Elliott New York Times Feature

Feature story in today's New York Times college football preview about Brett Elliott's journey from Utah to Linfield. Requires login, which is free.

Elliott Named Unitas Golden Arm Finalist

Brett Elliott has been named one of 22 finalists for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm award which goes to the most outstanding QB in the country.

Note that 20 of the 22 finalists are Division 1 QBs. There is one QB (Lulay from Montana State) from Division 1AA. And then there is Mr. Elliott from Division III.

SI: Elliott Stats "Eye-Popping"

The Sports Illustrated 2005 College Football Preview, both print and online, had this to say about their #1 ranked Div. III team, Linfield:

"QB Brett Elliott threw for an eye-popping 4,595 yards and 61 TDs in '04"

The print edition includes a nice photo of prime Elliott target Casey Allen, too.

2004 Top 20 NCAA QBs

Click on the chart to view a larger version.

We took the top 5 QBs from each NCAA division based on QB Efficiency rating. So, I suppose it isn't a true "Top 20" rating. For Elliott, this chart does not include the national championship game. The last column on the chart indicates the rank that QB was within their division.

Special thanks to our Research Analyst, Amilyn, for compiling the data, and to our Web Guru, Ron, for making the chart more interesting and uploadable to the blog.

2004: Top QB in Div II and Div III

So Elliott is the best in Div. III, but that leaves three other divisions above that (I, I-AA, II). Well knock Div. II (and NAIA for that matter) off that list. Last season, Elliott was named to the first team of AP's Little All American team, making him the tops among both DIII and DII QB's. In doing so, he beat out Colorado School of Mines QB Chad Friehauf, last season's Harlon Hill Award winner which recognizes the top player in DII. By the way, Fiehauf signed a free agent contract with the Denver Broncos this summer.

Who is Eligible?

Most people assume that the Heisman is awarded to only the best Division I college football player. The truth is that ANY football player at ANY of the NCAA levels is eligible. The official Heisman website outlines it this way:

"The ballots state that "In order that there will be no misunderstanding regarding the eligibility of a candidate, the recipient of the award MUST be a bona fide student of an accredited college or university including the United States Academies. The recipients must be in compliance with the bylaws defining an NCAA student athlete.""

That same webpage explains how the over 900 Heisman voters are selected and the votes by state are weighed.

Now the key is developing a list of those voters and getting Brett Elliott on their radar screen.

Elliott Named Top DIII QB

d3football.com, the #1 online source for info on Division III football, has named Brett Elliott a First Team Preseason All American.

Joining him on the first team is his favorite target from 2004, WR Casey Allen.

Welcome

Welcome to Elliott for Heisman, the blog set up to chronicle the 2005 season of Brett Elliott, QB for the Linfield Wildcats.

A Division III QB winning the Heisman? Impossible, you say. Perhaps. But Elliott has the talent and skill, and is as good as a quarterback as any in the nation. Our goal here is to prove to you that he deserves legitimate consideration for the award that honors the best player in college football.

To start out, here is the official season preview from the Linfield College website, which also gets credit for the photo above.

Stick around. I think we'll make believers out of you.