As November transitions into December each year since 2000, I have noticed that the biggest factor in making one a Heisman Trophy candidate seemed to be quarterbacking the national championship contenders. Whether or not that quarterback was good or not—or even played well or not—he was always a candidate. The most ridiculous examples of this are the 2000 and 2001 winners. Chris Weinke and Eric Crouch had absolutely no business winning the Heisman Trophy.
What made the Crouch choice so egregious in my opinion is that he won as a running quarterback who was well below average as a passer. So many Black quarterbacks have come and gone who have been and continue to be criticized for being “running quarterbacks” or guys who “aren’t real quarterbacks.” This racist stigma affected guys like Tommy Frazier, Jamelle Holieway, Darian Hagan, Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb, and many others. This year, two men have been attacked by such innuendo. At the beginning of the season, Denard Robinson of Michigan was the most dominant player in the country. Robinson is the only player in college football history to have at least 200 yards running and 200 yards passing in the same game on more than one occasion. He achieved the feat twice in the first five weeks of the season! On top of that, Robinson’s season also includes two more games with at least 185 yards rushing and 190 yards passing. The point is that Denard Robinson was a beast. Yet, all the talk around the country was that Denard Robinson was not a real quarterback.
As the season progressed, Cam Newton developed and has become, without question, the best college football player in the country. Anything less than winning the Heisman by the five widest margins ever would be criminal. Newton has Auburn on track to play in the BCS National Championship Game despite not being particularly good in any aspect of the game outside of their quarterback.
But, cynical as I am, I’ve been expecting something to happen. I fully expected all the stops to be pulled out. As great as Cam Newton has been this season, his style of play is not overly accepted from a Black quarterback. Like Denard Robinson earlier this season, Newton is viewed as a running quarterback. Running quarterback do not win the Heisman Trophy unless they are White. They just don’t. I’ll put it this way: during his senior year at Purdue, Drew Brees rushed for 182 yards more than did the most prolific rushing Heisman Trophy winning Black quarterback. Drew Bress…182 more yards. Are you kidding me?
This required me to dig even deeper. I went back and looked at every quarterback since 1986 who either finished in the top four of the Heisman voting, played for a national championship, or had an altogether great season that could or should have earned a top four Heisman finish. What I found was interesting. Before I get into the details, here is a list of the quarterbacks who fall into the categories I listed above as well as their respective team and Heisman voting finishes (for years prior to 1998, BCS means that the quarterback’s team played in the Cotton Bowl or one of the four bowls that are now part of the BCS):
| Name | Year | College | Team Finish | Heisman Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jamelle Holieway | 1986 | Oklahoma | Championship Contender | N/A |
| Jim Harbaugh | 1986 | Michigan | BCS | 3rd |
| Vinny Testaverde | 1986 | Miami (FL) | Championship Runner-Up | Winner |
| Jamelle Holieway | 1987 | Oklahoma | Championship Runner-Up | N/A |
| Don McPherson | 1987 | Syracuse | Championship Contender | 2nd |
| Tony Rice | 1988 | Notre Dame | National Champion | N/A |
| Major Harris | 1988 | West Virginia | Championship Runner-Up | 5th |
| Steve Walsh | 1988 | Miami (FL) | Championship Contender | 4th |
| Troy Aikman | 1988 | UCLA | Top 25 | 3rd |
| Rodney Peete | 1988 | USC | Championship Contender | 2nd |
| Darian Hagan | 1989 | Colorado | Championship Runner-Up | 5th |
| Tony Rice | 1989 | Notre Dame | Championship Contender | 4th |
| Major Harris | 1989 | West Virginia | Top 25 | 3rd |
| Andre Ware | 1989 | Houston | Top 25 | Winner |
| Darian Hagan | 1990 | Colorado | National Champion | 17th |
| Shawn Moore | 1990 | Virginia | BCS | 4th |
| Ty Detmer | 1990 | BYU | Top 25 | Winner |
| Ty Detmer | 1991 | BYU | Top 25 | 3rd |
| Casey Weldon | 1991 | Florida State | Championship Contender | 2nd |
| Gino Torretta | 1992 | Miami (FL) | Championship Runner-Up | Winner |
| Tommy Frazier | 1993 | Nebraska | Championship Runner-Up | N/A |
| Heath Shuler | 1993 | Tennessee | Top 25 | 2nd |
| Charlie Ward | 1993 | Florida State | National Champion | Winner |
| Kordell Steward | 1994 | Colorado | Championship Contender | 13th |
| Kerry Collins | 1994 | Penn State | Championship Runner-Up | 4th |
| Steve McNair | 1994 | Alcorn State | N/A (1-AA) | 3rd |
| Danny Wuerffel | 1995 | Florida | Championship Runner-Up | 3rd |
| Tommy Frazier | 1995 | Nebraska | National Champion | 2nd |
| Jake Plummer | 1996 | Arizona State | Runner-Up | 3rd |
| Danny Wuerffel | 1996 | Florida | National Champion | Winner |
| Ryan Leaf | 1997 | Washington State | BCS | 3rd |
