Ohio State Football: 3 reasons Chase Young should win 2019 Heisman Trophy

3. This isn’t officially an “offensive player” award

On May 23, 1930, New York City’s Downtown Athletic Club named John W. Heisman its first athletic director. At the behest of the DAC officers, Heisman went about organizing a system to vote for “the best college football player in the country.”

The first Downtown Athletic Club Award went to the University of Chicago’s Jay Berwanger in 1935. Upon Heisman’s death in 1936 the DAC officers voted to rename the award the Heisman Memorial Trophy.

From its inception in 1935 to its renaming the following year, there’s nowhere that literally states the Trophy is meant for the offensive players only. In fact, there’s an argument to be made that defense was equally important in the early days of the trophy because of one-platoon football.

Several factors have led to only offensive players winning the award. The first factor is two-platoon football. When the unlimited substitution rule was changed in 1964, it changed the game immensely. The game was faster, and coaches began to scheme offense. As a result, offensive players became the stars of the game. Defense was never schemed proactively, rather; defense was schemed in reaction to offensive innovation.

As football rules have changed, most of the rules have changed to favor offensive football. Defensive players can’t be as physical especially with receivers in the passing game. With the rise of offensive football, defensive players aren’t seen in the same light as offensive players. That’s why Charles Woodson had to return kicks, punts and play receiver part-time to win the Heisman; he would never have won as only a cornerback.