A phony meme has circulated since Jameis Winston won the Heisman this past Saturday.
Namely, that the 115 Heisman voters who left the Florida State freshmen off their ballots are somehow defective people who have it in for the Seminoles quarterback.
Former Heisman winner Ricky Williams sure isn’t happy about it:Williams is so certain that Winston deserved the honor that he has some doubts about the brains of those who didn’t see it that way.
“When you get a Heisman vote it doesn’t mean you’re intelligent or smart or anything like that,” Williams said with a smile on Monday when asked by HuffPost Live host Josh Zepps about the 115 voters who left Winston off their ballots
Blacksportsonline was also miffed:
Deadspin noted in its lede on Saturday that Winston was left off of 115 ballots, as if it was a particularly newsworthy point.
The problem with raising a stink about Winston being left off of that many ballots is that it’s a completely normal occurrence in Heisman voting. In fact, Winston was left off of fewer ballots than many past Heisman winners.
Barry Sanders, who was a landslide winner of the Heisman after producing one of the greatest seasons in college football history, was left off of 224 ballots in 1988.
Archie Griffin was left off over 200 ballots in 1975. Marcus Allen was left of off over 300 ballots in 1981. So was Herschel Walker in 1982.
So, please. Stop complaining about Winston being left off of these ballots. It’s something that happens to every Heisman winner.