| Peyton Manning | 1997 | Tennessee | BCS | 2nd |
| Donovan McNabb | 1998 | Syracuse | BCS | 5th |
| Tim Couch | 1998 | Kentucky | Minor Bowl | 4th |
| Cade McNown | 1998 | UCLA | Championship Contender | 3rd |
| Michael Bishop | 1998 | Kansas State | Championship Contender | 2nd |
| Drew Brees | 1999 | Purdue | Top 25 | 4th |
| Michael Vick | 1999 | Virginia Tech | Championship Runner-Up | 3rd |
| Joey Hamilton | 1999 | Georgia Tech | Top 25 | 2nd |
| Drew Brees | 2000 | Purdue | BCS | 3rd |
| Josh Heupel | 2000 | Oklahoma | National Champion | 2nd |
| Chris Weinke | 2000 | Florida State | Championship Runner-Up | Winner |
| Joey Harrington | 2001 | Oregon | Championship Contender | 4th |
| Ken Dorsey | 2001 | Miami (FL) | National Champion | 3rd |
| Rex Grossman | 2001 | Florida | BCS | 2nd |
| Eric Crouch | 2001 | Nebraska | Championship Runner-Up | Winner |
| Rex Grossman | 2002 | Florida | Championship Contender | N/A |
| Ken Dorsey | 2002 | Miami (FL) | Championship Runner-Up | 5th |
| Brad Banks | 2002 | Iowa | BCS | 2nd |
| Carson Palmer | 2002 | USC | BCS | Winner |
| Matt Leinart | 2003 | USC | National Champion | 6th |
| Eli Manning | 2003 | Mississippi | Top 25 | 3rd |
| Jason White | 2003 | Oklahoma | Championship Runner-Up | Winner |
| Alex Smith | 2004 | Utah | BCS | 4th |
| Jason White | 2004 | Oklahoma | Championship Runner-Up | 3rd |
| Matt Leinart | 2004 | USC | National Champion | Winner |
| Brady Quinn | 2005 | Notre Dame | BCS | 4th |
| Matt Leinart | 2005 | USC | Championship Runner-Up | 3rd |
| Vince Young | 2005 | Texas | National Champion | 2nd |
| Brady Quinn | 2006 | Notre Dame | BCS | 3rd |
| Troy Smith | 2006 | Ohio State | Championship Runner-Up | Winner |
| Dennis Dixon | 2007 | Oregon | Championship Contender | 5th |
| Chase Daniel | 2007 | Missouri | Championship Contender | 4th |
| Colt Brennan | 2007 | Hawaii | BCS | 3rd |
| Tim Tebow | 2007 | Florida | Top 25 | Winner |
| Graham Harrell | 2008 | Texas Tech | Top 25 | 4th |
| Tim Tebow | 2008 | Florida | National Champion | 3rd |
| Colt McCoy | 2008 | Texas | Championship Contender | 2nd |
| Sam Bradford | 2008 | Oklahoma | Championship Runner-Up | Winner |
| Tim Tebow | 2009 | Florida | Championship Contender | 5th |
| Colt McCoy | 2009 | Texas | Championship Runner-Up | 3rd |
- 77 total quarterback seasons
- 11 White Heisman winning quarterbacks
- 3 Black Heisman winning quarterbacks
- 6 White Heisman runners-up
- 7 Black Heisman runners-up
- 25 White quarterbacks who placed 3rd or 4th in Heisman voting
- 5 Black quarterbacks who placed 3rd or 4th in Heisman voting
- 5 quarterbacks who finished second in Heisman voting to another quarterback
- 10 quarterbacks who finished third in Heisman voting to another quarterback
- Three cases of quarterbacks finishing first, second, and third in Heisman voting
- 1989 – Andre Ware
- 1993 – Charlie Ward
- 1994 – Steve McNair
- 1995 – Tommie Frazier
- 1998 – Michael Bishop
- 1999 – Michael Vick
- 2003 – Matt Leinart
- 2003 – Jason White
- 2005 – Vince Young
- 2006 – Troy Smith
- 2007 – Dennis Dixon*
- 2007 – Tim Tebow
The three Black quarterbacks who have won the Heisman Trophy are all on that list. Andre Ware, CharlieWard, and Troy Smith all had transcendent seasons during the years they won the award. Ware threw 46 touchdowns against only 15 interceptions during his Heisman winning season. That represented 1 touchdown less than the record at the time (Jim McMahon threw 47 touchdowns and 18 interceptions in 1980). Ware’s 4,699 passing yards in 1989 also represented an NCAA record at the time. It may not look like much today, but in 1989, Andre Ware’s season represented the very best season any quarterback had ever experienced. As he said during his Heisman acceptance speech, Ware had “a Barry Sanders type season.” There was no choice but to give him college football’s most prestigious honor.
In 1993, Charlie Ward took collegiate quarterbacking to the next level. While leading Florida State to the school’s first national championship, Ward threw 27 touchdown passes and only 4 interceptions while throwing for more than 3,000 yards. During my research, I was unable to find an earlier case of a major college quarterback with at least 25 touchdown passes and five and fewer interceptions in the same season. Ward’s was a truly historic season, and it was rewarded with the second widest (to O.J. Simpson) voting margin in Heisman Trophy history. He was on a level all his own.
It would be thirteen years before another Black quarterback, Troy Smith, won the Heisman. Smith led a Buckeye team that was ranked #1 in every poll every single week of the regular season. That Ohio State team also won two overly hyped #1 vs. #2 matchups during the season, including the single most hyped and anticipated Ohio State vs. Michigan game ever. Smith’s 30 to 6 touchdown to interception ratio and ability to appear in control over everything that happened on the field added to his reputation as college football’s best leader. That team leaned on him for everything, and until the national championship game, he always delivered. By the time December rolled around, Troy Smith was an obvious Heisman choice.
