The Navy Midshipmen had an excellent year. They are 9-2, first in the Western division of the American Athletic Conference and are scheduled to play Army this Saturday. The team’s success is due to the brilliance of their senior quarterback Keenan Reynolds. The senior has had a wonderful career, and more importantly, a wonderful season. His success has catapulted him into the Heisman Trophy conversation, a trophy that hasn’t been won by a Midshipmen player since the 1950s.
However, in a somewhat controversial move, ESPN removed Reynolds’s name from the Heisman fan vote. While it does not carry much weight (It only counts as one vote), it still raises the same question as to whether Reynolds is being disrespected in Heisman circles and whether he should be in those circles at all. After this past weekend, we can safely say the answer to these questions is a resounding “No.”
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Do not be fooled; Keenan Reynolds’s 2015 season alone has been one of the greatest years ever for a Navy quarterback. He has ran the ball extremely well, so well that he is the Midshipmen’s leading rusher with 220 carries, 1,093 yards and an astounding 19 touchdowns (The second leading rusher is Chris Swain, who’s carried the ball 160 times for 837 yards and has rushed for 10 touchdowns).In what is just the latest chapter in what has been a brilliant career, Reynolds broke Montee Ball’s NCAA record for career touchdowns during a game against SMU (The original record was 78; he currently has 83), and with two games remaining in the year it certainly looks as if he will add to that total.
However, there are some flaws concerning Keenan’s numbers. The biggest and most obvious is his stats as a passer.
Compare his stats with another quarterback and potential Heisman candidate Deshaun Watson of Clemson. Reynolds’s rushing statistics are better; Watson has rushed for just 756 yards and nine touchdowns on the season, but he has also passed for 3223 yards and 27 touchdowns on the season. Reynolds only has 28 passing touchdowns in his entire career (Only six of them have come this year).
But as much as his passing stats are woeful, his rushing stats are a tad flawed. He is obviously a great athlete, but he is also a product of the Wishbone offense, which is the most run-heavy offense in football and is incredibly difficult to defend. If we were in the 1940s, Reynolds would definitely be the front-runner, but in this age of spread offenses and dual threat quarterbacks, six touchdowns just will not cut it.
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Most notably, Reynolds, unlike the other candidates for the prestigious trophy, does not have a real Heisman moment to speak of. The argument could be made that it was against SMU because not only did he break the career record in that game but it was a dominant showing overall; Navy won 55-14. However, SMU is only 2-10 on the year. Navy went 0-2 against ranked opponents Notre Dame and Houston, and they didn’t just lose those games; they got crushed. Overall it is really difficult to make a case for him.
Reynolds will not win the Heisman, but he does have two more games to add to his impressive resume, including a potential perfect record versus Army, and a pending bowl game. Even better still, he is primed to have a prosperous career waiting for him in the United States military.
