Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin can't see why the second-biggest star on his team, Mike Evans, shouldn't be a Heisman Trophy candidate. The answer may be history -- it's been 22 years since a wide receiver has won college football's most prestigious award.
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"(I'm) puzzled why Mike Evans isn't in the Heisman race," Sumlin said, according to texags.com. "I think he's as good a player as there is in the country. Can you have two guys who can do that? It wouldn't be the first time. I was on a team at Oklahoma that had Jason White and Adrian Peterson go to New York (as Heisman finalists)."
A third-year sophomore wide receiver, Evans has been on the receiving end of quarterback Johnny Manziel's biggest throws this season. In only eight games this season, he has 48 receptions and is second in the nation with 1,101 receiving yards and third in the nation with 11 touchdown receptions. Evans' next catch should put him past his yardage production from last season (1,105). Being three years removed from high school, Evans would be eligible to declare early for the 2014 NFL Draft.
"We have two guys playing at a high level, and I don't anticipate that changing," Sumlin said. "Everybody knows we're going to throw him the ball, and he continues to play at an extremely high level. I think it's right for them to be involved in the Maxwell Award, I'm not surprised by that. I'm more surprised there isn't any Heisman talk about him."
The battle Evans will face with history is the distance between he and the last player at his position to win a Heisman, Desmond Howard of Michigan in 1991.
Sumlin makes a good point. Good, but perhaps futile.
Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter @ChaseGoodbread.