Florida State's Dalvin Cook Belongs At The Top Of Heisman Trophy List

Before this goes further, let’s just say that yes, LSU’s Leonard Fournette may be one of the best players on the field right now. I wouldn’t be surprised if we found out that he was actually created in a lab and then perfected like Ivan Drago in ‘Rocky IV’. But let’s not leave out Florida State’s explosive RB Dalvin Cook. He may be a better player than Fournette. He should be higher on the prospective candidates list, not hovering at No. 4.

Highlight yards are the yards given to a runner after the offensive line has completed its work. In the first nine yards of a carry, the offensive line gets most of the credit. So after 10 yards of a carry the runner gets credit for the yardage. Highlight yards are a great barometer of a player’s open field speed and ability.

At this point in the season, 51 players have rushed at least 100 times, yet only 13 have greater than six highlight yards. Cook leads the pack in highlight yards at 11.93 as opposed to Fournette’s 8.26 average. What this means is that Cook’s explosive aptitude in the open field has been nothing short of legendary. In addition, Cook averages more yards per carry. Fournette averages 8.6 yards per carry and has 119 carries this season. Cook averages nine yards per carry with only 88 carries. That means that if he continues at this blistering pace he would total 1,071 yards this season alone.

In the last two weeks, his awe-inspiring skill has been even more obvious. In Week 6, Cook’s first play against Miami was a 72-yard touchdown on an option play. He had rushes of 35 and 23 yards against a Miami defense that spent most of the game targeting him. In Week 7 against Louisville, he ended the game with 22 carries for over 160 yards. He may beat Warrick Dunn’s single-season FSU rushing record, and believe me, that is saying something. Dunn rushed for 1,418 yards in the 1995 season.

Even more amazing, he accomplished all of this with a niggling hamstring injury. You have to wonder how much more he could accomplish if he were playing at 100 percent. If you are wondering why FSU is undefeated at this point in the season, Cook is a huge part of the equation. If you are talking Heisman candidates, he needs to be at the top of the list.