For the last three to four years, the broadcasters couldn’t possibly love Tebow more and they professed their affections for him over and over and over. But now that he has graduated and moved onto the NFL, they’ve found a new victim. Denard Robinson has quickly become the new Tim Tebow. And this is the point where I have to ask, why is it that the male broadcasters in this business behave more like a combination of Snooki and Sammi from the Jersey Shore than football analysts? Not only do they have man-crush after man-crush, but they easily become fixated with one person to the point of obsession.
Denard Robinson has played extremely well against teams that were playing some of the worst rushing defense in the nation at the time of their game. That’s what happens early in the season when the schedule is typically at its weakest point. Florida was rushing for 308 yards a game at this point last year. They finished the season with over 80 less rushing yards per game (still impressive, but not in-human and superman-like numbers as they were originally called). And Michigan Quarterback Tate Forcier was being praised as a phenom after leading the Wolverines to a 4-0 start. But following that proclamation, they didn’t win another game against an FBS school, they didn’t beat a single team with a winning record all year, and Forcier is now sitting on the bench for Michigan. I’m not saying Denard Robinson doesn’t have potential. But I am saying that this discussion is not ripe and that he will need to continue to win and put up these numbers throughout the heart of Michigan’s schedule for it to mean anything. The television broadcasters discuss this topic ad nauseum because 1) it’s a sponsored element (meaning that networks like ESPN gets paid to talk about the Heisman race before it’s relevant) and 2) it’s easy (and they’re lazy). There’s much more to the upcoming Michigan-Michigan State game to talk about than Denard Robinson. And to those who want to discuss the Heisman right now, just remember that at this point last season, Jahvid Best, Max Hall, Jimmy Clausen, Jordan Shipley and Noel Divine had all been in discussion for the Heisman Trophy, but not one of them was invited to the ceremony in December in NYC
