2012 HEISMAN TROPHY
‘Johnny is a typical teenager. ... But he has something other kids don’t have. Like his father, he has no fear of failure.’
KErrvILLE — Texas kicker Justin Tucker’s 40-yard field goal on the final play of the 2011 Texas-Texas A&M game hushed what had been a boisterous Kyle Field crowd that had hoped to celebrate an Aggies victory 13 months ago.
Now, flash forward to current times, for a brief game of hindsight.
Let’s examine how that Nov. 24, 2011 kick set into motion a chain of events to what could be a huge maroon and white celebration this Saturday, when Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel is expected to win the Heisman Trophy in a New York ceremony.
If Tucker misses that field goal, maybe Manziel’s not in New York City.
“I’d like to hunt that kicker down and buy him a beer. We wouldn’t be talking about this Heisman deal if it weren’t for that kick,” proclaimed Jim Muncie, a Kerrville home builder, long-time A&M fan and a good friend of the Manziel family.
Here’s Muncie’s Heisman logic: A week after the Longhorns’ 27-25 victory, Texas A&M fired head coach Mike Florida 20, A&M 17 A&M 48,SMU 3 A&M 70, S. Carolina St. 14 A&M 58,Arkansas 10 A&M 30, Ole Miss 27 A&M 59, La.Tech 57 LSU 24,A&M 19 A&M 63,Auburn 21 A&M 38, Miss. St. 13 A&M 29,Alabama 24 A&M 47, Sam Houston St. 28 A&M 59, Missouri 29 Texas A&M has had five previous top-10 finishes in the Heisman Trophy voting, including John David Crow, who won it in 1957: 1991: Bucky richardson (10th) 1990: Darren Lewis (8th) 1957: John David Crow (1st) 1940: John Kimbrough (2nd) 1939: John Kimbrough (5th) 23-30-173, 0/0 20-36-294, 4/0 15-20-174, 3/0 29-38-453, 3/0 17-26-191, 1/2 24-40-395, 3/1 29-56-276, 0/3 16-23-260, 2/0 30-36-311, 0/0 24-31-253, 2/0 14-20-267, 3/1 32-44-372, 3/1 17-60-1 13-133-2 8-78-2 14-104-1 20-129-1 19-181-3 17-27-0 9-90-3 21-129-2 18-92-0 16-100-2 12-67-2 When: Saturday, 7 p.m. Where: radio City Music Hall, New York ESPN Finalists: Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, Notre Dame middle linebacker Manti Te’o
robert Griffin III