College Football

Heisman Trophy: Joel Klatt's solution to fix the voting process

Published Dec. 9, 2022 7:17 a.m. ET

Picking the Heisman Trophy winner is no easy task, but creating a fair, well-thought-out voting process to determine the finalists should be.

That is certainly what FOX Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt believes.

Following the announcement of this year’s Heisman finalists — USC’s Caleb Williams, TCU’s Max Duggan, Georgia’s Stetson Bennett and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud — Klatt proposed a three-step solution to fix the Heisman voting process on the latest episode of his podcast, "The Joel Klatt Show."

"I still believe in the Heisman," Klatt said. "I believe in what it represents, I believe in the enormity of it both for the player and the program, and I think there are some things inherently within the Heisman process that need to be fixed."

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While Klatt made it clear that he didn’t take issue with any of the four players who will be present in New York for Saturday night’s Heisman Trophy ceremony, he did point out the inclusion of Bennett — who passed for 3,425 yards but only 20 touchdowns — allows cases to be made for other players who were at least as deserving.

"Stetson (Bennett) is a great player. I like his game a lot, but when you include him as a finalist, and this is just a four-person list, it immediately opens the door to snubs."

Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker and Michigan running back Blake Corum also had the necessary credentials to warrant an invitation to New York, Klatt said.

Hooker led the SEC with a 70% completion percentage while throwing for more than 3,100 yards and 27 touchdowns. The Vols senior had the second-best Heisman odds (+400) heading into Week 12, when he suffered a season-ending injury in a 63-38 loss to South Carolina. The loss took Tennessee out of contention for a spot in the College Football Playoff and Hooker saw his Heisman odds take a significant hit.

"I don’t think an injury should knock you out of the Heisman Trophy ceremony or voting block, in particular when it happens late in the season," Klatt said of Hooker. "He was first-team All-SEC and turned around a Tennessee program that was in the dumpster. They were 60 minutes away from being a playoff team.

"He had the numbers necessary to go to New York, and he’s not gonna be there."

Corum was the best offensive player on an undefeated Michigan team that won the Big Ten Championship and secured a spot in the College Football Playoff for a second straight season. He rushed for 1,463 yards and 18 touchdowns, which was tied for the fourth-highest total in the nation. He did that despite a knee injury that essentially cost him two-and-a-half games of action, including the Big Ten title game against Purdue.

"If we’re gonna talk about heart and determination, Blake Corum is in the exact same mold as Stetson Bennett," Klatt said. "He was the catalyst to that offense for a huge portion of this season."

Klatt also mentioned Texas running back Bijan Robinson — who led the Big-12 in rushing — and Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. — who led the FBS in passing yards — as other players who should have been considered as Heisman finalists.

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"What we need to start to realize is you can love Stetson Bennett as a player and think there are some guys that got snubbed," Klatt said. "I think those two things can live equally together."

This led to Klatt offering up a three-part solution to fix the Heisman voting process:

1. Reduce the pool of Heisman trophy voters.

"This is a really important piece. These votes should be highly coveted and rare. They should be protected, and if we vetted out who got Heisman votes, I think you could weed out some of the ‘regionalization’ of the award. There is enough technology for a smaller group of voters, like 100 and not 900, to get it right. That vetting process really needs to take place."

2. No voting until after the conference championship games.

"Some would argue that not everybody gets the opportunity to play a conference championship game, so it’s only fair if you put your vote in before the conference championship game. I disagree. I think the more opportunity to see these players on the football field, the better. So I would not open up the submission process until after conference champ games. I don’t understand why we would allow voters to vote when there is still football to be played."

3. Expand the number of finalists to five.

"Being a finalist is a huge deal. It's huge for the player, and it’s enormous for the program and the stage you put the program on. Josh Heupel would do anything to see Hendon Hooker be in New York so that he can say to a recruit … ‘If you come here, you can be in New York, you can be a Heisman finalist, and maybe if you play well enough, you can win the Heisman Trophy.' That’s a huge, powerful recruiting tool. It should always just be five finalists."

Klatt said that his proposed changes would improve the process of deciding "the singular most important individual award in American sports."

"There is no other individual award that comes close," Klatt said. "Heisman Trophy winners are legends forever."

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Each week, FOX Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt dives into his Top 10 teams, answers questions and discusses the biggest storylines in college football on his podcast. Download "The Joel Klatt Show" here.