The Heisman Trophy is described as one of the most prestigious awards in all of sports, and it goes to the most outstanding player in college football every season. The Heisman has been given out every year since 1935, and it is voted on by 927 people including media members, former winners of the award and fans. In 2020, the voting consisted of 870 media voters, 56 Heisman voters and one fan vote.
Being a fan of one of these three schools, your bragging rights have been earned and warranted. The Ohio State Buckeyes, Oklahoma Sooners and Notre Dame Fighting Irish are tied for the most recipients of the Heisman with seven a piece.
Ohio State
In the long history of the Heisman Trophy, Ohio State running back Archie Griffin is the only player to ever win the award twice when he did it in 1974 and repeated in 1975 for the Buckeyes. Other Ohio State players to win the Heisman before him were Les Horvath in 1944, Vic Janowicz in 1950 and Howard Cassady in the 1955 season.
More recent Buckeye Heisman winners include running back Eddie George in 1995 and quarterback, Troy Smith in the 2006 season.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma has developed an incredibly quarterback-friendly system, which is great for winning Heisman Trophies as the award most often given to a QB each year. In 2017, former Sooner Baker Mayfield won the Heisman, and Kyler Murray did the same the very next season in 2018. Oklahoma nearly claimed three in a row as Jalen Hurts finished in second place behind the runaway favorite Joe Burrow from LSU.
Earlier this century, quarterback Jason White won the Heisman in 2003, as did Sam Bradford in the 2008 season. Other Heisman winners include Billy Vessels in 1952, Steve Owens in 1969 and Billy Sims in 1978.
Notre Dame
It’s been a while for Notre Dame, which has not produced a Heisman Trophy winner since the 1987 season with Tim Brown. It’s a bit of a surprise the Fighting Irish have not had a Heisman winner in a while as they still have a big brand name in college football, and they field highly competitive teams just about every season. The closest they have come in recent years came in 2012, when linebacker Manti Te’o finished second in the Heisman voting.
Previous Heisman winners for Notre Dame include Angelo Bertelli (1943), John Jujack (1947), Leon Hart (1949), John Lattner (1953), Paul Hornung (1956) and John Huarte (1964).
Playing for one of the big-name programs in college football certainly gives players an advantage in Heisman Trophy voting. Notre Dame, Ohio State and Oklahoma should remain at or near the top of this list for a while. The only other program to produce more than three Heisman winners and could give them some competition is USC with six.
Photo Credit: Steven Miller (Flickr), Jackson Lavarnway (Flickr), Wikimedia