What Andre Ware, Charlie Ward, and Troy Smith all had in common was that none of the three were runners. With 339 yards in 1993, Charlie Ward is the most prolific rushing Black quarterback to win the Heisman. Smith ran for 204 yards during his Heisman winning season. Ware finished 1989 with negative rushing yards. Taking all the stereotypes about Black quarterbacks into consideration, how ironic is it that no Heisman Trophy winning Black quarterback has run for as many as 35 yards per game.
By contrast, 4 of the White Heisman winning quarterbacks rushed for positive yardage. Two of them, Eric Crouch in 2001 and Tim Tebow in 2008, ran for more than 800 yards during their award winning seasons. Crouch ran for 1115 yards and 18 touchdowns while Tebow posted totals of 895 and 23. To his credit, Tebow also passed for 3,286 yards, 32 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions. That stands on its own as a great passing season. Crouch’s passing totals, on the other hand, were far below par: only 1,510 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Crouch won the Heisman Trophy during a season in which he was a bad passer.
None of this surprises me. I know that for White quarterbacks, the ability to run is viewed as an added dimension to their games. They are considered versatile. Black quarterbacks who run, however, are seen as athletes playing the quarterback position. They are widely considered unintelligent and unable to read defenses. For them, the ability to run is viewed as a negative. It was that way when I was a kid; it remains that way today. To date, every Black quarterback with a significant number of rushing yards has been denied the Heisman Trophy. The voters have shown no hesitation to vote these men in the top four—some even are voted runner-up—but they are never awarded college football’s most prestigious individual honor. The numbers on this, as detailed in the table below, are overwhelming:
| Category | Number | 0- yards | 0-300 yards | 301-500 yards | 501-1000 yards | 1000+ yards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White Winners | 11 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Black Winners | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| White Runners-Up | 6 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Black Runners-Up | 7 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| White 3rd & 4th | 25 | 8 | 13 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Black 3rd & 4th | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
The statistic that I find most surprising is that there have been more Black quarterbacks than White quarterbacks to finish second in the Heisman voting since 1986. White winners outnumber Black winners 11-3, yet Black runners-up outnumber White runners-up 7-6. By my count, 4 of the 7 Black runners-up should have won the award. A fifth runner-up, Joey Hamilton in 1999, finished ahead of another Black quarterback, Michael Vick, who should have been the rightful Heisman winner.
Five of those 7 runners-up rushed for more than yards than Charlie Ward did during his Heisman winning season. Four of them totaled more than 500 yards. At the same time, only 1 of the 6 White runners-up rushed for more than 500 yards. Among quarterbacks who finished third and fourth in the Heisman balloting, 84% of White quarterbacks rushed for less than 300 yards while 80% of Black quarterbacks rushed for more than 500. It’s as if the criteria for winning the Heisman and merely placing high in the voting are completely different for Black quarterbacks. I do not believe any of this is a coincidence. Black quarterbacks who want to win the Heisman Trophy have to be and play a certain way.
None of this is clandestine or subtle. We can go year by year and see how and when Black quarterbacks were kept out of the Heisman winners club. In fact, let me do that.
Because everything in college football changed drastically when the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was implemented in 1998, I feel the need to examine the Heisman travesties in the pre BCS and BCS eras separately. In the years between 1986 and 1998, the biggest Heisman injustices occurred in 1987, 1990, 1992, and 1995. The most egregious Heisman decisions during the BCS era took place in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and—based solely on Heisman voting patterns—2007. Yes, I believe there have been ten horrendously awarded Heisman Trophies in the past 25 years. I’ll go through each one of them.
1987 Tim Brown of Notre Dame became the first wide receiver to win the Heisman. Don McPherson of Syracuse was the runner up. McPherson led the Orangemen to an undefeated season despite little offensive talent other than himself. Winning would have made McPherson the first Black quarterback to win the award. Brown’s victory has been criticized as the result of a Notre Dame bias.
1990 Ty Detmer won the award over Raghib Ismail and Eric Bienemy. At the time, many thought Rocket Ismail was robbed of the award, but his placing second was, in my opinion, another result of the Notre Dame bias. As the best player on the nation’s best team, I thought Bienemy should have been the winner during a season with no truly transcendent player. Yes, Detmer threw for over 5,000 yards, but no quarterback who throws 28 interceptions in a single season should ever win the Heisman Trophy.
1992 Gino Torretta won the award because he was the starting quarterback for a Miami Hurricanes team that was poised to complete a second consecutive undefeated national championship season. The truth, however, was that Torretta was the team’s weak link. Running backs Marshall Faulk of San Diego State and Garrison Hearst of Georgia were far and away the most deserving candidates that year.
1995 Eddie George of Ohio State was the 1995 winner. He had a very good season, but it was not great. George did nothing transcendent or memorable that year. Although he came close, he did not surpass the 2,000 yard mark. He had several 200 yard rushing days, but he did nothing truly special. Tommy Frazier, on the other hand, was the best player on what many experts still consider the best team in college football history. A legitimate argument can be made that Frazier is the best college quarterback of the past 30 years. The closest comparison I can make between him and a player from a different sport is Mark Messier. Entering, 1995, Frazier was already a two-time national championship game MVP. During that season, he led the most powerful, dominating, and devastating offense the sport has ever seen. Frazier’s not winning is a clear case of the voters not wanting to give the Heisman to a Black quarterback who was not considered a “real” quarterback.
