First and foremost, I must say that in my humble opinion, numbers alone shouldn't win you a Heisman trophy. If you are a quarterback, then wins are of major importance, in my opinion. And no matter what, performing in the clutch in big games and big situations is the most telling thing, I believe. It should also be said that people who argue that Harrell and Crabtree's system implemented by Mike Leach is the only reason why their numbers are so gaudy IS a valid point of contention.

When you look at the Texas Tech teams of the past, you look at the awesome numbers that guys like Kliff Kingsbury, B.J. Symons, and Sonny Cumbie have put up over the years. Then you look at the number of wins by Texas Tech in that same time period since Mike Leach has taken over as the head coach (56-33). It's very good, but not great. Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree are on route to possibly taking this team where it has never been before. Especially considering the ups and downs of the season so far. The Red Raiders are off to a great start going 6-1 in their first 7 games. Granted, their toughest competition awaits them with meetings against Texas and Oklahoma in their final two games of the season. Of course, we know that both of those teams are vulnerable. Texas especially.

Mike Leach is a phenomenal offensive coach and has implemented a genius system of throwing the football down in Lubbock. However, many NFL scouts and NFL experts have said that Harrell is not just a product of the system. This guy is for real. He has great size, listed at 6-3 and 203 lbs. Not to mention the accuracy that he throws the ball with. Accuracy is such an important asset for an NFL quarterback to have (see Tom Brady). Not to say that Harrell will be anywhere near as good as Tom Brady, but their builds are similar and it shows that accuracy is most important and that arm strength is a little overrated. Besides Crabtree, Harrell has also had a lack of ideal talent at the receiver position to help him. He makes very quick reads and makes his mind up in the pocket without hesitation, always making the right decisions. He doesn't make the stupid plays. This is evident by his most impressive statistic of all, his touchdown to interception ratio. Harrell has already thrown 31 touchdown passes on the year to go along with just 3 interceptions! That is an incredible 10:1 ratio folks! He is already more than halfway to Colt Brennan's incredible 58 touchdowns last year. Harrell also has 3,151 yards passing through just 7 games and is completing over 74% of his passes (74.4%). This is all with much less depth than he had at the receiver position last year after the losses of Jarrett Hicks and Joel Filani. Harrell is on pace to throw for approximately 5,402 yards and 53 TD's as of right now to go along with just 5 INT's! In most cases, amazing numbers aren't the only thing that should warrant a Heisman vote, but when you're putting up numbers like this, AND your team is winning games, you absolutely have to get some respect from the voters out there. The guy threw for 646 yards in a near-win at Oklahoma State a few weeks back. That's more yards than even the most prolific of offenses score in entire games! The one thing that could really damage Harrell's shot at making it to NYC in December, however, would be a 3 or 4 or 5 in the loss column at year's end. The poise, accuracy, and toughness shown by Harrell in the pocket had better get this guy in the Heisman talk. A big win at Missouri this week would certainly help too. That's not going to be a high-scoring affair or anything, is it? Oh, if you really want to know how tough Harrell is....go back and see the late hit on him that wasn't called this past week against A&M. Got right back up and started slinging it again.

As for Michael Crabtree, is there a better freshman in college football this year? The guy is maybe the most prolific receiver I've seen in the past 5 years, and he's a friggin' freshman! All the talk about whether the inexperienced receivers at Tech could step up this year to make up for the losses is all but erased by Crabtree alone. Crabtree has phenomenal size at 6-3 and a bulking 222 lbs. He's strong and can break tackles like no other receiver in college football. His hands are silky smooth and soft. Making hard catches seems effortless to this guy. He already has 78 receptions with still 5 games to go in the season along with 1,244 receiving yards and 17 TD's and is on pace to possibly break or come close to records for the NCAA in receiving yards in a season, touchdown receptions in a season, and total number of receptions in a season. To put it simply, Crabtree is a Heisman candidate. If he breaks any of the records mentioned prior in a conference like the Big 12, the guy will be in NYC in December, and if he's not it should be a crime. Crabtree has gained at least 140 yards receiving in each of the first seven games of this season, except for the opening game at SMU (106 yards) including a two-week span in which he caught 25 balls for 481 yards and 6 TD's. He is on pace to come just 24 yards shy of the single season NCAA record for receiving yards in a season, accomplished by Scott Pingel of Westminster (Mo.), a Division III school back in 1998. He also has not fumbled the ball once this year and has 17 TD's despite not scoring at all last weekend in the blowout of Texas A&M. The one thing that could hurt Crabtree's chances in the Heisman voter's eyes is the dropped touchdown pass in the end zone in their lone loss so far to Oklahoma State in which he could have come through and won the game for the Red Raiders. I really have never seen such a lethal combination like this ever in the history of college football. System or no system, this young duo is no fluke like the Texas Tech players of years past and they are going to shine. Not only at the college level, but the next level as well. Anyone who wouldn't put a vote in for these guys in the Heisman race is not watching college football.

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tra crabtree said:

	Michael Crabtree how u get so good hit me up on myspace.com bro
	report abuse vote down vote up

December 22, 2007
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