IS JARVIS JONES NEXT?College football’s defensive players in the last half century who have finished among the top five in Heisman Trophy voting:YEAR / PLAYER / FINISH1962 / Alabama / LB Lee Roy Jordan / 4th1968 / Miami / DL Ted Hendricks / 3rd1969 / Penn State / DL Mike Reid / 5th1972 / Nebraska / DL Rich Glover / 3rd1977 / Notre Dame / DL Ross Browner / 5th1980 / Pittsburgh / DL Hugh Green / 2nd1983 / Georgia / DB Terry Hoage / 5th1986 / Oklahoma / LB Brian Bosworth / 4th1991 / Washington / DL Steve Emtman / 4th1992 / Florida State / LB Marvin Jones / 4th1997 / Michigan / DB Chares Woodson / 1st2009 / Nebraska / DT Ndamukong Suh / 4th2011 / LSU / DB Tyrann Mathieu / 5th
ATHENS, Ga. – Maybe the “Honey Badger” will impact the 2012 college football season after all.
LSU junior cornerback Tyrann Mathieu is ineligible this year, but the first Southeastern Conference defensive player to earn an invitation to the Heisman Trophy ceremony may have started something. Georgia redshirt junior outside linebacker Jarvis Jones could make it two in a row for SEC defenders should he continue to perform at the lofty level he displayed last Saturday at Missouri.
The only defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy was Michigan cornerback Charles Woodson in 1997.
“Charles Woodson was a beast during his time, but Honey Badger definitely opened up some doors in this era right here,” Jones said. “The dude was a ball hawk and made a lot of plays.”