The BCS brought in an era of guaranteeing that the #1 and #2 teams would meet for the national championship at the end of every season. Under the old bowl system, conference ties were the primary force behind teams’ bowl bids. There were many cases of top three teams in the polls playing in three different bowls. The BCS ended those days. With so much emphasis on the new true BCS National Championship Game, everything else was devalued. This affected the Heisman voters. Only 4 of the 11 Heisman winners in the years immediately prior to the BCS era played for a national championship. 8 of the 12 Heisman winners since have done so.
The first two Heisman winners of the BCS era, running backs Ricky Williams and Ron Dayne, won the award in 1998 and 1999, respectively, after seasons during which they set the all-time Division I-A career rushing record. Williams’ Texas team played in the Cotton Bowl; Dayne’s Wisconsin Badgers played in the Rose Bowl. Carson Palmer won the 2002 Heisman; his USC reached the Orange Bowl. In 2007, Tim Tebow won the trophy and played in the Capital One Bowl. Every other Heisman winner since 1998 played in the BCS National Championship Game that season. As such, it has become commonly accepted that the Heisman is now awarded to either the quarterback of the best team or record-breaking running back and no longer the best skill position player in the country. This, of course, has led to a large number of Heisman voting atrocities:
1998 With over 2,000 yards and 27 touchdowns, Ricky Williams had a great year running the ball for the Longhorns. What Michael Bishop did in Manhattan, Kansas, though, was legendary. Bishop threw 23 touchdowns against only 4 interceptions while running for 748 yards and 14 touchdowns while leading Kansas State to the only undefeated regular season in the program’s history. Only a double-overtime defeat kept the Wildcats from playing Tennessee for the first BCS National Championship. Williams’ winning the Heisman was more of a career award—he broke the career rushing record in the season finale—than for the 1998 season. He was not the most outstanding player in the country that year; he was only the second-best in his own conference.
1999 Like Ricky Williams did one season earlier, Ron Dayne won the Heisman on the strength of breaking the career rushing record during the season. Dayne’s 1999 season was not great. Joey Hamilton’s, on the other hand, was. In 1999, Hamilton completed two-thirds of his passes for over 3,000 yards, threw 29 touchdown passes, and ran for more than 700 yards. He was the runner-up. But even he was not the most outstanding player in the country. That was Michael Vick, who, as a freshman, led Virginia Tech to the brink of a national championship. Vick’s numbers don’t tell the whole story, but he was clearly the best player in the country. Everyone acknowledged as much. Yet he only finished third.
2000 Chris Weinke won because there was no obvious strong candidate and he was the best quarterback among the national championship contenders. Like Gino Torretta before him, Weinke was his team’s weak link. He was the biggest reason Florida State did not win a second consecutive championship that year. In my opinion, Drew Brees was the most deserving candidate. Brees led his Purdue team to the Rose Bowl, but the Boilermakers won a weak Big Ten. At no point were they ranked higher than 9th. This past generation has shown that a Heisman winner will not come from a team that bad.
2001 Eric Crouch may be the least deserving Heisman winner of my lifetime. We’ve already taken a look at his passing statistics. But he did run for more than 1,100 yards on the season. And he had a signature play during Nebraska’s upset of top-ranked Oklahoma when he caught a touchdown pass during a trick play. But his passing was a major liability for the Cornhuskers. This was proven in their season finale at Colorado when the Buffaloes jumped ahead early and Nebraska did not have the passing attack required to catch up. Colorado ended up winning 62-36. In the BCS National Championship Game, Miami made Crouch look like a junior varsity quarterback. I felt that Rex Grossman of Florida and Joey Harrington of Oregon were the most deserving candidates. The excuse given for voting against Grossman was that he was a sophomore and no underclassman had yet won the Heisman. Harrington did not win because of a well-publicized bias against players from the West Coast.
2002 All the talk leading up to the Heisman Trophy announcement was whether or not Carson Palmer was a legitimate candidate to win. That West Coast bias had prevented any player from west of the Rocky Mountains from winning the award since 1981. He wasn’t even considered among the favorites. Willis McGahee, Ken Dorsey, and Brad Banks were expected to finish first and second. I actually expected Penn State’s Larry Johnson to win. I know that McGahee and Dorsey would cancel each other and that Banks couldn’t win. But Palmer won. It stunned a lot of people. It should have annoyed people. Palmer’s season was nowhere near the same level as Banks’. Brad Banks controlled the Big Ten season in 2002. That Iowa team had no business competing in the conference, yet they went undefeated in the Big Ten. Palmer was the better pro prospect and outplayed Banks in the Orange Bowl, but Brad Banks was the best player during the regular season. The Heisman should have been his, but the so-called West Coast bias was broken.
