Heisman Finalists Announced and Chuba is Snubbed
STILLWATER -- The Heisman voters have spoken as all votes were due in by 5 p.m. (ET) on Monday, Dec. 9, and shortly after the Heisman Trust through ESPN announced the finalists for the 2019 Heisman Trophy that will be presented on Saturday, Dec. 14. The list of finalists for the award and those that are invited to the presentation in New York City are determined by the voting. The Heisman Trust looks at the voting and they always invite the three top vote getters and then any other candidates that have a reasonable proximity in the voting to the top three. Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard despite leading the nation in rushing this season did not get close enough in the voting to be invited to New York City for Saturday.
The favorite to win the Heisman Trophy is LSU quarterback Joe Burrow and he is an overwhelming favorite. Burrow is a transfer to LSU from Ohio State. This Heisman Trophy ceremony will have a strong Buckeyes flavor as the other OSU had two finalists in defensive end Chase Young and quarterback Justin Fields. Four players were named as finalists with the other being Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts. The finalists were announced in alphabetical order, so it was the announcement of Hurts that was the sign that Hubbard was not in for NYC.
Hubbard has rushed for 1,936-yards and 21 touchdowns on 309 carries and he is just a sophomore in school. Two other running backs, Wisconsin's Jonathan Taylor and Ohio State's J.K. Dobbins were behind Hubbard and were also hoping to be invited to New York City, but this is very much a quarterback award these days.
Hubbard took to Twitter on Monday night to thank those that did vote for him and support him for the Heisman.
"What's up Cowboy Nation and everybody back home, I just wanted to tak e a few seconds to than everyone that was supporting me and voting for me in the Heisman," Hubbard said in a selfie video. I was blessed to be in this position and I wouldn't be here without my teammates or any of you all. I just wanted to take this time to thank you. I'm forever proud to be a Cowboy. I'm going to keep working hard for you all. God bless."
Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy will join Hubbard in Atlanta, Ga. on Tursday for the Home Depot College Football Awards and Hubbard is a finalist for the Doak Walker Award for the top running back in college football and Taylor and Dobbins are the other two finalists.
Hubbard is also a finalist for the Walter Camp Trophy, also symbolic of the top player in college football. The five finalists are Burrow, Fields, Hubbard, Taylor, and Young.
In other news on Chuba Hubbard, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy told the media on Sunday evening in a teleconference announcing the match-up with Texas A&M in the Academy Sports and Outdoors Texas Bowl that he expects Hubbard to play in the bowl game and he actually expects Hubbard to play for Oklahoma State next season.
"Yes, I haven't talked to him about it, but I would expect him to play in this game," Gundy said somewhat matter of fact. "I think Chuba will be playing next year too. How's that."
Checking two NFL Draft sites for projections and one had Hubbard as a mid-round pick in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL Draft and another had him as a middle third round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Two other sites agreed with Gundy and suggested he would not come out until the 2021 NFL Draft.
Talking to Hubbard, he told me that his NFL Draft grade from the league and that he requested would be important in making his decision.
