Michigan DE Aidan Hutchinson places second in Heisman Trophy voting
Michigan Wolverines football defensive end Aidan Hutchinson finished as the runner-up for the 87th Heisman Trophy, which is presented each year to the most outstanding player in college football. Alabama quarterback Bryce Young took home the hardware. Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett finished third, while Ohio State signal-caller C.J. Stroud placed fourth.
The 12th defensive end to finish in the top 10 of the balloting, Hutchinson totaled 954 points on the after votes were tallied. He earned 78 first-place votes, 273 second-place votes, and was third on 174 ballots. The Michigan product is the first defensive player to finish in the top four since Ohio State’s Chase Young placed fourth in the 2019 voting.
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Hutchinson is the third Michigan standout to finish second in the final balloting, joining running backs Tom Harmon (1939) and Bob Chappuis (1947). He is the first defensive player to finish as the runner-up since Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o (2012) and the third in the history of the award (Hugh Green, Pittsburgh, 1980).
Since 1982, Michigan has had just six Heisman trophy finalists. Jim Harbaugh placed third in 1986, Desmond Howard won the award in 1991, Charles Woodson became the first and stands at the only defensive player to take home the hardward in 1997, Chris Perry finished third in 2003, and Jabrill Peppers slotted fifth in 2016.
A Michigan player has finished in the top 12 of the balloting 29 times, led by Heisman Trophy winners Harmon (1940), Howard (1991) and Charles Woodson (1997). It is the 14th time that a Wolverine has finished in the top five of the voting. Hutchinson is the program’s highest finisher for the award since Woodson won the Heisman in 1997.
He became the 10th defensive player selected as a Heisman Trophy finalist. The others are Oklahoma LB Brian Bosworth (1986), Washington DT Steve Emtman (1991), Miami DT Warren Sapp (1994), Michigan CB Charles Woodson (1997), Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh (2009), LSU CB Tyrann Mathieu (2011), Te’o (2012), Peppers (2016) and Young (2019). Michigan leads all of college football with three defensive finalists for the Heisman: Woodson, Peppers and now Hutchinson.
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Hutchinson led Michigan to its first-ever College Football Playoff appearance and first Big Ten title since 2004. His success has been one of many highlights of the Wolverines’ stellar 2021 campaign.
“We’ve been having a legendary season, something nobody really thought we could do this season,” Hutchinson said just before the ceremony. “We’re the first unranked team in the playoffs. We won the Big Ten Championship really against all the odds.
“And individually, being in the same discussion as Charles Woodson — that’s someone who I grew up knowing, I grew up knowing he was the only defensive player to win the Heisman — and now I’m sitting here my senior year being a Heisman finalist, and I’ve got a chance to win it tonight. It means so much, and Michigan has got a little trend going for defensive players being Heisman finalists, and he’s the only one to win it.”
And he came closer to winning the award than any player other player in the country outside of Young.
