On Saturday in New York, ESPN will air the 77th Heisman Trophy Presentation. The network will fill 55 minutes with features, interviews and speculation on the voting. Then at about 8:55 p.m. Eastern time, Chris Fowler will go to the stage at the Best Buy Theater and announce the winner among the five finalists who will be seated in the first row. Those in the running to win are Andrew Luck of Stanford, Montee Ball of Wisconsin, Robert Griffin III of Baylor, Trent Richardson of Alabama and the Honey Badger himself, Tyrann Mathieu from LSU.
The regular College GameDay crew of Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, and previous Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard will join Fowler. Joe Tessitore and Tom Rinaldi will also be on hand.
We have the coverage details from ESPN.
Heisman Trophy Presentation on ESPN Saturday
ESPN’s comprehensive college football awards coverage continues with the exclusive telecast of the 77th annual Heisman Trophy Presentation on Saturday, Dec. 10, at 8 p.m. on ESPN. The live telecast from the Best Buy Theater in New York will be simulcast on ESPN3 and ESPN Mobile TV and accessible online at WatchESPN.com. ESPN Radio will also broadcast the announcement of the winner.
Finalists will be announced on ESPN’s 6 p.m. edition of SportsCenter today by 1995 Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George.
2011 Heisman Trophy Presentation details:
- 1991 Heisman winner Desmond Howard and his fellow College GameDay, colleagues Chris Fowler, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit, will be joined by ESPN college football commentator Joe Tessitore and reporter Tom Rinaldi during the college football award show.
- For the first time in ESPN’s 16 years of televising the Heisman presentation, brief “Through the Years” feature packages will showcase each finalist from childhood, highlighting their career milestones on the gridiron along the way.
- Another first on ESPN, the Heisman presentation will include a live music presence for audience members. Electric violinist Ken Ford will provide soul-stirring arrangements from his newest CD, “State of Mind” during commercial breaks, as well as providing musical transitions during the telecast.
- Tessitore will use a 65-inch touch screen monitor application – similar to ones used during presidential elections – to analyze the voting regions and results, and to offer statistical comparisons of this year’s finalist with former Heisman Trophy winners.
- A celebration of the 25th anniversary of 1986 winner Vinny Testaverde and 50th anniversary of the first African-American to win the award in 1961, Ernie Davis.
- A three-hour broadcast on ESPN Radio with Football Tonight host Freddie Coleman and ESPN NFL Draft expert Mel Kiper, Jr. beginning at 7 p.m. features live interviews with all four finalists, plus the live announcement of the winner and his acceptance speech.
Additional Heisman elements across ESPN:
- On Thursday, Dec. 8, at 5 p.m. on ESPNU, ESPN’s college football analysts will host a discussion on Heisman finalists and the year in college football with The Home Depot College Football Awards Roundtable Special.
- Winning a Heisman Trophy is hard, but apparently so is making one. ESPN The Magazine looks into the process in its December 12 “Interview Issue”.
- Following the Heisman presentation, ESPN Films will debut its latest documentary The Marinovich Project as the last installment of the Year of the Quarterback initiative. The Marinovich Project tells the unvarnished story of Todd Marinovich’s unique ascent to stardom, the dark descent that followed and the complicated father-son bond throughout, ultimately answering the question: “What went wrong with Todd Marinovich?” Additional details on the film here.
That will do it for this post.
