College football: Ranking every Heisman Trophy winner

22. Ranking every Heisman Trophy Winner: Charles Woodson, Michigan Wolverines football

The University of Michigan had produced two Heisman Trophy winners heading into the 1997 college football season, Tom Harmon in 1940, and then Desmond Howard in 1991. The 1997 Wolverines had a special team on both sides of the ball, and a special player in Charles Woodson, who was a star as soon as he stepped on campus in Ann Arbor.

A do-everything player who burst onto the scene as a true freshman at cornerback, Woodson was asked to play a bit of offense heading into his sophomore season, leading to his incredible run as a junior. During his junior season, Woodson dominated on both sides of the ball, hauling in seven interceptions, and scoring a touchdown on offense as a wide receiver.

His incredible versatility was a key to the Wolverines going undefeated during the regular season and eventually sharing a piece of the national title. In one of the greatest Heisman Trophy races of all-time, Woodson bested University of Tennessee star quarterback Peyton Manning by a razor-thin margin, becoming the first mostly defensive player to win the Heisman since the 1960s.

Back in those days, it was normal for a player to play both sides of the ball, but when Woodson did so, it was very rare. To be able to not only play both sides of the ball but win a Heisman doing so was a throwback to the old days, making his Heisman win one of the rarest we have seen across the last sixty years.