Our first-ever pre-season poll - with 88 voters - and Mark Ingram leads the pack
Welcome to the new Stiff Arm Trophy. We've got lots of new features here for 2010.
On the first day of the college football season, we've now released our first-ever pre-season poll for the Heisman Trophy. With 88 actual Heisman voters participating from 38 states, the StiffArmTrophy.com poll is the most expansive Heisman poll yet.
Heisman voters were asked simply, "Which 15 college football players are on your Heisman watch list?" (rather than asking them to rank a top five or three.)
All 88 voters included Alabama running back Mark Ingram, the 2009 Heisman Trophy winner. (Please note: nearly all responses came in before his recent surgery was announced.)
87 Heisman voters included Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor in their personal top 15, ranking him a close second. Washington QB Jake Locker, Boise State QB Kellen Moore, and Houston QB Case Keenum round out the top five.
2010 will be a fascinating Heisman race, with just one previous finalist returning. With 88 actual voters participating, the StiffArmTrophy.com poll gives us an opening-day snapshot of just how wide open the contest is this year. We'll be tracking this all year - since it's possible that the eventual winner isn't even in the top 25 right now!
On the jump, the full details of the poll...
| rank | player | weighted% | votes |
| 1 | Alabama RB Mark Ingram | 100% | 88 |
| 2 | Ohio St QB Terrelle Pryor | 99% | 87 |
| 3 | Washington QB Jake Locker | 84% | 74 |
| 4 | Boise St QB Kellen Moore | 81% | 72 |
| 5 | Houston QB Case Keenum | 79% | 70 |
| 6 | Pitt RB Dion Lewis | 77% | 64 |
| 7 | Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett | 77% | 69 |
| 8 | Oregon St RB Jacquizz Rodgers | 70% | 59 |
| 9 | Wisconsin RB John Clay | 56% | 47 |
| 10 | Stanford QB Andrew Luck | 53% | 47 |
| 11 | West Virginia RB Noel Devine | 52% | 42 |
| 12 | Miami QB Jacory Harris | 48% | 41 |
| 13 | Virginia Tech RB Ryan Williams | 43% | 34 |
| 14 | Florida St QB Christian Ponder | 40% | 36 |
| 15 | Oregon RB LaMichael James | 37% | 32 |
| 16 | Georgia WR AJ Green | 33% | 34 |
| 17 | Oklahoma RB DeMarco Murray | 28% | 27 |
| 18 | TCU QB Andy Dalton | 23% | 20 |
| 19 | Oklahoma QB Landry Jones | 23% | 19 |
| 20 | Florida QB John Brantley | 19% | 19 |
| 21 | Alabama QB Greg McElroy | 19% | 18 |
| 22 | Navy QB Ricky Dobbs | 19% | 16 |
| 23 | Iowa DL Adrian Clayborn | 19% | 18 |
| 24 | Penn St RB Evan Royster | 18% | 17 |
| 25 | Alabama WR Julio Jones | 18% | 17 |
With votes coming from 38 states, players are ranked based on a weighted percentage that adjusts for the number of participating voters in each state. (For example, we had 24 voters from the South region, and just 8 from the Northeast.)
