Believe it or not, a majority of the 88 Heisman Trophies have not been handed out to quarterbacks. When looking at the progression of college football over time, this did not become a quarterback-centric sport until the late 1980s.
Andre Ware’s Heisman Trophy for Houston in 1989, under a modernized passing offense, really seemed to mark the changing of the guard in college football. That’s when the sport was beginning to turn from a running back’s game into a quarterback’s domain. Steve Spurrier changed the SEC from a run-first conference to a pass-first conference beginning in 1990. Innovators such as Hal Mumme and Mike Leach began to revolutionize the passing game at Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech. Leach taught a man named Lincoln Riley about the passing game.
Through the mid-1980s, however, non-quarterbacks dominated the Heisman, including at USC, which produced four Heisman running backs in the 17 seasons spanning 1965 to 1981. With Caleb Williams winning the Heisman in 2022, three of USC’s last four Heisman winners — all in the 21st century — have been quarterbacks. USC has five running backs and three QBs among its eight winners.
The sport has changed.
Quarterbacks make up “only” 38 of the 88 Heisman winners, but they will soon have half, and are likely to keep winning most of these awards in the coming decades. Let’s look at all 38 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks, with Caleb Williams being the latest member of the club: