Heisman Trophy

Overview of 58th annual presentationWhen: Today, 3:30 p.m.Where: Downtown Athletic Club, New YorkTV: NBC, 3:30 p.m. (or after conclusion of Buffalo-Denver NFL game, also on NBC)Hosts: Jim Lampley, O. J. SimpsonVoters: 918 total, including 870 media members (145 in each of six geographic sections) and 48 former Heisman winnersLast year's winner: Michigan flanker Desmond Howard, by the second-largest margin in history, over quarterback Casey Weldon of Florida StateLeading candidatesGino Torretta, Sr., QB, Miami: Most valuable player for the No. 1-ranked team in the country.

Hurricanes blow 'em away Matt Murschel Orlando Sentinel The 2001 Miami Hurricanes were by far the best national champion in the BCS era. They ran over just about everybody, including a talented Nebraska team in the Rose Bowl. Offensively, the 'Canes were led by quarterback Ken Dorsey, who was a Heisman Trophy finalist in both 2001 and 2002. With Clinton Portis, Frank Gore and Willis McGahee at running back and future NFL stars Andre Johnson and Jeremy Shockey lining up as Dorsey's top targets, the Hurricanes put up more than 42 points per game.

Alabama sophomore tailback Mark Ingram delivered the first Heisman Trophy to a school that boasts one of the richest histories in college football. Ingram finished 28 points ahead of Stanford running back Toby Gerhart in the closest vote in the award's 75-year history. Ingram, right, received 227 first-place votes and 1,304 points. Gerhart got 222 first-place votes and 1,276 points, while Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, last season's runner-up, received 203 and 1,145. Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was fourth, and Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, who won the Heisman two years ago, was fifth.

  C. Milton Wright's Abby Smucker and Broadneck's Adam Greene were named the state winners of the 2012 Wendy's High School Heisman Award. Smucker and Green will now compete for the national award that celebrates hard work, dedication and exceptional records in athletics, academics and community leadership. “Colleges want well-rounded students and with admissions growing more selective, a national award like the Wendy's High School Heisman can really help students stand out,” former Ohio State running back Archie Griffin, two-time collegiate Heisman Trophy winner, said in a news release.

Glenn Davis, the Heisman Trophy-winning "Mr. Outside" on Army's national championship football teams of the mid-1940s, died yesterday, his son Ralph told the Los Angeles Times. Davis was 80. Davis, recognized as one of the finest all-around athletes to come out of southern California, died of complications from prostate cancer at his home in La Quinta, Calif. A 5-foot-9, 170-pound halfback, Davis teamed with fullback Felix "Doc" Blanchard, "Mr. Inside," when the U.S. Military Academy was a college football power during and just after World War II. Army, going undefeated, won national titles in 1944 and '45, then finished a close second to Notre Dame after those teams had played to a 0-0 tie at Yankee Stadium in 1946.

NEW YORK -- Ty Detmer's record numbers finally convinced the nation that a Brigham Young quarterback with a strong arm was more deserving of the Heisman Trophy than another Notre Dame flanker.Detmer won the 56th Heisman Memorial Trophy over Rocket Ismail, presented last night at the Downtown Athletic Club, 1,482 votes to 1,177. Ismail did not even win the Midwest, one of six regions divided for voting, where a strong Ismail showing was predicted to make this one of the closest votes in Heisman history.

The Heisman Trophy competition is a three-man race - just as it's been all season. Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart of Southern California will be back in New York on Saturday, along with Texas quarterback Vince Young, when the Heisman Trophy is awarded. The Downtown Athletic Club, which hands out college football's most prestigious individual award, invited yesterday only those three players to the presentation ceremony. Last season, five players attended the Heisman ceremony, and Leinart won it. Since 1999, either four or five finalists have been invited to New York.

Although the Ravens appear determined to draft a franchise quarterback, a move that most likely will require them to trade up from their No. 10 slot in the first round on April 17, the possibility exists that the Ravens could move up to take a running back.A running back like Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams of Texas.The Ravens have spent the past week rating players throughout next month's draft. While much of their focus has revolved around quarterbacks Tim Couch, Daunte Culpepper, Donovan McNabb and Akili Smith, they also have wondered about the chance to grab Williams.

The race for the Heisman Trophy heads into Saturday's ceremony as perhaps the tightest in the 67-year history of the award. Five finalists were named yesterday to attend the awards ceremony in New York, and strong arguments can be made for each. Below, reporters from various Tribune Publishing newspapers make the cases for these players. Brad Banks, Iowa If Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz had a Heisman Trophy vote, it would go to Hawkeyes quarterback Brad Banks. No surprise there. But there are a slew of other qualified candidates, so Ferentz urged voters to weigh the impact Banks made in his first year as a Division I-A starter.