2007 This was Tim Tebow’s Heisman year. How many Heisman taboos were broken with this one? They used to say that no underclassman could win the Heisman. Tebow became the first sophomore to win it. After Ricky Williams won the first Heisman Trophy of the BCS era, no player had won the award without playing in a BCS bowl. Tebow’s Florida team earned a trip to the Capital One Bowl. Tebow also became the first Heisman Trophy winner of the BCS era to play for a team that lost more than two regular season games. A big deal was made about Tebow becoming the first player in college football history to throw for 20 touchdowns and run for 20 touchdowns in the same season. That is a truly great achievement, and Tebow had a great year, but he did not deserve the Heisman. Dennis Dixon was the best player in the nation. But he got hurt in the first quarter of the tenth game of the season—Oregon went on to lose out for the remainder of the regular season—and a player who misses 25% of the season can’t win the award. Pat White also had a great season while leading West Virginia to the Big East championship. White’s numbers weren’t as gaudy as Tebow’s, but he won games. We always hear about how quarterbacks are judged by wins and losses, yet Tim Tebow won the Heisman Trophy during a season in which he led the defending national champions to a 9-3 record and finished 3rd in the SEC East. This man, who became the very first underclassman to win the award and was force fed down our throats as a representative of all that is right and good with this world, is the only Heisman winner of the past 11 years to not play in the BCS. You have to look all the way back to Tim Brown’s season in 1987 to find a Heisman winner to play on a team with as many losses as Tebow’s Florida Gators. How exactly did Tebow win the award? I’m not saying that he didn’t deserve to win it—I probably would have voted for him after Dixon was injured—but the voters had just spent the previous decade establishing criteria that Tebow did not meet.
What has occurred during the BCS era is that only four men have won the Heisman Trophy without playing on a team that played in the BCS National Championship Game. In each of those four seasons, a Black quarterback should have been the rightful winner of the trophy. But we see these things occur over and over every day of our lives. Certain rules apply until they don’t. Michael Vick can’t win the Heisman in 1999 because underclassmen don’t win, but Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford, and Mark Ingram can win as sophomores. There is a West Coast bias keeping players from winning the Heisman, but Carson Palmer can win despite playing one game on national television during a season in which his team was never a contender for the championship. The Heisman goes to the best player on the best team, but Tebow can win despite his team finishing third in its division within its conference. Option quarterbacks can’t win because they don’t throw the ball well enough, but Eric Crouch can win even though he threw more interceptions than touchdowns. Quarterbacks who turn the ball over can’t win, but Ty Detmer can win fairly comfortably while throwing 28 interceptions.
All this is why I fully expected the arrival of controversy regarding Cam Newton. Newton is by far the best player in the nation. He is nearly as obvious a choice for the Heisman as Barry Sanders was in 1988. There is no way to even fabricate an on-field argument for denying him the trophy, so off-field issues are the only way to stop him.
Cam Newton is exactly the kind of Black quarterback who has never been able to win the Heisman. To date, he has a four to one touchdown to interception ration while completing 67.9% of his passes. He has also rushed for greater than 1,300 yards so far. On top of that, he holds the Auburn records for passing touchdowns and rushing touchdowns in a season. He is on the verge of matching Tebow’s 2007 feat of throwing and rushing for 20 touchdowns in a season. And his team, despite a historically bad pass defense, is undefeated. Cam Newton is in the midst of the greatest season by a college quarterback in my lifetime. So, yeah, they were going to come after him. And even though the NCAA has ruled him eligible, some in the media are still coming after him.
How much of the Cam Newton drama is the result of jealous former suitors like Mississippi State and Florida watching him lead a rival to college football’s promised land? How much of this controversy is because people don’t want to see a guy who’s not a “real” quarterback win the Heisman Trophy? How much of this is just the natural occurrence in a sport that is most dominant in the most racially segregated and disharmonious areas of our country? How much of that is because Newton is widely viewed as the anti-Tebow? One year ago, people were making the argument that Tim Tebow was the greatest college football player ever. Now, we see that Tebow was not even the best quarterback in his own conference over the past five years.
And, finally, why hasn’t anyone looked at Cam Newton’s troubles over the past two months from this standpoint? He plays in the SEC, a conference that has only had one non-White head football coach in its history. These folks will be damned before they let a running Negro quarterback win the Heisman Trophy on their watch.
