West Virginia Football

The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award more commonly known as the Heisman is awarded annually in December to the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It is awarded by the Downtown Athletic Club of New York City and is considered to be the most prestigious award in collegiate football.

Here are a few facts about The Heisman:

· The winner of the trophy is not always guaranteed a successful career in the National Football league even though almost every Heisman winner is drafted high in the NFL draft.

· Only 8 winners of The Heisman have made it to the NFL Hall of Fame.

· The trophy is modeled after Ed Smith a football player for New York University who played in 1934.

· The trophy is made of cast bronze and is 13.5 inches tall and weighs 25 pounds.

· All players in all divisions of college football are eligible but winners usually represent Division I-A schools. Steve McNair from Division I-AA Alcorn State was the closest player in modern times outside of I-A to winning the Heisman. Mcnair came in third place in the 1994 vote.

· Archie Griffin from Ohio State was the only two time winner of The Heisman he won in both 1974 and 1975.

· No freshman has ever won The Heisman and only a few underclassmen have won it. The most recent underclassman and only sophomore to win the award was Tim Tebow of Florida in 2007.

· The Heisman is usually awarded to a running back or quarterback, no interior lineman on either offense or defense has won the award but Charles Woodson of Michigan won as a defensive back. A few winners have been receivers as well as specialty players such as Desmond Howard and Tim Brown.

Last Ten Winners of the Heisman Trophy

2007 Tim Tebow – University of Florida

2006 Troy Smith – Ohio State University

2005 Reggie Bush – University of Southern California

2004 Matt Leonard – University of Southern California

2003 Jason White – Oklahoma

2002 Carson Palmer – University of Southern California

2001 Eric Crouch – Nebraska

2000 Chris Wince – Florida State

1999 Ron Dayne – Wisconsin

1998 Ricky Williams – Texas