He's the best player on the nation's 1 defense

Had the Volunteers come away with the W, had they punched it in off Berry's pick, or had he taken a fumble to the house, his campaign would have risen to legit status.As it is, his team has underwhelmed in losses to Auburn and UCLA, and despite the win over Georgia, the hype machine may have passed him by.His last chance is the Alabama game coming up Oct 24th. If Berry steps up, harasses McElroy and gives Mark Ingram and Roy Upchurch butterfingers, there's still a chance Berry's name gets called in December.. If the Heisman were to always be a defensive trophy, you can bet there'd be more than a few winners in the next few years for Nick Saban's team.Saban's defensive units are always outstanding, and the zone-blitz master has continued to improve with this year. The country's eighth best defense is anchored by strong play from LB Rolando McClain Javier Arenas and Eryk Anders.But Javier Areans is the name voters will recognize. Arenas is a dynamic kick and punt returner (crucial for a defensive player, whose statistics often appear one-dimensional) and has good-to-great defensive numbers: 31 tackles, two sacks, four TFLS, and a pick in the Ole Miss win, as well as four pass breakups.If Arenas can generate more buzz in the kickoff return game, and the Tide can win out, a huge return against Florida and a pick off Tebow might be enough to swoon Heisman voters that Arenas is the second coming in the secondary.

If middle linebackers are the quarterbacks of a defense, Florida ILB Brandon Spikes is the nation's Tim Tebow.Spikes leads the team in tackles (32), TFLs (4), sacks (4.5), and has a PBU and a forced fumble. He's beastly in run-stopping and never caught out of position in coverage.He should be in the NFL, but decided to play out his senior year, and rather than looking like a foolish decision, Spikes stellar play against premier competition (2.5 of his TFLs, 2.5 of his sacks, and his forced fumble came against LSU, Florida's best win) has him hovering around the top ten projected picks.Plus, he's just frickin' scary-looking.He's the best player on the nation's 1 defense. The performance Suh put on against Missouri was nothing short of incredible. Granted, the rainy conditions set the stage for a chaotic game. But Suh, not a pure bull rusher, played the tackle position as intelligently as I've seen it played.Suh reads runs at the line better than most linebackers, and has the ability to drop back into coverage when he senses that the pass protection is not conducive to pressure.His size and speed help spread him across several passing lanes.

Nebraska's defensive coaches deserve commendation for utilizing these talents tremendously.He leads his team in tackles (32, 15 solo), TFL's (5.5) and sacks (3.5), and has broken up a whopping seven passes at the line He also has one forced fumble. He's basically rewriting the expectations for a defensive tackle as the season progresses.If Nebraska challenges for the Big 12 North title and faces Texas in the championship, Suh could have the kind of game that convinces voters it is the year of the defensive Heisman. So there's your top ten. But who else deserves mentionUCLA's Rahim Moore: the sophomore free safety leads the PAC-10 in interceptions with five, and has four pass break ups. Unfortunately, he has more picks than UCLA has passing touchdowns.