Can South Carolina defensive star Jadeveon Clowney win the Heisman Trophy?

Defender could end offense’s Heisman streak, coaches say

South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney is playing for a national championship contender, appears to be a lock for the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NFL draft and generally is regarded as the best player in college football, regardless of position.

But does he have the credentials to be a Heisman Trophy winner?

For all of his assets, Clowney has one attribute unbecoming of a Heisman winner: He is exclusively a defensive player.

Full- time defenders such as Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o ( 2012), Pittsburgh’s Hugh Green ( 1980) and Iowa’s Alex Karras ( 1957) all finished as runners- up, but only Michigan’s Charles Woodson ( 1997) has broken through to win — and much of his campaign was built on his offensive cameos and an odd case of Peyton Manning fatigue among voters.

Asked what it would take for a defensive player to win, Nebraska coach Bo Pelini said, “Something pretty ex-

“I think there have been some ( defensive) guys that have been probably pretty capable of winning it and have had that type of year, but it’s always been kind of an offensive award.”

Nebraska coach Bo Pelini

traordinary. I think there have been some guys that have been probably pretty capable of winning it and have had that type of year, but it’s always been kind of an offensive award.”

Pelini offered the example of former Cornhuskers defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh, who was considered by Pelini and others to be col- lege football’s best player in 2009 but finished fourth in voting for the Heisman.

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said he has coached numerous defensive players he considered to be great who were never factors in Heisman voting, but he said Clowney had a chance. Clowney has emerged as a candidate partly because of another trait of winners: a Heisman moment. His hit on Michigan’s Vincent Smith in the Outback Bowl has put him in the 2013 Heisman conversation even though it happened in the final game of his 2012 season.

“From the highlights I’ve seen from the guy from South Carolina, if there’s ever going to be one, this is a year he’d be in the race,” Meyer said of Clowney. “I think it will be difficult, but I’m all for it if he’s the best player in college football.”

BART BOATWRIGHT, THE GREENVILLE NEWS South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney finishing sixth in Heisman Trophy voting last season, when he racked up 13 sacks and gained a reputation as a fearsome tackler.