Heisman voters should be ashamed for snubbing Kenneth Walker III

Kenneth Walker III was somehow snubbed of an invite to New York after the Michigan State football star had a huge season.

As the Heisman Trophy finalists were announced on Monday night, one thing stood out: Kenneth Walker III’s name was nowhere to be seen.

The finalists: Bryce Young (Alabama), Kenny Pickett (Pitt), CJ Stroud (Ohio State), Aidan Hutchinson (Michigan). It just didn’t make sense.

Voters decided to send three quarterbacks to New York knowing darn well that one stands heads and shoulders on top of the rest along with a defensive player who really broke out in the final month? Shameful. Truly just a disappointing development.

Walker was the best running back in college football all year and while people can throw the “look what he did against Ohio State” argument out there, you have to realize he touched the ball just six times. He finished the game early because he was injured and then he came back the next week and put up over 130 yards against Penn State.

To close out the final month of the season, Walker had three 130-plus yard games. He had four touchdowns to go along with the 100-yard games. He was consistent.

All year long, he only had three “bad” games and still played relatively well, given that defenses keyed on him and the offensive line struggled. He rushed for over 200 yards against Northwestern and Rutgers and had 197 yards against Michigan and over 170 against Miami. Against the No. 2 team in the country, he had nearly 200 yards and five touchdowns. Yet he didn’t get an invite.

Walker’s Heisman moment was arguably the second-best in college football this year behind Young’s performance against Georgia in the SEC title game.

Yet no invite.

How does something like this happen? Walker arguably had the biggest impact on his team’s success this season than any single one of the Heisman finalists. Michigan State does not win 10 games without Walker after going just 2-5 last year. Alabama and Ohio State? Well, they’re probably still both top-10 teams, at the very least.

Walker was exactly what college football needed. He’s a soft-spoken star who would rather give his teammates credit than take any of his own. But one of his lifetime goals was to win the Heisman and he bet on himself by transferring from Wake Forest last season and did enough to at least earn an invite to New York for the ceremony but somehow voters didn’t see it that way.

The comparable stats with the two previous Heisman-winning running backs were not enough. The breakout game against Michigan wasn’t enough. The eight 100-yard games, two 200-yard games, and seven 130-plus yard games were not enough. His 19 total touchdowns weren’t enough. Having the most yards after contact behind an inconsistent offensive line was not enough. Being the best running back in the country was not enough.

Heisman voters should be ashamed for allowing this to happen, but since it was just Michigan State and an underdog like Walker who got hurt by the voting, you know they won’t be.