Clemson Football: Tigers won’t ever win a Heisman. And it’s okay

The Clemson football program has never had a Heisman winner and it may be quite some time before it does have one. And it’s okay.

The Clemson football program has never had a Heisman Trophy winner and it’s not going to happen this year either.

The Heisman Trophy announced the finalists for the award earlier this week and not one Clemson football player was included on the list.

QB Joe Burrow (LSU), QB Justin Fields (Ohio State), QB Jalen Hurts (Oklahoma) and DE Chase Young (Ohio State) were selected as the finalists with Burrow listed as a heavy-favorite to win the award.

Though Clemson football potentially possesses the most talented quarterback [Trevor Lawrence], running back [Travis Etienne] and defensive player [Isaiah Simmons] in the nation, not one was even in the conversation seemingly to be invited to New York.

Though they haven’t put up the stats that many of the others have, at least one of those Tigers should’ve been selected as a finalist.

The truth is this: The Heisman Trophy isn’t what it used to be. It’s a popularity contest- bolstered with stats, pretty performances and storylines pushed by media narratives- rather than an award recognizing the greatest player in the nation.

Joe Burrow is extremely talented and is deserving because of the performances and numbers that he’s put up, but let’s not pretend that he’s the greatest quarterback in the nation.

We really should not get ‘talent’ and ‘deserving’ confused.

Burrow, Fields and Hurts may receive more individual accolades than Trevor Lawrence, but that’s because the media is not paying attention to what Lawrence has accomplished. Any NFL scout in the country would tell you that they’d take Lawrence over any of the three.

The same could be said about Travis Etienne in terms of the running backs across the nation, including J.K. Dobbins, Jonathan Taylor and Chuba Hubbard.

In terms of Chase Young, he may very well be the top defensive player in the country, but it should be 1A and 1B with Isaiah Simmons. Young has continuously gotten hype, missed two games with a suspension, and still was voted as a finalist. Why? Because of media narratives and the exposure he got. All the while, the media ignored Simmons’ versatility, pure athleticism and physicality.

It all comes down to this: Dabo Swinney is going to do the things that many other coaches will do to win a Heisman Trophy.

Clemson is never going to be the program that puts up a ton of numbers and destroys the stat sheet week-in and week-out. The Tigers are already at a disadvantage because of the perceived weakness of the conference and things won’t get any easier considering the media gets to pick their favorite players and drive the conversation as to who should be selected.

Joe Burrow won this award two months ago. Trevor Lawrence was eliminated after three games. Travis Etienne was completely ignored time-and-time again despite his historical numbers. It’s ridiculous and shows the fraud that the award has become.

In the end, Clemson will just have to stick with winning National Championships, competing in the CFB Playoff and putting talent in the NFL year after year. The Tigers may not ever win a Heisman Trophy; and it’s okay.