Can he really win it? Part II

Despite coming into the season as a dark horse at best to win the Heisman, Spiller has certain advantages that could boost him into ESPN's good graces and we all know that's all it takes to win the Heisman.



1. C.J. Spiller IS 2009 Clemson Tiger football.

There isn't another player more important to his or her(in the case of Stephen Garcia) team than Spiller. Tebow has Rainey, Demps, and all 11 starters back on defense. Bradford has Demarco Murray and Jermaine Gresham. McCoy has Shipley and Muschamp. Spiller has ...Spiller. Dabo has already stated that the offense will begin and end with 28. Who could blame him? The Tigers will have a first year starter at QB, 2 WR spots, and possibly TE(Dwayne Allen is a beast). If the offensive line is able to stay healthy Spiller will have a statistical field day.



2. History is on Spiller's side.

The Downtown Athletic Club is steeped in tradition. It is very difficult to buck long running trends. For the first 72 years the Heisman was never won by an underclassman. Many people believe this kept Herschel Walker and Adrian Peterson from winning a Heisman as a freshman. Then after Tebow bucked the trend in 2007 (due to lack of competition) nobody had a problem with selecting another sophomore in Sam Bradford. Archie Griffin is the only two time Heisman Trophy winner and that occurred in 1975. Will this 33 year old streak stay intact? Let's hope so. That would cancel out Tebooooo and Bradford. Which leaves us with Spiller vs McCoy.



3. A beefed up offensive line.

I had a long discussion with a member of the 2008 football team and one of the topics we discussed was the Strength and Conditioning Program. We talked about offseason workouts and he began telling me how much he HATED mat drills. He said mat drills are designed to break your will in order to pull the team together and that they did not help with strength or conditioning. He also said that while he was being recruited only three programs did mat drills Clemson, FSU, and Georgia (a combined 2 national titles in 70 years of coaching). He asked other coaches in the SEC and ACC if they did mat drills, but they replied that was a Bowden thing and said they would rather spend the time strength training. Seeing as Dabo is a Stallings disciple I would think they would scrap the "all for one and one for all" time and concentrate on the "all get jacked" time. The player agreed so here's to our lineman finally being able to out lift Percy Harvin or Brooks Foster (both 400lb benchers).



All in all I think Spiller can put up Reggie Bush type numbers 1700 yds rushing, 600 yds rec, and 20 TDs. Bush averaged 221 all purpose yards a game in his Heisman year and if Spiller can do that then strike the pose.

Can he really win it? Part I

After we began this site, I have received the same question several times, "Can he really win it?" In reality that question has nothing to do with Spiller actually winning the Heisman, but instead people are really wanting to know if he is a legitimate candidate. Well let's run down the other candidates and proceed from there.

1. Tim Tebow
I list him first not because of his football talents but because of the immense love that the media has for this guy. Thom Brennaman threw out this golden nugget during the national championship, "If you spent 10 minutes with this young man than your life would be changed for the better." REALLY. Or after Tebow was penalized for taunting Oklahoma with the game already won Brennaman stated, "that might have been the first thing he's ever done wrong in his life." WOW.

2. Sam Bradford
The defending Heisman winner is back for his Jr. year. Sam Bradford is arguably the most accurate QB in college football. He led the Sooners to the most points EVER scored in a season by a College team. He is a great leader and has all the intangibles you could ask for at the QB position.

3. Colt McCoy
Many people forget that McCoy, not Tebow, finished as the runner up for the Heisman. McCoy may be the only QB that can say he is more accurate than Bradford as he broke Daunte Culpepper's completion percentage record. Colt finished the season completing 76.7% of his passes smashing Culpepper's 73.6%. He was also his teams leading rusher and ran for 12 more yards than the angelic Tim Tebow.

Those are the top three. Spiller definitely won't go into the season as the favorite, but he does have some advantages which I'll list in Part II.

Answers to a reader's email.

Hello all,

We at CJSPILLERFORHEISMAN.com received this email from one of our dedicated readers on the site and thought this would be a great opportunity for other readers to post their responses to this email. Have at it!