LOS ANGELES -- This was nearly a month ago, in the raucous moments after the Southern California football team had finished its perfect regular season with a 66-19 demolition of cross-town rival UCLA and Reggie Bush had put the finishing touches on his Heisman Trophy-winning campaign. As the junior tailback stepped onto the top rung of a ladder to lead the school's band in a rousing rendition of the USC fight song, Lamar Griffin stood a few feet away, recalling the moment when this road to becoming the best college football player in the country began for his 22-year-old stepson.

The mystery of Ricky Williams turned out not to be a mystery at all. World traveler, former Heisman Trophy winner and onetime NFL rushing champion, the Ravens' newest running back was anything but enigmatic Tuesday in his first meeting with the press. He was insightful, reflective and engaging, seemingly content with life. In an 8-minute interview conducted under a tent top in the middle of a downpour, Williams acknowledged past indiscretions but avowed few regrets. He said he was still a rebel at heart, but one who had learned to channel the rebelliousness.

Nick Tilson was happy enough Tuesday to be at the annual meeting of Under Armour, his favorite sportswear company, but the 11-year-old was in for an even bigger treat. "Who is your favorite college player?" Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank asked Tilson, singling him out of the crowd. "It was Cam Newton," Tilson said, astutely remembering that Newton, Heisman Trophy winner and former quarterback at Auburn University, had recently been picked up by the Carolina Panthers NFL team and was no longer a college player.

Under Armour announced Wednesday that it signed an endorsement deal with Cam Newton, last year's Heisman Trophy winner and quarterback when the Auburn Tigers became the BCS National Championship team this year. Newton's deal will begin with a national advertising and in-store campaign this year, and he will wear the Baltimore company's latest football gear at this week's NFL Scouting Combine. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. "Cam Newton is an incredible talent and a proven champion whose skills are unique and exciting," Matt Mirchin, Under Armour's senior vice president of sports marketing, said in a statement.

Ryan Mallett QB, Arkansas Buzz: If anyone wondered why Mallett should be considered for the Heisman, just watch the last 30 seconds of the Arkansas-Georgia game. With his team seemingly on the ropes, Mallett tossed a 40-yard game-winning touchdown pass. Up next: vs. No. 1 Alabama, Saturday. Terrelle Pryor, QB, Ohio State Buzz: The maturation of Pryor is evident this season. The junior has cut down on turnovers and is making better decisions in the pocket.

The Heisman Trophy Reggie Bush gave up won't be going to another player, award organizers announced Wednesday. "As a result of Reggie Bush's decision to forfeit his title as Heisman winner of 2005, the Trustees have determined that there will be no Heisman Trophy winner for the year 2005," the Heisman Trust said in a statement Texas coach Mack Brown had been championing the idea of the award going to former Longhorns quarterback ...

Former USC tailback Reggie Bush on Tuesday became the first athlete in the 75-year history of the Heisman Trophy to forfeit the award, bowing to an increasingly angry clamor from detractors. After five years of staunch denials about wrongdoing, Bush acknowledged he made "mistakes" and talked about the "family" of Heisman winners in a statement posted on the Web site of the New Orleans Saints. "Each individual carries the legacy of the award and each one is entrusted with its good name," Bush said.

CAMDEN, N.J. -- The news hit hard, even in this city where gunfire is hardly news at all: There was Mike Rozier, famous ex-football player and native son, standing on a drug corner last November at 3 a.m., big holes blown through his chest by a .357 Magnum, his life -- just like in the movies -- passing before his eyes.No one knows exactly what happened on that drug corner last November, only that, if choreographed, there'd be no "Chariots of Fire" music. There was an altercation. Somebody had a gun. Was it a drug deal gone bad or just a guy so messed up on booze and drugs that he opened fire on his friends?

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The talent scouts who grade high school football prospects track their picks through college and into the NFL. The touts make pronouncements about their ability to gaze into the future, but did any project Drew Brees as a Heisman Trophy candidate and a first-round draft choice four years ago? "How hot a commodity was I?" Brees said in early August, echoing a question. "I was cold." Purdue wants its first Big Ten title since 1967, and Brees is ready for one last season of outrageous passing statistics.

Setting up for Pryor Chris Dufresne Los Angeles Times Given that only one player has won two Heisman Trophies, the injury to reigning champion Mark Ingram of Alabama doesn't really change the setup for the season. Ingram was a perfect-storm winner to begin with: right guy, right team, right season. This year sets up for junior Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who is coming off a brilliant Rose Bowl and enters the season on a team that can win the national title.

Embattled USC athletic director Mike Garrett will be replaced by Pat Haden next month, and the school will return its copy of Reggie Bush's Heisman Trophy in its ongoing effort to repair its reputation after last month's NCAA sanctions. In a letter to school supporters Tuesday, incoming USC President Max Nikias said Garrett will be replaced Aug. 3 by Haden, a respected member of USC's board of trustees and an NBC football analyst. Garrett, 66, has been the Trojans' athletic director for 17 years, but he received caustic criticism for his handling of the scandals surrounding USC's powerful football team and other programs over the past several years.