Wednesday Links

-The Detroit Free Press has Matt Ryan as an also-ran.
-The Army Safety who has a weekly Heisman watch has Ryan as the HT leader.
-The Fort Worth Star-Telegram likes #12.
-Heisman Pundit explains why he is not gung-ho on Matty Ice. I have to say that I agree.
-Stewart Mandel is not sold on Matt Ryan.
-But Mel Kiper is:

Tom, Boston: How good can Matt Ryan be in the NFL?

Mel Kiper: He's got a chance to be outstanding. The problem is that we're counterproductive in the way we develop QBs. The ones who have had success in this league were off-the-radar completely in their first or second year, for the most part (Matt Hasselbeck, Trent Green, Matt Schaub, definitely Brady, Jake Delhomme, Marc Bulger, Kurt Warner, Jeff Garcia, Jon Kitna, Tony Romo). For every Peyton Manning and Big Ben, you have many examples of QBs who have struggled early. Ryan has a chance to be an outstanding QB--a big kid with a strong, powerful arm whose decision-making has improved. He doesn't have a phenomenal WR to throw to, but certainly he's my No. 1 senior QB and has a chance to be the first QB taken. If you're Atlanta, it's an interesting decision for Bobby Petrino--Ryan or Brohm.

Brian (Seattle): Mel, who's your Hiesman front runner right now???

Mel Kiper: My Heisman front-runner is Matt Ryan, and I put a guy second who no one else had in their top 5--Matt Grothe from USF. He's a young kid, not a veteran, but you talk about MVPs--where would USF be without Matt Grothe? He had a huge game against a good team this week. Tough kid, great poise and confidence. South Florida is ranked second in the country, and nobody found reason to put him in the top 5? We'll see how he does in their national game this week against Rutgers. I had Tebow second, Hart fourth, and Dixon fifth. I will reserve judgment on Woodson depending on how he does against Florida this week. McFadden dropped out, but he has to be the MVP of a team that does well. To me, it's not about who the best player is, it's who the true MVP is. Where would BC be without Matt Ryan, or Florida without Tebow? Those are the things I look at.