College football: Ranking every Heisman Trophy winner
By Brad Weiss
33. Ranking every Heisman Trophy Winner: Billy Sims, Oklahoma Sooners football
It may have taken Billy Sims a few years to get healthy, but once he finally got on the field full-time for the Oklahoma Sooners, he became one of the best running backs college football had ever seen. Sims played sparingly during the 1975 college football season, but an ankle injury allowed him to redshirt in 1976 before posting a little over 400 yards in 1977 as a sophomore. Once the starter as a junior, it was all over for Big 8 defenses.
Sims ran with such grace and beauty during his final two years with the Sooners, that some believed he could have been a two-time winner of the Heisman Trophy. Sims ended up winning the Heisman during his junior campaign, a year that saw him set the Big 8 single-season rushing record, leading the Sooners to an 11-1 record, and a spot in the Orange Bowl. Despite Chuck Fusina getting more first-place votes than Sims, he won the award.
With his win, he became the sixth junior to win the award, and the third member of the Oklahoma Sooners program to do so as well. He would end up finishing second to Charles White in the Heisman voting as a senior, as a flourish at the end of the year proved to be too little, too late, but there is no doubt that Sims was one of the best to ever tote the rock at the collegiate level.
32. Ranking every Heisman Trophy Winner: Johnny Rodgers, Nebraska Cornhuskers football
During the 1970 and 1971 college football seasons, the Nebraska Cornhuskers were by far the best team in all the land. The winners of back-to-back national titles were downright dominant on both sides of the ball and put together one of the better runs that the game has ever seen.
The following season, the Cornhuskers failed to win a third title in a row, but one player won the most coveted individual award a player can receive. That player was Johnny Rodgers, an incredibly gifted wide receiver who actually was not only the first Nebraska player to win a Heisman Trophy, but also the first wideout in the history of the sport to do so.
During his Heisman winning season, Rodgers was able to rack up nearly 2,000 all-purpose yards, while also playing a part in all five touchdowns in the Cornhuskers win over Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl. Affectionately referred to as “The Jet,” many consider Rodgers to be the best kick returner in college football history, and he was able to easily beat out Greg Pruitt from Oklahoma to take home the Heisman for the 1972 season.