| Name | Year | Completions | Attempts | % | Yards | TDs | INTs | TD/INT Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cam Newton | 2010 | 148 | 218 | 67.89% | 2254 | 24 | 6 | 4.00 |
| Andrew Luck | 2010 | 245 | 349 | 70.20% | 3051 | 28 | 7 | 4.00 |
| Andy Dalton | 2010 | 194 | 293 | 66.21% | 2638 | 26 | 6 | 4.33 |
| Denard Robinson | 2010 | 155 | 250 | 62.00% | 2316 | 16 | 10 | 1.60 |
| Kellen Moore | 2010 | 221 | 311 | 71.06% | 3269 | 30 | 5 | 6.00 |
| Ryan Mallett | 2010 | 242 | 364 | 66.48% | 3592 | 30 | 11 | 2.73 |
| Terrell Pryor | 2010 | 196 | 298 | 65.77% | 2551 | 25 | 11 | 2.27 |
| Colt McCoy | 2009 | 332 | 470 | 70.64% | 3521 | 27 | 12 | 2.25 |
| Tim Tebow | 2009 | 213 | 314 | 67.83% | 2895 | 21 | 5 | 4.20 |
| Sam Bradford | 2008 | 328 | 483 | 67.91% | 4720 | 50 | 8 | 6.25 |
| Colt McCoy | 2008 | 332 | 433 | 76.67% | 3859 | 34 | 8 | 4.25 |
| Tim Tebow | 2008 | 192 | 298 | 64.43% | 2746 | 30 | 4 | 7.50 |
| Graham Harrell | 2008 | 442 | 626 | 70.61% | 5111 | 45 | 9 | 5.00 |
| Pat White | 2008 | 180 | 274 | 65.69% | 1842 | 21 | 7 | 3.00 |
| Tim Tebow | 2007 | 234 | 350 | 66.86% | 3286 | 32 | 6 | 5.33 |
| Colt Brennan | 2007 | 359 | 510 | 70.39% | 4343 | 38 | 17 | 2.24 |
| Chase Daniel | 2007 | 384 | 563 | 68.21% | 4306 | 33 | 11 | 3.00 |
| Dennis Dixon | 2007 | 172 | 254 | 67.72% | 2136 | 20 | 4 | 5.00 |
| Pat White | 2007 | 144 | 216 | 66.67% | 1724 | 14 | 4 | 3.50 |
| Troy Smith | 2006 | 203 | 311 | 65.27% | 2542 | 30 | 6 | 5.00 |
| Brady Quinn | 2006 | 289 | 467 | 61.88% | 3426 | 37 | 7 | 5.29 |
| Vince Young | 2005 | 212 | 325 | 65.23% | 3036 | 26 | 10 | 2.60 |
| Matt Leinart | 2005 | 283 | 431 | 65.66% | 3815 | 28 | 8 | 3.50 |
| Brady Quinn | 2005 | 292 | 450 | 64.89% | 3919 | 32 | 7 | 4.57 |
| Matt Leinart | 2004 | 269 | 412 | 65.29% | 3322 | 33 | 6 | 5.50 |
| Jason White | 2004 | 255 | 390 | 65.38% | 3205 | 35 | 9 | 3.89 |
| Alex Smith | 2004 | 214 | 317 | 67.51% | 2952 | 32 | 4 | 8.00 |
| Jason White | 2003 | 278 | 451 | 61.64% | 3846 | 40 | 10 | 4.00 |
| Eli Manning | 2003 | 275 | 441 | 62.36% | 3600 | 29 | 10 | 2.90 |
| Matt Leinart | 2003 | 255 | 402 | 63.43% | 3556 | 38 | 9 | 4.22 |
| Carson Palmer | 2002 | 309 | 489 | 63.19% | 3942 | 33 | 10 | 3.30 |
| Brad Banks | 2002 | 170 | 294 | 57.82% | 2573 | 26 | 5 | 5.20 |
| Ken Dorsey | 2002 | 222 | 393 | 56.49% | 3369 | 28 | 12 | 2.33 |
| Rex Grossman | 2002 | 287 | 503 | 57.06% | 3402 | 22 | 17 | 1.29 |
| Eric Crouch | 2001 | 105 | 189 | 55.56% | 1510 | 7 | 10 | 0.70 |
| Rex Grossman | 2001 | 259 | 395 | 65.57% | 3896 | 34 | 12 | 2.83 |
| Ken Dorsey | 2001 | 184 | 318 | 57.86% | 2652 | 23 | 9 | 2.56 |
| Joey Harrington | 2001 | 186 | 322 | 57.76% | 2415 | 23 | 5 | 4.60 |
| Chris Weinke | 2000 | 266 | 431 | 61.72% | 4167 | 33 | 11 | 3.00 |
| Josh Heupel | 2000 | 305 | 472 | 64.62% | 3606 | 20 | 15 | 1.33 |
| Drew Brees | 2000 | 309 | 512 | 60.35% | 3668 | 26 | 12 | 2.17 |
| Joey Hamilton | 1999 | 203 | 305 | 66.56% | 3060 | 29 | 11 | 2.64 |
| Michael Vick | 1999 | 90 | 152 | 59.21% | 1840 | 12 | 5 | 2.40 |
| Drew Brees | 1999 | 337 | 544 | 61.95% | 3909 | 25 | 12 | 2.08 |
| Michael Bishop | 1998 | 164 | 295 | 55.59% | 2844 | 23 | 4 | 5.75 |
| Cade McNown | 1998 | 207 | 357 | 57.98% | 3470 | 25 | 11 | 2.27 |
| Tim Couch | 1998 | 400 | 553 | 72.33% | 4275 | 36 | 15 | 2.40 |
| Donovan McNabb | 1998 | 157 | 251 | 62.55% | 2134 | 22 | 5 | 4.40 |
| Peyton Manning | 1997 | 287 | 477 | 60.17% | 3819 | 36 | 11 | 3.27 |
