Lamar Jackson is unquestionably worthy of his place in college football history

Published Dec. 14, 2016 8:35 a.m. ET

Dieter Kurtenbach

There was never any true intrigue, any question on who would win this year's Heisman Trophy.

Not after Lamar Jackson started the season the way he did, anyway.

Jackson seized one of sports' greatest trophies in the opening weeks of the season, scoring eight touchdowns in his first game and following it with back-to-back five touchdown performances and then a seven-touchdown showcase that left the competition unable to close the gap in the season's final two months.

No one in college football could come close to matching the Louisville quarterback's production this year: a combined 4,928 yards and 51 touchdowns through the air and on the ground.

Those were not just the best numbers in college football this year – they stack up well with recent Heisman Trophy winners too:

Robert Griffin III: 4,992 combined yards and 47 touchdowns in his 2011 Heisman Trophy season.

Tim Tebow: 4,181 yards and 55 touchdowns in 2007.

Marcus Mariota: 5,224 yards and 58 touchdowns in 2014.

Johnny Manziel: 5,116 yards and 47 touchdowns in 2012.

Yes, Jackson can slide right into that group without a problem.

There was handwringing over Jackson's perceived downtick in performances at the end of the season — Louisville lost its final two games and fell out of contention for the College Football Playoff in late November.

Some suggested the Heisman Trophy race was wide open.

It wasn't — that was only recency bias and boredom overwhelming an excellent body of work.

It's not as fun to know who is going to win the award all season, after all, even if Jackson's season was absurdly fun.

But who could stack up with the numbers Jackson put up this season? Where would Louisville have been without the do-it-all quarterback, the one-man offensive dynamo? Probably not contending for the College Football Playoff late into November.

There was good competition for the Heisman, no doubt, but Jackson never let his hands off the trophy. Deshaun Watson, the preseason Heisman favorite, started the season by failing to live up to lofty statistical expectations — even when Clemson beat Louisville, Jackson's Heisman shine didn't fade. Washington quarterback Jake Browning — one of the players who could have theoretically won the award — wasn't even a Heisman finalist.

It was never in question if Jackson would win the Heisman Trophy — the only question was how large the voting margin would be. There was a stretch where it looked like he was going to be the first unanimous winner of the award.

Jackson didn't land every vote, but that the possibility was discussed is the clearest indication how great — truly great — the quarterback's season was.