Despite a campaign from his head coach, Ezekiel Elliott is not heading to New York City as a finalist for the 2015 Heisman Trophy.
"I don't lobby, or maybe I do, he should be in New York," Urban Meyer said of Elliott after Ohio State's 42-13 victory at Michigan Nov. 28. "That's one of the best players in America. He should be a Heisman guy."
However, Elliott did not do enough in 2015 in the eyes of Heisman voters to become a finalist. The three finalists for the award are Alabama running back Derrick Henry, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson and Stanford all-purpose back Christian McCaffrey.
Elliott finished the 2015 regular season with 1,762 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns, both figures that led the Big Ten. He was named the conference's Offensive Player and Running Back of the Year last Tuesday and led the Buckeyes to an 11-1 record, a No. 7 ranking and berth in the Fiesta Bowl against No. 8 Notre Dame.
"I did see some of the other guys play, saw some of the statistics on some of the guys playing. There's a very nice range of players that are going to go," Meyer said Sunday of the Heisman candidates. "They used to invite five guys and then I think a couple years they invited two.
"The years I went there were four, five even six guys that went. I think he should go and he certainly is a great player on a great team."
That is certainly the case, but in the end was not enough for the talented Buckeye running back to earn an invitation to New York as a finalist.
The winner of the Heisman Trophy is set to be announced Saturday at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