| Ryan Leaf | 1997 | 227 | 410 | 55.37% | 3968 | 34 | 11 | 3.09 |
| Danny Wuerfell | 1996 | 207 | 360 | 57.50% | 3625 | 39 | 13 | 3.00 |
| Jake Plummer | 1996 | 179 | 313 | 57.19% | 2575 | 24 | 9 | 2.67 |
| Tommy Frazier | 1995 | 92 | 163 | 56.44% | 1362 | 17 | 4 | 4.25 |
| Danny Wuerfell | 1995 | 210 | 325 | 64.62% | 3266 | 35 | 10 | 3.50 |
| Steve McNair | 1994 | 304 | 530 | 57.36% | 4863 | 44 | 17 | 2.59 |
| Kerry Collins | 1994 | 176 | 264 | 66.67% | 2679 | 21 | 7 | 3.00 |
| Kordell Stewart | 1994 | 147 | 237 | 62.03% | 2071 | 10 | 3 | 3.33 |
| Charlie Ward | 1993 | 264 | 380 | 69.47% | 3032 | 27 | 4 | 6.75 |
| Heath Shuler | 1993 | 184 | 285 | 64.56% | 2354 | 25 | 8 | 3.13 |
| Tommy Frazier | 1993 | 77 | 162 | 47.53% | 1159 | 12 | 4 | 3.00 |
| Gino Torretta | 1992 | 228 | 402 | 56.72% | 3060 | 19 | 7 | 2.71 |
| Casey Weldon | 1991 | 189 | 313 | 60.38% | 2527 | 22 | 8 | 2.75 |
| Ty Detmer | 1991 | 249 | 403 | 61.79% | 4031 | 35 | 12 | 2.92 |
| Ty Detmer | 1990 | 361 | 562 | 64.23% | 5188 | 41 | 28 | 1.46 |
| Shawn Moore | 1990 | 144 | 241 | 59.75% | 2262 | 21 | 8 | 2.63 |
| Darian Hagan | 1990 | 75 | 163 | 46.01% | 1538 | 11 | 8 | 1.38 |
| Andre Ware | 1989 | 365 | 578 | 63.15% | 4699 | 46 | 15 | 3.07 |
| Major Harris | 1989 | 142 | 245 | 57.96% | 2058 | 17 | 11 | 1.55 |
| Tony Rice | 1989 | 68 | 137 | 49.64% | 1122 | 2 | 9 | 0.22 |
| Darian Hagan | 1989 | 48 | 85 | 56.47% | 1002 | 4 | 4 | 1.00 |
| Rodney Peete | 1988 | 208 | 338 | 61.54% | 2654 | 18 | 10 | 1.80 |
| Troy Aikman | 1988 | 209 | 327 | 63.91% | 2599 | 23 | 8 | 2.88 |
| Steve Walsh | 1988 | 233 | 390 | 59.74% | 3115 | 29 | 12 | 2.42 |
| Major Harris | 1988 | 105 | 186 | 56.45% | 1915 | 14 | 8 | 1.75 |
| Tony Rice | 1988 | 70 | 138 | 50.72% | 1176 | 8 | 7 | 1.14 |
| Don McPherson | 1987 | 129 | 229 | 56.33% | 2341 | 22 | 11 | 2.00 |
| Jamelle Holieway | 1987 | 21 | 62 | 33.87% | 548 | 7 | 4 | 1.75 |
| Vinny Testaverde | 1986 | 175 | 276 | 63.41% | 2557 | 26 | 9 | 2.89 |
| Jim Harbaugh | 1986 | 180 | 277 | 64.98% | 2729 | 10 | 11 | 0.91 |
| Jamelle Holieway | 1986 | 32 | 66 | 48.48% | 588 | 6 | 4 | 1.50 |
| Name | Heisman Winner Position | Rushes | Yards | Average | TDs | Total TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cam Newton | ? | 228 | 1336 | 5.86 | 18 | 42 |
| Andrew Luck | ? | 51 | 438 | 8.59 | 3 | 31 |
| Andy Dalton | ? | 77 | 407 | 5.29 | 5 | 31 |
| Denard Robinson | ? | 245 | 1643 | 6.71 | 14 | 30 |
| Kellen Moore | ? | 14 | -34 | -2.43 | 0 | 30 |
| Ryan Mallett | ? | 40 | -46 | -1.15 | 4 | 34 |
| Terrell Pryor | ? | 120 | 639 | 5.33 | 4 | 29 |
| Colt McCoy | Running Back | 129 | 348 | 2.70 | 3 | 30 |
| Tim Tebow | Running Back | 217 | 910 | 4.19 | 14 | 35 |
| Sam Bradford | Quarterback | 42 | 47 | 1.12 | 5 | 55 |
| Colt McCoy | Quarterback | 136 | 561 | 4.13 | 11 | 45 |
| Tim Tebow | Quarterback | 176 | 673 | 3.82 | 12 | 42 |
| Graham Harrell | Quarterback | 41 | -15 | -0.37 | 6 | 51 |
| Pat White | Quarterback | 191 | 974 | 5.10 | 8 | 29 |
| Tim Tebow | Quarterback | 210 | 895 | 4.26 | 23 | 55 |
| Colt Brennan | Quarterback | 82 | 27 | 0.33 | 8 | 46 |
| Chase Daniel | Quarterback | 109 | 253 | 2.32 | 4 | 37 |
| Dennis Dixon | Quarterback | 105 | 583 | 5.55 | 9 | 29 |
| Pat White | Quarterback | 197 | 1335 | 6.78 | 14 | 28 |
| Troy Smith | Quarterback | 72 | 204 | 2.83 | 1 | 31 |
| Brady Quinn | Quarterback | 82 | 71 | 0.87 | 2 | 39 |
| Vince Young | Running Back | 155 | 1050 | 6.77 | 12 | 38 |
