Established in 1935 by the New York City Downtown Athletic Club (as the DAC Trophy), the Heisman Trophy was conceived to recognize “the best college football player east of the Mississippi River.”
Heisman, a lineman for Brown and Penn during the 1880s (at considerably less than 200 pounds) was the club’s athletic director in ’35. He died the next year, and the club renamed the award to honor him.
Soon after, the geographical limitation was lifted so that the Heisman Trophy would be a nationwide honor.
The definition of the honoree remained—though history suggests otherwise.
In the 89 years the Heisman has been awarded, it has gone to only seven players who didn’t line up in the offensive backfield, and four of those were wide receivers.
Since 2000, “the best college football player” has pretty much been “the best college football quarterback.” In the last 24 years, 20 quarterbacks have won it.
Only one defensive player has ever been chosen—Michigan’s Charles Woodson in 1997. (Peyton Manning finished second that year.)
Hopefully, this year will be like ’97.
Colorado’s Travis Hunter is arguably more dynamic than even Woodson and should win this year’s voting, no matter if Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty breaks Barry Sanders 36-year-old single-season rushing record.
(“I feel like you can’t really compete with that,” Jeanty has said. But I beg to differ.)
Woodson, who played 18 seasons in the National Football League and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021, compiled impressive statistics for the Wolverines’ national champions:
On offense: 12 pass receptions for 238 yards and two touchdowns
On defense: 44 tackles, including a sack among five for losses; nine pass breakups and eight interceptions
On special teams: 36 punt returns for 301 yards and one touchdown
Hunter’s season is not yet over, so his stats can’t be compared with Woodson’s just yet.
But there is one stat that won’t change. Ann Arbor’s elevation is 840 feet, while Boulder’s is 5,430.
That means Hunter is playing in strength-sapping altitude for much of the time. And despite that challenge to physical endurance, he’s playing nearly every down of offense and defense, averaging almost 130 snaps per game.
So far, he has 69 receptions for 856 yards and nine touchdowns from the wide receiver position.
And at cornerback, he has 20 tackles, including one for a loss; has forced one fumble; and has seven pass breakups and two interceptions.
“Travis is the best player in college football,” says Coach Prime, who, admittedly, is given to expansive commentary. He adds: “He is doing something we’ve never seen before.”
That might be a slight exaggeration, considering there was a time decades ago when most players played two ways.
The point here, though, is not to quibble with Hunter’s coach, nor to make a case for Hunter compared with Woodson (or vice versa).
It’s not even intended to diminish what Jeanty may achieve at Boise State (though it should be noted that he gets to rest every time the other team has the ball).
The real issue here is what I call “o-back bias.”
In those last 24 years I mentioned earlier, offensive backs were awarded the Heisman 23 times. Of the 48 players who finished second and third since 2000, 43 played either quarterback or running back. (Broncos quarterback Bo Nix was third last year.)
Only two defensive players, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o in 2012 and Michigan end Aidan Hutchinson in 2021, finished in the top three since 2000.
While previous Heisman winners (currently, 57) get to vote, and a sponsor promotion results in one other first-place vote, sports journalists are the determinants of the award.
They are “informed, competent and impartial,” Heisman.com assures, though after working in newsrooms in my career, I wonder about that. Offensive linemen and defensive players just don’t accumulate the stats to catch the eye of voters.
Whatever, 870 media members—145 in each of six regions—are asked to vote. Voters must list three players in descending order for their votes to be counted.
Hunter and CU have three games left on the schedule, followed by post-season play. So there’s time to impress more voters.
After looking into John Heisman’s history, I can’t help but think he’d want a two-way player of Hunter’s caliber to receive the award named for him.
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Denny Dressman is a veteran of 43 years in the newspaper business, including 25 at the Rocky Mountain News, where he began as executive sports editor. He is the author of 16 books, nine of them sports-related. You can write to Denny at dennydressman@comcast.net.