Stiff Arm Trophy

Pre-season Heisman poll: Will the Heisman go West in 2011?

Posted by Kari Chisholm on September 3, 2011 in News.

2010 finalists Luck, James, and Moore start out on top with Heisman voters

The first week of the 2011 college football season is getting underway. And once again, StiffArmTrophy.com has conducted the largest poll of Heisman voters in the country.

With 66 actual Heisman voters participating, it's clear that the Heisman race starts out where it left off in New York last December. With Cam Newton's departure to the NFL, the top three Heisman candidates are his three fellow 2010 finalists - Stanford QB Andrew Luck, Oregon RB LaMichael James, and Boise State QB Kellen Moore.

Each of those top three were on a top-15 watch list of at least 60 of the 66 voters participating. Luck was on top, appearing on 65 top-15 watch lists.

Also with more than 70% support were Alabama RB Trent Richardson, Oklahoma QB Landry Jones, South Carolina RB Marcus Lattimore, Michigan QB Denard Robinson, Houston QB Case Keenum, Oklahoma St WR Justin Blackmon.

Of course, it's worth noting that Cam Newton didn't appear anywhere on the 2010 pre-season Heisman poll. In fact, Newton didn't appear in the poll at all until week 4, when he jumped from nowhere to #9 overall.

66 actual Heisman voters from 32 states participated in the pre-season StiffArmTrophy.com poll.

rankplayerweighted%votes
1Stanford QB Andrew Luck98%65
2Oregon RB LaMichael James95%64
3Boise St QB Kellen Moore89%60
4Alabama RB Trent Richardson86%58
5Oklahoma QB Landry Jones86%59
6South Carolina RB Marcus Lattimore83%53
7Michigan QB Denard Robinson80%53
8Houston QB Case Keenum75%50
9Oklahoma St WR Justin Blackmon71%48
10USC QB Matt Barkley51%35
11Baylor QB Robert Griffin III47%32
12Wisconsin QB Russell Wilson45%28
13Nebraska QB Taylor Martinez44%29
14Michigan St QB Kirk Cousins38%24
15Oklahoma WR Ryan Broyles31%21
16Oregon QB Darron Thomas30%19
17West Virginia QB Geno Smith28%17
18Notre Dame WR Michael Floyd26%18
19Nebraksa DT Jared Crick26%18
20Northwestern QB Dan Persa25%17
21South Carolina WR Alshon Jeffery23%14
22Oklahoma St QB Brandon Weeden21%15
23Auburn RB Michael Dyer21%13
24Texas A&M QB Ryan Tannehill19%12
25Arizona QB Nick Foles16%12

Regional breakdown and list of participating voters on the jump...

With votes coming from 32 states, players are ranked based on a weighted percentage that adjusts for the number of participating voters in each state.

Here's the regional breakdown:

rankplayerAtlanticMidwestNortheastSouthSouthwestWest
1Stanford QB Andrew Luck100%100%100%100%100%91%
2Oregon RB LaMichael James87%100%87%100%100%100%
3Boise St QB Kellen Moore100%92%75%80%100%91%
4Alabama RB Trent Richardson87%92%75%80%92%91%
5Oklahoma QB Landry Jones62%100%75%90%100%91%
6South Carolina RB Marcus Lattimore100%42%100%90%100%66%
7Michigan QB Denard Robinson87%92%87%60%64%91%
8Houston QB Case Keenum62%71%87%80%92%58%
9Oklahoma St WR Justin Blackmon50%71%87%50%85%83%
10USC QB Matt Barkley37%50%50%50%57%66%
11Baylor QB Robert Griffin III50%50%25%70%42%50%
12Wisconsin QB Russell Wilson100%35%25%40%14%58%
13Nebraska QB Taylor Martinez62%50%37%50%35%33%
14Michigan St QB Kirk Cousins50%50%50%30%7%41%
15Oklahoma WR Ryan Broyles37%28%37%20%64%0%
16Oregon QB Darron Thomas25%7%50%20%28%50%
17West Virginia QB Geno Smith62%7%12%60%14%16%
18Notre Dame WR Michael Floyd12%50%37%10%14%33%
19Nebraksa DT Jared Crick0%42%37%30%21%25%
20Northwestern QB Dan Persa12%50%50%10%14%16%
21South Carolina WR Alshon Jeffery37%0%37%20%21%25%
22Oklahoma St QB Brandon Weeden12%0%12%30%64%8%
23Auburn RB Michael Dyer37%14%12%40%14%8%
24Texas A&M QB Ryan Tannehill50%14%0%40%7%8%
25Arizona QB Nick Foles12%14%12%0%28%33%

Participating voters included:

Mid-Atlantic: Mike Casazza, Doug Doughty, Chuck Landon, Kevin McCrarey, Dave Morrison, Matthew Osborne, Keith Sargeant, Dave Weekley

Midwest: Andy Baggot, Randy Beard, Mike Carmin, Doug Clarke, Pete DiPrimio, Don Doxsie, Dave Hackenberg, Todd Hefferman, Tony Krausz, Jeff Rapp, Mark Rea, C. Trent Rosecrans, Drew Sharp, Jon Spencer

Northeast: Albert Chen, C.J. McCarthy, Cory McCartney, Rick McGowan, Chuck Pollock, Lenn Robbins, B.J. Schecter, John Tucker

South: Brady Ackerman, Rick Bozich, Olin Buchanan, Chuck Hathcock, Joey Johnston, Ted Lewis, Phillip Marshall, Billy Reed, Doug Segrest, Bob Tompkins

Southwest: Mike Baldwin, Jimmy Burch, Joe Cervi, David Collier, Suzanne Halliburton, John Helsley, Gary Ivins, Josh Kinder, Harry King, Bob Lutz, Dave Matter, David McCollum, Kyle Ringo, Jimmie Tramel

West: Mark Anderson, Roxy Bernstein, Steve Bisheff, Bob Condotta, Patrick Finley, Mike Lewis, Jody Oehler, Ryan Recker, Eric Schmoldt, Kevin Schnepf, Mike Sorensen, Scott Wolf