College football: Ranking every Heisman Trophy winner

53. Ranking every Heisman Trophy Winner: Steve Spurrier, Florida Gators football

Long before he was known as “Head Ball Coach,” Steve Spurrier was a kid playing for the Florida Gators who loved to sling the ball around the field. In fact, the passing scheme and head coach were the reasons why Spurrier landed with the Gators, and after his three years as the starting quarterback, it was clear he made the right decision.

Spurrier burst onto the scene as a sophomore, throwing for nearly 1,000 yards for a Florida team that went 6-4. The following season, he inched closer to the 2,000-yard mark with the Gators improving their win total and becoming one of the more formidable teams in the SEC. However, it would be his senior season where he not only took home the Heisman Trophy but also led the Gators to their best season since the late 1920s.

During his Heisman Trophy-winning campaign, Spurrier threw for over 2,000 yards and 16 touchdowns, capping his career by being the only member of a losing team to be named Most Valuable Player of the Sugar Bowl. Spurrier became one of the best passers the SEC had ever seen up until that point, becoming the first Heisman winner in Florida history, while also taking home the Walter Camp as the best player in the country.

52. Ranking every Heisman Trophy Winner: Ron Dayne, Wisconsin Badgers football

When it comes to being an absolute workhorse for your team from the running back position, there are few in the history of college football who did it quite like Ron Dayne. Coming to work every day from his freshman season on, Dayne tore up opposing defenses, and when all was said and done, he had become the all-time leading rusher in NCAA history.

While that record has since been broken by Donnel Pumphrey from San Diego State, if you add in his yardage from bowl games, where he was just as good as in the regular season, Dayne still stands alone with 7,125. The second Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Wisconsin, Dayne was a big and strong running back, possessing great agility, and is the only player in Big Ten history to be named Most Valuable Player of the Rose Bowl in back-to-back years.

Dayne took home a ton of hardware during his final season with the Badgers, as he won not only the Heisman, but also the Doak Walker, Walter Camp, and Maxwell while being named a unanimous All-American. Nicknamed “the Great Dayne,” or the “Dayne Train,” the big fella did not have a ton of success in the pros, but for a four-year period, he absolutely terrorized opposing defenses at the collegiate level.