Georgia LB
- Solo Tackles: 47
- Assisted Tackles: 30
- Total Tackles: 77
- Tackles for Loss: 22.5-117
- Sacks: 12.5-88
- Interceptions: 1-21
- Breakups: 2
- Passes Defended: NA
- Hits on QB: 33
- Forced Fumbles: 7
- Fumbles Recovered: 2-0
- Solo Tackles: 38
- Assisted Tackles: 61
- Total Tackles: 99
- Tackles for Loss: 7-46
- Sacks: 4-34
- Interceptions: 2-16
- Breakups: 2
- Passes Defended: 4
- Hits on QB: 3
- Forced Fumbles: 1
- Fumbles Recovered: 1-0
Bjoern Werner, Florida State DE
- Solo Tackles: 28
- Assisted Tackles 12
- Total Tackles: 40
- Tackles for Loss: 18-134
- Sacks: 13-117
- Interceptions: 0
- Breakups: 7
- Passes Defended: 7
- Hits on QB: 5
- Forced Fumbles: 1
- Fumbles Recovered: 1-9
Other reasons that some T'eo supporters used to say why he deserved the Heisman was his leadership, coming back for his senior season and getting Notre Dame back to where they are. All three are dumb reasons in my opinion.
All of these players are leaders for their team. Also, if you are going to use leader for your team for reason for winning the Heisman Trophy then send it to The Ohio State University. Nobody was more important to his team than Braxton Miller. I've heard some say T'eo being on the field is worth a few victories. I don't know how accurate this is because ND has some good players on defense that could have carried the weight.
Returning for your season is flat out dumb. That's like saying a freshman shouldn't win it because they will have more years to win it. Returning says something about his character but at no point should that count.
Helping Notre Dame become a contender is a slap in the face of player and coaches on the team now and players in the past. Even if this is true, at no point should this be a reason for winning the Heisman. You are punishing players like Jones Mosley because they are on a team that hasn't sucked over the past decade or so.
**All stats for players were taken from their schools website**
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