To the surprise of nobody who has paid attention to college football this year, Louisville's Lamar Jackson was named the winner of the 2016 Heisman Trophy on Saturday night.

To the surprise of myself, I was one of the many who voted for him to receive the award.

I was given a Heisman vote for the first time this year, and on a personal level, it was an exciting development. I've been following college football ever since I was old enough to convince my parents to allow me to have a television in my bedroom growing up. I was in my bedroom watching as Desmond Howard struck the Heisman pose in the end zone. I was watching Charlie Ward and Florida State lose to Notre Dame in 1993, only to overcome that loss and end up winning the national title after beating No. 2 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.

I watched Rashaan Salaam go over 2,000 yards in 1994 on that television.

I saw Charles Woodson do everything in 1997.

I watched Ron Dayne set the all-time rushing record.

I've seen a lot of Heisman winners do amazing things over the years, and as somebody who grew up loving the sport, the Heisman Trophy was always a major part of it. Hell, it wasn't even just the real award the mattered to me. I wanted to win the Heisman every season while playing NCAA Football on my PlayStation just as badly as I did the national title.

At no point did I ever think I'd have the chance to actually vote on the award.

So when I was asked to be a voter this year, I didn't have to think about it very long, and I'm honored to say I have a vote. It's a vote I took seriously because I know how many times in my life I've felt like the "wrong" person won the award, and how I would have voted differently.

Well, now I have the chance to do just that, and I'd like to explain my thought process behind my very first Heisman ballot.

No. 1: Lamar Jackson, Louisville

All right, so I put a lot of time and thought into my vote, but most of that effort went into the second and third spots of the ballot, not the first. Jackson had not only been the runaway favorite in Las Vegas for a couple of months but in my mind as well. Even as he sputtered a bit down the stretch, I never doubted Jackson was going to get my vote. The only thing that could have eliminated him probably would have been an off-field incident of some kind.

Jackson had a phenomenal season. Some have made arguments that Jackson didn't do it against the greatest of competition, and while I understand the argument, it's easily countered by the fact Jackson never had much competition himself.

We're talking about a player that accounted for 4,928 yards and 51 touchdowns this season. There were 59 teams that didn't have 4,928 yards of offense this year and 85 teams that didn't score 51 touchdowns. Jackson was simply a phenomenon and there just wasn't another player in the country who did more to deserve the award.

No. 2: Dede Westbrook, Oklahoma

Wide receivers don't get a lot of love when it comes to Heisman voting. The award seems to be reserved for quarterbacks and running backs the majority of the time, but Westbrook deserved consideration this year. His quarterback, Baker Mayfield, was also a finalist, and he had wonderful numbers as well, but I went with Westbrook over Mayfield for a simple reason.

How spectacular would Mayfield's numbers have been without Westbrook?

Westbrook got off to a slow start this season, catching only 17 passes for 154 yards and no touchdowns in Oklahoma's nonconference slate. Once Big 12 play began, though, he absolutely lit it up. In conference play, Westbrook averaged 6.3 receptions, 145.7 yards and and 1.8 touchdowns per game.

While Oklahoma had an explosive offense, the threat of Westbrook posed to go over the top of any defense on any play -- he averaged 19.8 yards per reception while catching 74 passes -- opened everything up. Defenses couldn't load up to try and stop Oklahoma's rushing attack or else Westbrook would burn them deep.

In other words, Westbrook not only played a huge role on Oklahoma's offense statistically, his impact was felt all over the place. In my opinion, that impact was enough to warrant putting Westbrook second on my ballot.

No. 3: D'Onta Foreman, Texas

The only player on my ballot that wasn't invited to New York.

While I was fairly certain Westbrook was going to be on my ballot, after putting him in second, there were four players I seriously considered for this third spot. And in the end, I went with Foreman just because the numbers he put up were so impressive.

Foreman finished the regular season leading all players in rushing yards with 2,028. Now, that's only 10 more yards than San Diego State's Donnel Pumphrey's 2,018, but Pumphrey played 13 games.

Foreman only played 11.

While Pumphrey will pass Foreman following his bowl game, there's no way he matches the 184.36 yards per game average that Foreman managed. Texas did not have the season it hoped for, but Foreman did everything in his power -- he carried the ball nearly 30 times per game -- to get Texas where it wanted to be. I can only imagine what the Longhorns final record would have been without him.

Just missed the cut

Jake Browning, Washington: Browning had a terrific season on a team playing for a national title. What kept him off in the end -- and I must point out that with so many viable options, you're really picking nits after a while -- was his overall completion percentage and the fact his two worst games of the season came in Washington's two biggest games (USC, Colorado).

Deshaun Watson, Clemson: Watson is a great player, and I think he's going to go on to a good NFL career, but I was a bit surprised he was a finalist. The reason he wasn't on my ballot was that he threw 15 interceptions this season. Only two quarterbacks (Indiana's Richard Lagow and Purdue's David Blough) threw more. Furthermore, five of those interceptions came against Louisville and Florida State, and he threw three of them in Clemson's loss to Pitt.

Jabrill Peppers, Michigan: Peppers is a fantastic player and he's extremely versatile. It's just I don't even think Peppers was the best defensive player in the country this year -- and possibly not even the best one on his own team, either. Still, I'll take him on my team every day of the week.

Jonathan Allen, Alabama: Allen finished fourth on my final ballot, but unfortunately for him, I'm only allowed to vote for three players. Believe me when I tell you I agonized about the decision between Allen and Foreman in the end -- and even at that point it was still an extremely difficult decision. Allen was the most devastating defensive force in the country this year, and honestly, if he's not the first pick in the next NFL Draft then the team making the pick got it wrong.