Gator QB Tops Preseason Florida Today Heisman Poll
Friday, August 23, 2002 | Football
University of Florida quarterback Rex Grossman was an overwhelming winner in Florida Today's first-ever Heisman Trophy player poll.
Florida Today, based in Melbourne, Fla., asked players from 83 Division I-A teams for their top three Heisman candidates heading into the 2002 college football season. A first-place vote was worth three points, a second worth two, a third worth one.
Grossman finished with 176 points and 40 first-place votes. Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey (107, 20) was second. Marshall quarterback Byron Leftwich (68, 9) took third.
The 2001 Heisman Trophy runner-up, Grossman set a Florida record with 3,896 yards a year ago, while tossing 34 touchdown passes. He threw for better than 300 yards in a Florida record 10 games last season, including a school record 464 yards in a 44-15 thrashing of LSU.
He became only the fifth sophomore to finish in the top two in the Heisman Trophy voting and was the first quarterback since Steve Young of BYU in 1983 to lead the nation in both passing efficiency (170.8) and total offense (354.4 yards per game) in the same season.
Florida Today Heisman Player Poll Results
1. Rex Grossman, QB, Florida 176 (40)
2. Ken Dorsey, QB, Miami 107 (20)
3. Byron Leftwich, QB, Marshall 68 (9)
4. Charles Rogers, WR, Michigan State 20 (3)
5. Eli Manning, QB, Ole Miss 16 (2)
6. Chris Simms, QB, Texas 15 (1)
7. Jason Gesser, QB, Washington State 12 (3)
8. Onterrio Smith, RB, Oregon 11
9. Dave Ragone, QB, Louisville 10 (1)
Lee Suggs, RB, Virginia Tech 10
Roy Williams, WR, Texas 10 (1)
12. Casey Clausen, QB, Tennessee 6
Seneca Wallace, QB, Iowa State 6 (2)
14. Dahrran Diedrick, RB, Nebraska 5 (1)
15. Cedric Benson, RB, Texas 3
Chris Rix, QB, Florida State 3
17. Anthony Davis, RB, Wisconsin 2
Dwone Hicks, RB, Middle Tennessee 2
Kliff Kingsbury, QB, Texas Tech 2
Darius Watts, WR, Marshall 2
Reggie Williams, WR, Washington 2
22. Clarence Farmer, RB, Arizona 1
E.J. Henderson, LB, Maryland 1
Luke McCown, QB, Louisiana Tech 1
Mewelde Moore, RB, Tulane 1
Carson Palmer, QB, Southern Cal 1
Bruce Perry, RB, Maryland 1
LaBrandon Toefield, RB, LSU 1
DeWayne White, DE, Louisville 1
(First place votes in parenthesis)