Here's the regional breakdown:
| rank | player | Atlantic (11 votes) | Midwest (18 votes) | Northeast (8 votes) | South (24 votes) | Southwest (16 votes) | West (11 votes) |
| 1 | Alabama RB Mark Ingram | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| 2 | Ohio St QB Terrelle Pryor | 100% | 100% | 100% | 95% | 100% | 100% |
| 3 | Washington QB Jake Locker | 72% | 77% | 87% | 83% | 87% | 100% |
| 4 | Boise St QB Kellen Moore | 90% | 83% | 62% | 75% | 93% | 81% |
| 5 | Houston QB Case Keenum | 81% | 55% | 75% | 87% | 87% | 90% |
| 6 | Pitt RB Dion Lewis | 100% | 72% | 100% | 54% | 75% | 63% |
| 7 | Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett | 81% | 66% | 75% | 91% | 75% | 72% |
| 8 | Oregon St RB Jacquizz Rodgers | 54% | 72% | 75% | 50% | 68% | 100% |
| 9 | Wisconsin RB John Clay | 54% | 77% | 75% | 33% | 43% | 54% |
| 10 | Stanford QB Andrew Luck | 27% | 66% | 50% | 50% | 43% | 81% |
| 11 | West Virginia RB Noel Devine | 90% | 33% | 62% | 37% | 43% | 45% |
| 12 | Miami QB Jacory Harris | 36% | 27% | 62% | 45% | 62% | 54% |
| 13 | Virginia Tech RB Ryan Williams | 54% | 16% | 87% | 41% | 25% | 36% |
| 14 | Florida St QB Christian Ponder | 27% | 27% | 62% | 50% | 56% | 18% |
| 15 | Oregon RB LaMichael James | 36% | 22% | 25% | 41% | 25% | 72% |
| 16 | Georgia WR AJ Green | 54% | 38% | 12% | 70% | 6% | 18% |
| 17 | Oklahoma RB DeMarco Murray | 27% | 33% | 12% | 33% | 43% | 18% |
| 18 | TCU QB Andy Dalton | 27% | 16% | 12% | 12% | 37% | 36% |
| 19 | Oklahoma QB Landry Jones | 18% | 11% | 37% | 12% | 50% | 9% |
| 20 | Florida QB John Brantley | 9% | 5% | 37% | 41% | 25% | 0% |
| 21 | Alabama QB Greg McElroy | 27% | 22% | 12% | 25% | 12% | 18% |
| 22 | Navy QB Ricky Dobbs | 18% | 16% | 12% | 12% | 18% | 36% |
| 23 | Iowa DL Adrian Clayborn | 9% | 44% | 12% | 8% | 31% | 9% |
| 24 | Penn St RB Evan Royster | 18% | 22% | 12% | 16% | 31% | 9% |
| 25 | Alabama WR Julio Jones | 18% | 22% | 12% | 25% | 12% | 18% |
Participating voters included:
Mid-Atlantic: Frank Bodani, Mike Casazza, Richard Cirminiello, Bob Flounders, Travis Haney, Todd Helmick, Chuck Landon, John Lindsay, Tom Luicci, Dave Morrison, Caulton Tudor
Midwest: Andy Baggot, Randy Beard, Mike Carmin, Angelique Chengelis, Doug Clarke, Pete DiPrimio, Don Doxsie, Teddy Greenstein, Dave Hackenberg, Sean Keeler, Tony Krausz, Marc Morehouse, Tom Mulhern, Tom Oates, Jeff Potrykus, C. Trent Rosecrans, Drew Sharp, Jon Spencer
Northeast: Mark Blaudschun, Albert Chen, Mike DiMauro, Cory McCartney, Rick McGowan, Bud Poliquin, B.J. Schecter, Howard Simon
South: Brady Ackerman, Andy Bitter, Rick Bozich, Bruce Brown, Olin Buchanan, John Clay, Rick Cleveland, David Climer, Tommy Deas, Pat Dooley, Tim Guidera, Chuck Hathcock, Jim Henderson, Ron Higgins, Joey Johnston, Sam Kouvaris, Ted Lewis, Chris Low, Phillip Marshall, Jim Mashek, Billy Reed, Jeff Shepard, Jay Tate, Bob Tompkins
Southwest: Greg Archuleta, David Barron, Bret Bloomquist, Jimmy Burch, Sean Callahan, Jenni Carlson, Joe Cervi, Tom Dienhart, Suzanne Halliburton, Kevin Haskin, Rich Kaipust, Harry King, Dave Matter, John Rohde, Tom Shatel, Joe Walljasper
West: Steve Bisheff, Bob Condotta, Patrick Finley, Ryan Finley, Ken Goe, Bob Keisser, Jeff Metcalfe, Kevin Schnepf, John Tamanaha, Mike Waldner, Bud Withers,