There is a groundswell of momentum building for Ohio State defensive end Chase Young’s Heisman chances. He was on the fringe of voters’ thoughts already, and then Saturday happened. Simply put — he was a human wrecking ball against Wisconsin. He had four sacks, a couple of forced fumbles and five total tackles for loss.
He was unblockable and the thing you can’t quantify is how many times he was in the head of Badger quarterback Jack Coan. But he might still be in there for all we know.
It was that performance that had many in the mainstream media calling for Young to be further included in the Heisman talk. He’s even appeared on some mock voters’ No. 1 line this week, and making a move in other mock polls, like USA TODAY’s Heisman Watch.
Still, we all know the challenges of a defensive player winning the most coveted individual award in American sport. It just doesn’t happen. At least not from a full-time defensive player.
So, can he bank the perception and mindset of a defensive player being the “best” in college football? Maybe, but there’s a lot that has to go his way. Here’s five things we believe has to happen for Chase Young to somehow, someway, win the Heisman Trophy.
Next … A sack attack
Break the single-season record for sacks in a season
If you’re going to bash Heisman voters over the head you have to have some stats for the simple-minded ones to pour over. Sorry collective Heisman group-think, it’s true. Voters love themselves some stats.
Unfortunately, when you’re playing on defense, you can’t exactly pile up otherworldly numbers. But … the one thing that can’t be ignored is if Young somehow finds a way to break the all-time single-season sack record. Accounts and numbers vary, but officially, that record belongs to Arizona State’s Terrell Suggs. He notched 24 of them in 2002.
So far in 2019, Young has 13.5 sacks. That means he’s slightly under the pace he needs to be in order to enter the record books. At the current pace set, he would be somewhere around 20 sacks. But hey, have a couple of more games like what he had against Wisconsin, and that number could come into focus rather quickly.
Next … Perform big in the bright lights
Show out on nationally televised games
So how did Young get into the forefront of the conversation already? That’s right, he did some serious damage during a game that had a lot of eyes on it. Heck, even LeBron James took note. In fact, the game against Wisconsin was the most watched college football game that weekend on any network.
It’s not like he hasn’t been a force up until last week, but the fact that he left no prisoners while the country — and most importantly — the voters in each region were watching, resulted in the media pushing, prodding, and praising.
As great as that was, Young is still on the outskirts of the race. He needs more help, and that can only come with similar games against Penn State and Michigan the last two weeks of the year.
Next … Get the campaign going
Ohio State needs to push and publicize
The fine folks at Ohio State have refused to do this in the past, but it might take an unprecedented effort from its PR and creative teams to start dreaming up ways to push and promote the “Chase for the Heisman.” C’mon, I just gave it to you Buckeye brass, it’s far too easy with his name.
We’ve seen other programs and teams do it with varying success, but let’s not forget that the Heisman doesn’t exactly go to the “best” player in college football. It goes to one of the best that everyone knows and sees. People buy Coca-Cola because it’s advertised.
In order for Young to make it to New York and have a shot, he needs help from OSU. The problem there is that both Justin Fields and J.K. Dobbins are in a similar spot, and how do you choose one guy from the three?
Next … Hard times for the “leaders”
The Heisman leaders needs to suffer some setbacks
We’ve already seen some of this with Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts. It’s no longer good enough to be a special player, you have to seemingly be on a team that’s in the thick of things all the way until such time when the stiff-arming trophy is announced in mid-December.
Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa suffered an ankle injury, and that too seems to have made a bit of an impact because LSU’s Joe Burrow has skyrocked to the top of most of the Heisman projections out there. By the way his team is undefeated and he’s slinging the ball around and piling up stats. But, he has to go against Tua’s Alabama team in a couple of weeks.
That’s going to shake things up one way or another.
Anyway, with setbacks by the three guys seemingly quite a bit above him, it can only help Young reel things in.
Next … Get some time on offense
Chase as a tight end?
This is about as likely as Jim Harbaugh holding a coherent press-conference, but it would help a ton if the Ohio State coaching staff put in a package or two for Young to get a shot at scoring a TD on the offensive end.
The most likely spot to do it would be at tight end. He could line up as a blocker, release and run a pass pattern in a goal-line situation — shades of former New England Patriot and former Buckeye defensive end Mike Vrabel. It draws attention to Young, allows him to show his athleticism, and to pad some artificial stats.
I suppose running back could also work, but you’d want to protect one of your most valuable assets and not run a play where he’s almost sure to get pounded on.
Ryan Day nixed that idea in his weekly press conference Tuesday, but there’s no doubt it would help his cause, just like it helped Michigan’s Charles Woodson when he won the trophy in 1997. Though to be fair, he had quite a few touches as a wide-receiver to showcase himself. Much more than what Young would get.
