Spiller reflects on his Heisman snub
By: Gavin Oliver February 13, 2023

C.J. Spiller had one of the greatest individual seasons in the history of college football as a senior at Clemson, and he did not even get an invite to New York.

One of the best all-purpose backs in college football history, Spiller was snubbed from the Heisman Trophy finalist list back in 2009, when he set an ACC single-season record for all-purpose yards with 2,680.

Spiller won ACC Player of the Year and was selected as a unanimous first-team All-American in 2009. He finished sixth in Heisman Trophy voting that season, but was not one of the five players invited to the Heisman Trophy presentation ceremony in New York.

The finalists in 2009 were Alabama running back Mark Ingram, Stanford running back Toby Gerhart, Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. Ingram went on to win the award.

In an appearance on the Next Up Podcast with Adam Breneman, Spiller reflected on his Heisman snub.

“I think it stings more for like my teammates than it does for me, just because I saw the sacrifice and the hard work,” he said. “I think those guys, obviously you want to get there, but I think they wanted it more for me than I wanted it for myself – the linemen, the defensive guys. So, they were really trying to really push for me to get there. I think not to get the invite – even though I didn’t win it, not to even get the invite to go to New York, I think that stung me the most than not even winning it.”

Despite shining in his final game before Heisman voting closed, rushing for a career-best 233 yards and four touchdowns in the ACC Championship Game loss to Georgia Tech, Spiller didn’t get the invite to New York. That effort brought Spiller’s all-purpose yardage total for the season to 2,508, to go with 20 touchdowns.

Earlier in the season, Spiller had strengthened his Heisman candidacy with huge performances in wins over Miami and Florida State, two of the victories in Clemson’s six-game winning streak that saw the Tigers crack the top 15 in the rankings.

Spiller said more than anything, the Heisman snub hurt him because he felt as though his teammates felt like they let him down.

“Because we set out to do something, and that wasn’t even on our tables to win it, but we set out to try to accomplish something that hadn’t been done. Like I said, I saw the sacrifice and the hard work that those guys (put in),” Spiller said.

“As the season was going on, they were hearing the (Heisman) chatter, so they were putting in the extra work. And those guys were always encouraging me like ‘hey man, you need to try to go out and win this thing.’ I’m like ‘man, I’m just trying to play.’ So, I think it just hurt more from that standpoint than anything, just because I felt like they felt like they let me down. But those guys, they didn’t let me down. We had a great season that ’09 season.”

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