Senior deserves more respect

No offense to the other Heisman Trophy candidates out there, but name one who can do everything that Clemson's C.J. Spiller does.

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Associated Press

Clemson's CJ Spiller looks on from the sidelines during the fourth quarter as they defeated Wake Forest 38-3.

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Despite posting gaudy numbers this season, Clemson's C.J. Spiller isn't among the frontrunners for the Heisman Trophy.

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The Tiger with blazing speed is more than just a 1,000-yard running back. The guy is a one-man highlight reel in every department of the game. He's an all-purpose savant.

In nine games this year, Spiller has seven touchdowns of at least 58 yards. Three via kickoff returns, two by receptions and one each on a rush and a punt return. All the guy needs to do is throw a long option pass touchdown, and he'll complete the offensive scoring quinella.

Let's just say if Spiller played for Notre Dame instead of Clemson, this Heisman conversion would be over already.

"I thought Spiller was the difference in the game," said Florida State coach Bobby Bowden after Spiller assaulted the Seminoles for a record 312 all-purpose yards on Saturday. "I doubt if anyone is playing better than him in the country. The happiest I was was when he was off the field. I knew he couldn't get the ball. I would rank him pretty high among the really great players I have seen."

You'd think that would be obvious the way Spiller is becoming one of the most prolific all-purpose performers in collegiate history. He's already surpassed the Atlantic Coast Conference record by nearly 1,000 yards and is fast approaching the 7,000-yard mark that only four other players in college history have eclipsed. His six career kickoff return touchdowns tie an NCAA record. His big-play ledger of 20 touchdowns of 50 or more yards is obscene and draw fitting comparisons to past Heisman winners Reggie Bush and Tim Brown.

Yet Spiller is lagging behind in national consciousness despite his efforts of 310 and 312 yards against Miami and Florida State that vaulted the Tigers to the top of the Atlantic Division race.

ESPN -- which by default gets to be the arbiter of such things with its 24/7 hype machine -- lists Spiller in fifth in its latest watch list. In first is Alabama running back Mark Ingram, certainly a defensible choice even if the Tide rusher has only one more touchdown (8) than Spiller has touchdowns of at least 58 yards.

The next three spots are all quarterbacks, only one of which (Houston's Case Keenum) is producing numbers that forced people to take notice. The others are quarterbacks Tim Tebow of Florida and Colt McCoy of Texas, whose most impressive stats this season are the zero losses of their respective programs.

The consensus of CBS Sports experts excludes Spiller among its top five contenders. He got one vote from the 10 panelists in last week's USA Today poll, tying him for ninth in a survey that actually had two players from 6-3 Notre Dame in front of him.

"I can't control people putting me in their top 10, top seven or top five," Spiller said. "The only thing I can control is what I can do to help my team win on Saturday. My main thing is just trying to get to the ACC Championship game. Everything else at the end of the season will hopefully take care of itself."

Getting to the ACC title game for the first time in school history is an essential element to any hopes the Tigers have of getting their first Heisman Trophy winner. The award for the "most outstanding player" in college football has more often than not morphed into a coronation of the MVP on the one of most outstanding teams. Nine of the past 10 Heisman winners played on teams that finished in the top 10 of the poll.

Clemson isn't among the top 25 in the BCS standings and just eked its way to No. 24 in the current AP poll.

"If you're looking at MVPs and Heismans, I don't know if there's any player in the country who's more valuable to his team than C.J. Spiller," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said recently. "A lot of coaches coach their whole lives and never get a chance to coach a guy like C.J. Spiller. For me, it's very special."

Spiller could have gone pro last year but returned for his senior season in part to take a shot at the Heisman. The school promoted him on posters before the season, but his campaign took a serious hit in the opener when he suffered a severe case of turf toe that has hampered him ever since.

A healthy Spiller would certainly have touched the ball more than five times against Coastal Carolina in a game that could have already put him in the statistical lead of rushing and all-purpose average.

"It doesn't affect me as much as people think it has," Spiller said of his playing in pain. "But as a running back when you try to plant off that big toe it's kind of painful. Unless you've had the injury you can't understand how painful that can be. But my main thing is when I step on the football I try to block it out.

"It will only get better once I get rested on it but that won't come until the bowl game or after the bowl game."

By then, the Heisman will have been handed out. Spiller has to make every game count from here on out. And the Heisman pose Spiller flashed after the game-clinching touchdown against Florida State illustrated that it's on everyone's mind in Death Valley.

"My teammates have been loving the experience and encouraging me," Spiller said. "Not too many guys that have a Heisman candidate on their team. Guys want me to go (to the ceremony in New York) and represent this university, represent this team and represent this town. They've probably been looking at it more than I have."

For good reason. Anyone who wants to brush the Heisman off as just another award need only ask South Carolina fans how much it still means that George Rogers is part of the Heisman fraternity.

It's a very big deal, and Spiller deserves way more attention than he's getting. He is without question the most explosive player in the country with highlights from this season alone that are second to none.

And if he leads the Tigers from oblivion just a month ago to the ACC title game and perhaps a BCS bowl bid, it will be every bit as impressive (if not more so) as what Tebow does for Florida, Ingram for Alabama or McCoy at Texas.

As of now, there's no question who gets my vote as the far and away the most outstanding college player this year.

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.