Alabama Football: AP honor boosts DeVonta Smith’s Heisman hopes

Alabama football might be winning another Heisman Trophy.

As we approach the end of the college football season, plenty of honors will be bestowed upon Alabama football players. We have already seen some players earn All-American designations, but the best awards are yet to come.

While we wait for the big trophies to be awarded, Tide players are still racking up honors. Most recently, DeVonta Smith won the AP College Football Player of the Year. This honor is awarded by the Associated Press and is supposed to have similar criteria to the Heisman Trophy.

While this award alone is great, it might speak well to DeVonta Smith’s hopes to win the Heisman Trophy. The Associated Press has a strong history of predicting the Heisman winner. In fact, 9 of the last 10 AP POTY winners have gone on to win the Heisman in the same year.

The outcome of this has little to do with the Heisman itself. This was announced after all Heisman votes were cast. However, plenty of Heisman voters also vote for this honor. Even if that number is a small percentage, it shows what the national opinion is amongst the media.

We have stated Smitty’s case to win the Heisman, but he is far from a lock to win the award. Heisman voters have a history of using strange logic to determine their ballot. With every former winner having a vote, some will definitely be biased towards their own school or conference. Some might simply be biased against voting for an Alabama football player. After all, can you imagine Cam Newton voting for an Alabama receiver?

Even with all of this, DeVonta Smith remains the clear favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. We’ll have to wait and see the results in the new year, but this is at least a good sign for Smitty’s chances. Even if he loses the award to Mac Jones or another finalist, this honor should alone be celebrated. DeVonta Smith is the first Alabama football player to ever win the AP Player of the Year award.

Either way, Smith and the Tide have their eyes set on team goals. They would give up all individual awards for a national title.