The nearly three decades of drought of wide receivers who failed to win the Heisman Trophy ended when Alabama senior DeVonta Smith received the award in a virtual ceremony Tuesday night.
Smith is the third Alabama player to claim college football’s most prestigious award and the first recipient to win this award since Desmond Howard of Michigan in 1991. Smith defeated three other finalists, all of whom were quarterbacks: Alabama’s Mac Jones, Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and Florida’s Kyle Trask.
Smith received 447 votes for first place (1,856 points in total). Lawrence (222 votes for first place, 1,187 points) finished second, followed by Jones (138, 1,130) and Trask (61, 737).
Smith leads the FBS in receptions (105), receives yards (1,641), and receives touchdowns (20). He’s only dropped two steps all season.
Like Howard, however, Smith is more than a receiver. He rushed to one touchdown and returned one point for another score this season. Along the way, he set a SEC record for career touchdowns and an Alabama record for career receiving yards.
Last week, Smith was named The Associated Press Player of the Year, becoming the first wide receiver to win the award.
Not bad for a skinny kid from Amite, Louisiana, who fell to the floor in high school and did push-ups when he saw his reflection, thinking he was too small to play college football.
“Tay-Tay”, as he is known at home, got stronger but remained a relative featherweight at 6 feet and 175 pounds. Because of his slim physique, strong hands and skill as a track runner, he would draw comparisons to the former Indianapolis Colts great Marvin Harrison.
In Alabama, coaches and players simply called him “Smitty.” But he also picked up the nickname “Slim Reaper” along the way.
As a freshman, Smith received national recognition when he caught the winning pass in overtime of the 2018 College Football Playoff title game against Georgia. The iconic play – forever known as “2e-en-26” – could have shaped its career, but reserved Smith shrank from it when brought up. As he would say later, ‘I don’t really care about the catch. It’s a new year. We go on.’
However, as a sophomore, injuries would stunt his development, and he was largely overshadowed by the rise of teammates and fellow star recipients Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs III and Jaylen Waddle. Even after scoring 14 touchdowns as a junior, Smith managed to fly under the radar.
But this season has changed all that. Jeudy and Ruggs left for the NFL, and Waddle, who was one of the most dynamic playmakers in college football, lost four games after the season to an ankle injury.
Smith wasn’t even on the Heisman odds board at Caesars Sportsbook until after Waddle was injured in late October, where he was posted 60-1. But with Waddle offside, Smith became the center of the passing game and excelled in the spotlight.
A week after Waddle’s injury, Smith scored four touchdowns in a victory over Mississippi state. He scored a few touchdowns in each of the next two games, against Kentucky and Auburn, before returning to Louisiana, scoring three goals against LSU.
Smith excelled in postseason play, finding the end zone twice against Florida in the SEC Championship and three more times against Notre Dame in the CFP semifinal in The Rose Bowl Game hosted by Capital One.
After the top-ranked Crimson Tide beat the Fighting Irish to advance to the CFP title game, Alabama coach Nick Saban called Smith a “talented man” and a “hard worker.”
“He’s doing everything just right,” said Saban. “He understands very well what he has to do to make plays, and he makes every chance he gets. We are lucky to have him.”
Saban, reluctant to make comparisons, said Smith “has done as much for our team this year as any player we’ve ever had.”
Jones, who threw 4,036 yards and 36 touchdowns this season, called Smith “the most electric player in college football.”
“He means the most to us here in Alabama,” Jones said. “You can watch the games and see what kind of person he is with how he plays. I was really excited to get him the ball this year. He came back to try and win a national championship and get his draft (stock) improve, and I feel like he did just that, because he just opened up and made explosive plays. ”
ESPN NFL trot expert Mel Kiper Jr. calls Smith the fourth-best player on his Big Board and the No. 1-rated receiver.
Heisman Trophy in hand, all he has to do now is for Smith to end his career as it began: compete for a national championship game.
Smith is 1–1 in championship games in his career. Monday he will sever that link with Ohio State.