POLL OF VOTERS SAYS TEBOW

By PAT DOOLEY
Sun sports writer

6:31 pm, December 3, 2007

If a Gainesville Sun poll of Heisman Trophy voters is an indication, Tim Tebow is about to make history again.

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73rd annual Heisman Memorial Trophy

Presentation: 8 p.m. Saturday, ESPN

History: The idea of an award to the most outstanding college football player was originally conceived by members of the Downtown Athletic Club, formerly located in the southern end of Manhattan.

Who votes: Each section within the U.S. has 145 media votes, totaling 870 media votes across the country. Additionally every former Heisman winner, 54 presently, has a vote as well. In 1999, The Heisman Trophy agreed to develop a special program to allow the public at large to become part of the balloting process by permitting one (1) fan vote eligible in the overall tabulation.

Total votes: 925

Voting process: The first choice on an elector's ballot receives three points in the overall voting tabulation, the second choice receives two points and the third choice receives one point. The independent accounting firm of Deloitte tabulates the Heisman ballots. The individual with the most points receives The Heisman Memorial Trophy.

When are ballots mailed out: The 2007 Heisman ballots were mailed out Nov. 14.

Voting deadline: The ballots are due back to Deloitte by Wednesday.

Did you know? Following John W. Heisman's death in 1936, the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy was renamed the Heisman Memorial Trophy as a fitting tribute to the memory of the distinguished athlete and inventive football coach.

The first player to pass and rush for more than 20 touchdowns should become the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night in New York.

The Sun contacted more than 100 Heisman voters on Sunday and Monday to ask for their ballots. While some had still not made up their minds and others refused to reveal their ballots even under the condition of anonymity, The Sun was able to obtain the votes of 111 voters in all six Heisman regions.

In all, The Sun contacted voters in 45 states to try to get a national sampling of the 925 members of the media and former Heisman winners who have voted or will vote for the award. All ballots are due by Wednesday.

Of the 111, Tebow received 83 first-place votes to easily out-distance Arkansas running back Darren McFadden in the poll conducted by six members of The Sun sports staff.

“I put Tebow right there with Archie Manning and Herschel Walker as the three best players I've ever seen in this league,” Knoxville Sun-Sentinel columnist John Adams said. “Darren McFadden and Bo Jackson are right behind those three. Tebow is one of the greatest college players I've ever seen.”

Said Clay Horning of the Norman (Okla.) Transcript, “I would go with Tebow because he has the stats of two players, but I don't know if anybody has been a truly dominant football player in college this season.”

Baton Rouge (La.) Morning Advocate columnist Scott Rabalais was one of 23 voters polled who went with McFadden, the runner-up in last year's Heisman race.

“It was a close call between McFadden and Tebow and I went with McFadden because he's such a dynamic player,” Rabalais said. “I was probably influenced a little by the performance he had against LSU.”

The Sun has two voters in the Heisman but neither vote was used in this poll, although both electronically voted for Tebow on Monday.

“Tebow's numbers defy description,”Durham (N.C.) Herald-Sun columnist Frank Descenzo said. “The thing about Tebow is, he was so good even in their losses.”

Tebow would become Florida's third Heisman Trophy winner, succeeding 1966 winner Steve Spurrier and 1996 winner Danny Wuerffel, who was Tebow's idol growing up.

He would also be the first winner from the SEC since Wuerffel.

“Don't tell me a sophomore shouldn't win this award," said Dick Weiss of the New York Daily News. "Tim Tebow has rolled too many impressive numbers to ignore. His combination of TD passes and TD runs has made him a legend in the SEC at a young age. And he has handled his success with class. He gets my vote.

The presentation of the award is Saturday at 8 p.m. on ESPN. Finalists will be notified on Wednesday.

Robbie Andreu, Kevin Brockway, Ray FitzGerald, John Patton and Brandon Zimmerman contributed to this report.