2009 Heisman Trophy Candidates

The names of the 2009 Heisman Trophy Candidates were announced earlier today. That means five lucky college football players will be busy purchasing new suits and getting ready to head to the downtown Athletic Club in New York City for Saturday's presentation. Despite being a rather boring Heisman race this year, it could prove to be one of the closest Heisman votes in quite sometime, simply because no one individual managed to separate themselves from the pack.

Tim Tebow QB Florida: Tim Tebow has been the chosen one for seemingly his entire career in Florida. He is the only person in college football history to be invited to three Heisman ceremonies, he has won one. While Tebow's career numbers are beyond impressive, his stats this season are lackluster. Especially when compared to his Heisman winning numbers of two years ago. It also does not help that Tebow played his worst game of the year in the SEC Championship last week against Alabama.

Colt McCoy QB Texas: The Texas quarterback set a FCS record when he recorded his 45th win as a starting QB Saturday night against Nebraska. Colt is on his second trip to New York for the Heisman ceremony. On the whole Colt McCoy had a solid season, nothing extra special. His defining moment came against Texas A&M when he ran for a 60 plus yard touchdown run on that 'zone read' play. If nothing else, Colt McCoy has the best chance of winning this thing as a lifetime achievement award for his four years at Texas.

Mark Ingram RB Alabama: Mike Ingram has rushed for over 1,500 yards this season and 15 touchdowns while leading the Crimson Tide back to the national title game. Despite those impressive numbers, Ingram has flown under many radars. He can thank his conference teammate Tim Tebow for that. Pushing Ingram's bid for the Heisman was a masterful performance in the SEC Championship game on Saturday night.

Toby Gerhart RB Stanford: The second half of Stanford's regular season of the Toby Gerhart highlight reel. It is no accident that when Gerhart got hot, the Stanford Cardinals followed. 1,700 yards and 26 TD's is good enough to lead the nation. More importantly Gerhart was big in big games on national television. He saved his best work for games against USC, Oregon and Notre Dame.

Ndamukong Suh DE Nebraska: It's not every year that we get to see a defensive player make it to New York City, it's an even rarer occurrence that we get a defensive linemen on the Heisman ballot. That being said Suh is more than deserving of a trip to NYC. He may be the soul reason Nebraska made it to the Big 12 Championship game. His 4.5 sacks during the game were the reason the Cornhuskers nearly won the game. Ndamukong Suh is a big time play maker and being on the ballot for the highest honor in college football is a great accomplishment.