So, this is what I was thinking about…………..

Going into the 2008 Football season we had two areas of concern on our football team and just about everyone could agree that if we were going to have a good season it was going to depend on the play of the following two units:

- Offensive Line

- Linebackers

During the 2008 season it was obvious that we were losing games almost solely as a result of these two units poor performances. The offensive line was young and beat up and the Linebackers were young and dumb. The linebackers did show improvement towards the end of the season. Looking back on the 2008 Season the other unit that caused us to lose football game last year was the QB.

Going into the 2009 season in my eyes there are two areas of concern

- Safeties

- Wide Receivers


So in my opinion we should have a much better team next year than we did last year. I feel like these two units are not as important to wins and losses as the O Line and linebackers. You might ask why is the QB position not on this list. Well, besides the fact the a Byrnes QB will be the starter next year, or someone that beats out a Byrnes QB, I am convinced that Clemson will be going Old School next year and most likely many years to come. I –formation, 2 Tight End sets, Smash Mouth Football, where the QB is not asked to win football games just not lose them, thus making the Wide Receivers less of a ? as well.

I hope that all future Tiger football players, current Tigers and former Tigers recognize what CJ Spiller did yesterday as a true barometer of the Clemson Football program. To turn down the NFL after a first round draft projection says a lot about his other option.

"Heisman Material"

Thursday, January 15, 2009 will be a day that will go down in infamy. Well, maybe not infamy, but a day that the writers here at CJSPILLERFORHESIMAN.COM will not forget anytime soon. Although many believe that Spiller might should have went pro as it would have been awesome to see how his God given talents would translate into the NFL. The Clemson faithful already know how well his ability translates into the college game and let's be frank... Clemson would have not made it to a bowl game this year if it wasn't for CJ. That being said, the fact that he is coming back is even more exciting because of the following reasons:

1) Tommy "quivering lip" Bowden is no longer the head coach at Clemson. We here at the site still are a little skeptical regarding the Yabo Dabo Do hiring over a more proven coach but one fact about Dabo can not be denied - during the 6 games in which he took over as head coach, it was no surprise that he wanted to give #28 the ball early and often and for that we applaud Dabo.

2) Spiller will be the featured back at Clemson in 2009. It is probably safe to assume that as much as we here at the site love James (#1 in your programs, #1 in your hearts) Davis, CJ Spiller is the much more talented and complete running back on the Clemson football team.

3) Willy Krak Korn. As many of you know, several of contributors of this site are both Clemson and James F. Byrnes High School alumni. That's right baby... James F. Byrnes High School better known as HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL USA! Willy Korn, also a Byrnes alum said when asked if Spiller should be in contention for the 2009 Heisman race stated, "Without a doubt. Look at some of his highlights from last year. How can he not be under consideration already?". Our sentiments exactly Willy... our sentiments exactly.

Just a Few Highlights

this guy

Letter to The Man himself

Dear CJ,

First of all, Thank you. Thank you for being your "Own Man". Thank you for being born. Thank you for blessing Tiger Nation with your decision to hold off on the NFL for one more year. Thank you for the past three seasons. Thank you for the GaTech highlight. Thank you for the 2009 season in advance. Thank you for giving us the Heisman Trophy in advance. Thank you for giving me the greatest Christmas gift of all time, I know it was 21 days late, but guaranteed, Spillmas will be celebrated on January 15th for the rest of my life. There will never be presents given of this magnitude on future January 15ths, but 1/15/2009 will go down in history as one of the greatest days in Clemson history. We know what you are capable of, we have a coach that knows what your capable of, defenses know what your capable of, and most of all YOU know what your capable of. Needless to say I am "all in", http://www.cjspillerforheisman.com/ is also "all in", and we are going to do whatever it takes to give you the publicity and hype you need to make your heisman trophy campaign for the 2009 season come true. Long live tiger nation and long live the legend himself, CJ Spiller.

Regards,
1/15/2009=Christmas

CJ Spiller is the MAN!

Everyone knows this but I figured I would reiterate.  All for now.