When Michael Vick found out that he was one of five finalists for the Heisman Trophy, given annually to college football's best player, he asked one simple question.

"Does this mean I get to go to New York?" he said with the look of a kid at a candy store.

Vick made his first appearance in New York, flying up on Dec. 10 to participate in all the festivities associated with the Heisman Trophy. He finished third in the running for the trophy behind Wisconsin tailback Ron Dayne and Georgia Tech quarterback Joe Hamilton. Purdue quarterback Drew Brees and Marshall quarterback Chad Pennington were the other two finalists. Vick became the first freshman ever to attend the ceremony. And he now joins former Georgia running back Herschel Walker (1980) and former Georgia Tech running back Clint Castleberry (1942) with the highest finish by a freshman in the Heisman running. No freshman, or sophomore, has won the award.

"All this has surprised me," Vick said. "I don't know what to say. I can't thank enough people."

Vick received the invitation after completing a stellar freshman season. As more and more people covered the Hokies run to an unbeaten season, more and more people jumped on the Vick bandwagon, including guys like New York Daily News writer Dick Weiss and The Sporting News' Mark Blaudschun - both of whom voted him No. 1 on their Heisman ballots.

And it's not like his numbers didn't warrant him being in New York. He became the first freshman in NCAA history to lead the nation in passing efficiency (180.37), breaking the freshman single-season record in the process and just missing former Tulane quarterback Shaun King's single-season record (183.3). He threw for 1,840 yards and 12 touchdowns and set a single-season school record by completing 59.2 percent of his passes.

He also set single-season school records for most yards per play (9.3), passing yards per completion (20.4) and per attempt (12.1). In addition, he rushed for 585 yards and eight touchdowns, accounting for 2,425 yards of total offense - the second-highest single-season total in school history.

"I thank coach [Rickey] Bustle for putting the ball in my hands and believing in me," Vick said. "And the defense for giving me so many opportunities.

"I thought it would be years down the road before I had a major impact. This was my learning year. But I have to give credit to my supporting cast because they limited a lot of my mistakes and made me look good."

Vick has been named the Big East's offensive player of the year and rookie of the year - the first time in Division I-A history that's happened in the same year. He finished second in the Associated Press' voting for player of the year behind Dayne. He also earned first-team honors on the AP All-America team and The Sporting News All-America team, while also being named the freshman of the year by that publication.

Tech's Superman this season hopes this trip isn't his last to the Gotham City. In fact, in many ways, this year's appearance served as the kickoff for next season's Heisman campaign, when he will be making a bid to become what is believed to be the second left-handed quarterback to win the award (Terry Baker, Oregon State, 1962).

But after watching him put up such great numbers this season and make so many big plays, one wonders if even Kryptonite could stop him.

"I'll never lose sight of how I got here," Vick said. "I'll always be the person that I am. I'm not going to change. My work ethic did not stop. I've got three more years left and I want to accomplish a lot more."