| Matt Leinart | Running Back | 51 | 36 | 0.71 | 6 | 34 |
| Brady Quinn | Running Back | 70 | 90 | 1.29 | 1 | 33 |
| Matt Leinart | Quarterback | 49 | -44 | -0.90 | 3 | 36 |
| Jason White | Quarterback | 23 | -56 | -2.43 | 0 | 35 |
| Alex Smith | Quarterback | 135 | 631 | 4.67 | 10 | 42 |
| Jason White | Quarterback | 42 | -150 | -3.57 | 1 | 41 |
| Eli Manning | Quarterback | 48 | 28 | 0.58 | 3 | 32 |
| Matt Leinart | Quarterback | 32 | -62 | -1.94 | 0 | 38 |
| Carson Palmer | Quarterback | 50 | 122 | 2.44 | 4 | 37 |
| Brad Banks | Quarterback | 81 | 423 | 5.22 | 5 | 31 |
| Ken Dorsey | Quarterback | 23 | -48 | -2.09 | 0 | 28 |
| Rex Grossman | Quarterback | 58 | -65 | -1.12 | 1 | 23 |
| Eric Crouch | Quarterback | 203 | 1115 | 5.49 | 18 | 25 |
| Rex Grossman | Quarterback | 34 | 8 | 0.24 | 5 | 39 |
| Ken Dorsey | Quarterback | 12 | 3 | 0.25 | 0 | 23 |
| Joey Harrington | Quarterback | 55 | 56 | 1.02 | 7 | 30 |
| Chris Weinke | Quarterback | 30 | -97 | -3.23 | 1 | 34 |
| Josh Heupel | Quarterback | 70 | 144 | 2.06 | 7 | 27 |
| Drew Brees | Quarterback | 95 | 521 | 5.48 | 5 | 31 |
| Joey Hamilton | Running Back | 154 | 734 | 4.77 | 6 | 35 |
| Michael Vick | Running Back | 108 | 585 | 5.42 | 8 | 20 |
| Drew Brees | Running Back | 79 | 177 | 2.24 | 4 | 29 |
| Michael Bishop | Running Back | 177 | 748 | 4.23 | 14 | 37 |
| Cade McNown | Running Back | 75 | 182 | 2.43 | 3 | 28 |
| Tim Couch | Running Back | 64 | -124 | -1.94 | 1 | 37 |
| Donovan McNabb | Running Back | 135 | 438 | 3.24 | 8 | 30 |
| Peyton Manning | Cornerback | 49 | -30 | -0.61 | 3 | 39 |
| Ryan Leaf | Cornerback | 82 | -48 | -0.59 | 6 | 40 |
| Danny Wuerfell | Quarterback | 63 | -100 | -1.59 | 2 | 41 |
| Jake Plummer | Quarterback | 85 | 63 | 0.74 | 3 | 27 |
| Tommy Frazier | Running Back | 97 | 604 | 6.23 | 14 | 31 |
| Danny Wuerfell | Running Back | 46 | -141 | -3.07 | 2 | 37 |
| Steve McNair | Running Back | 119 | 936 | 7.87 | 9 | 53 |
| Kerry Collins | Running Back | 12 | -19 | -1.58 | 0 | 21 |
| Kordell Stewart | Running Back | 122 | 639 | 5.24 | 7 | 17 |
| Charlie Ward | Quarterback | 65 | 339 | 5.22 | 4 | 31 |
| Heath Shuler | Quarterback | 46 | 73 | 1.59 | 3 | 28 |
| Tommy Frazier | Quarterback | 126 | 704 | 5.59 | 9 | 21 |
| Gino Torretta | Quarterback | 34 | -24 | -0.71 | 0 | 19 |
| Casey Weldon | Wide Receiver | 38 | -30 | -0.79 | 0 | 22 |
| Ty Detmer | Wide Receiver | 75 | -30 | -0.40 | 0 | 35 |
| Ty Detmer | Quarterback | 73 | -166 | -2.27 | 0 | 41 |
| Shawn Moore | Quarterback | N/A | 303 | N/A | 8 | 29 |
| Darian Hagan | Quarterback | 138 | 442 | 3.20 | 5 | 16 |
| Andre Ware | Quarterback | 50 | -38 | -0.76 | 0 | 46 |
| Major Harris | Quarterback | 155 | 936 | 6.04 | 6 | 23 |
| Tony Rice | Quarterback | 174 | 884 | 5.08 | 7 | 9 |
| Darian Hagan | Quarterback | 186 | 1132 | 6.09 | 17 | 21 |
| Rodney Peete | Running Back | 68 | 68 | 1.00 | 5 | 23 |
| Troy Aikman | Running Back | 78 | 83 | 1.06 | 1 | 24 |
| Steve Walsh | Running Back | 15 | -33 | -2.20 | 0 | 29 |
| Major Harris | Running Back | 134 | 610 | 4.55 | 6 | 20 |
| Tony Rice | Running Back | 121 | 700 | 5.79 | 9 | 17 |
| Don McPherson | Wide Receiver | 110 | 199 | 1.81 | 5 | 27 |
| Jamelle Holieway | Wide Receiver | 142 | 860 | 6.06 | 10 | 17 |
| Vinny Testaverde | Quarterback | 46 | -103 | -2.24 | 4 | 30 |
| Jim Harbaugh | Quarterback | 94 | 118 | 1.26 | 8 | 18 |
| Jamelle Holieway | Quarterback | 146 | 807 | 5.53 | 10 | 16 |
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