FORT WORTH, Texas — It was in July when new TCU head coach Sonny Dykes said, “The question mark is the quarterback position.”
Max Duggan was a question mark.
“The two things I want from that position is a guy who makes the people around him better, and I want consistent play,” Dykes said at Big 12 Media Days in July. “Those things I haven’t seen from either one of those guys.”
That was when it was Chandler Morris versus Max Duggan.
Now it’s December, and it would be a sports’ crime if Duggan is not in New York City with the other finalists for the Heisman Trophy award ceremony on Dec. 10.
Life comes at you fast.
According to the rules, Heisman Trophy voters are not supposed to announce their selections until after the winner is announced; full disclosure, this is the first time in my award-losing career I have the honor of voting for the Heisman Trophy, so I don’t want this revoked just yet by violating the rules by announcing my votes.
If Duggan goes to New York City, he would be the first player from TCU to make it as a Heisman finalist since LaDainian Tomlinson in 2000.
Unlike in 2000, when TCU spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on an ad campaign for LT to make it New York as a finalist, the school didn’t drop a deliberate dime on Duggan.
The school was in the Western Athletic Conference in LT’s Heisman push season, and was doggedly investing money to raise its national profile from Texas Christian University to TCU.
It’s a different era of college athletics. Schools no longer do expensive campaigns for postseason awards.
A compelling case can be made for Duggan that he deserves to win the award itself; at a minimum he should be a finalist.
He’s the starting quarterback of the No. 3 team in the nation that’s in a power five conference, and one of three teams that have not lost a game.
By definition, the Heisman Trophy winner will “epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard work.”
It’s schmaltzy idealism painted by Norman Rockwell when it should say, “Offensive player, normally the quarterback, from one of the top power five teams in the nation with video game stats.”
Since 2000, 18 times the award has gone to a quarterback.
The other top candidates this year are USC quarterback Caleb Williams, Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud and Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett. Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. should be in this discussion, too.
No voter would have to explain themselves by voting Duggan the winner.
Duggan has all of those necessary qualities, and numbers, to justify winning this award. Max Duggan winning the Heisman Trophy is not a reach.
Start with the schmaltz: “Epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard work.”
With the possible exception of maybe Bennett, no one embodies all of this like Duggan.
His story has been told and re-told without ever growing old.
After losing a starting job he had for the past three years, he stayed to earn the spot back under Dykes.
In the era of the easy-transfer, Duggan will be one of the last college players to ever do this. Under these kinds of circumstances, most college players will justifiably leave.
This week, Duggan was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and winner of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.
Duggan showed diligence. Duggan persevered. Duggan works hard.
To the video game stats, he’s completing 66% of his passes for 3,070 yards with 29 touchdowns and three interceptions. He’s run for five more touchdowns, and caught a scoring pass, too.
TCU ranks fourth nationally in scoring at 41.3 points per game.
Duggan is on schedule to graduate with a degree in business later this month.
Everything the Heisman Trophy aspires to stand for both in design and in practice, Max Duggan hits.
It would be a sports crime if he is not in New York City as a Heisman Trophy finalist.
A question mark and QB2 as early as September, now it would be perfectly justified if someone votes Duggan as the Heisman Trophy winner.
