Heisman Trophy: Ranking the last 15 Heisman winners
By Gabe Encinas
Dec 30, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; General view of the 1968 Heisman Trophy of Southern California Trojans tailback O.J. Simpson (not pictured) at Heritage Hall. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Ranking the last 15 Heisman Trophy winners, including Cam Newton, Tim Tebow, Johnny Manziel and Marcus Mariota and No. 1 is sure to generate some debate.
The Heisman Trophy is the most significant individual honor that can be awarded a college football player and the last 15 Heisman winners rank among the best we’ve seen since Jaw Berwanger won the first Heisman in 1935.
Since the start of the BCS era, we’ve seen plenty of great Heisman Trophy winners and most of them were quarterbacks. Only two running backs since the turn of the century won, with Mark Ingram the most recent in 2008, and with the other 13 going to signal-callers.
USC, Oklahoma, and Florida State have all had multiple Heisman Trophy winners within this 15-year span with the Trojans leading with three winners, all coming in a four-year span under then-head coach Pete Carroll during their dynasty days.
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Trying to rank the best players in college football over the last 15 years is no easy task.
The first place to start is with their stats. You don’t win the Heisman without putting up prodigious numbers.
Second, most Heisman winners are competing for national championships, but the Heisman winners who played integral parts for championship winners are given an extra boost.
Many of these Heisman winners were taken with high picks in the NFL Draft, but their careers at the next level aren’t taken into consideration when ranking the players based on their Heisman resume.
Without further delay, here are the last 15 Heisman Trophy winners, ranked. Who is the ultimate Heisman winner among Heisman winners?
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