The Heisman and transfers: Past winners, current players with a chance
Eight transfers have won the Heisman, with four of those having transferred from another four-year school. The numbers could increase to nine and five, respectively, this season.
Here’s a closer look, first at the transfers who have won, then the transfers who could win this year.
The eight transfers who’ve won the Heisman
RB Doc Blanchard, Army, 1945: He signed with North Carolina out of high school (Tar Heels coach Jim Tatum was his mom’s cousin) and played on the Tar Heels’ freshman team in 1943, then enlisted in the Army and later transferred to West Point. He was the first junior to win the Heisman; his backfield mate, Glenn Davis, won the award in 1946.
QB Roger Staubach, Navy, 1963: He attended New Mexico Military Institute for a year, then transferred to Navy, where he won the Heisman as a junior.
RB O.J. Simpson, USC, 1968: Simpson played two years at City College of San Francisco before moving on to USC. He was second, to UCLA QB Gary Beban, in the 1967 Heisman voting, then won the award in ’68.
RB Mike Rozier, Nebraska, 1983: Rozier, a New Jersey native, attended Coffeyville (Kan.) CC for a year before signing with Nebraska. He finished 10th in Heisman voting as a junior before winning it as a senior.
QB Cam Newton, Auburn, 2010: He signed with Florida in 2007 out of high school, transferred to Blinn College (Texas) in January 2009 after being dismissed from UF, then won the Heisman in his only season at Auburn.
QB Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma, 2017: Mayfield walked-on at Texas Tech and started as a true freshman in 2013. He left for OU after that season and won the Heisman as a senior.
QB Kyler Murray, Oklahoma, 2018: Murray signed with Texas A&M out of high school and started three games for the Aggies as a true freshman in 2015. He transferred to OU, sat out the 2016 season, backed up Mayfield in ’17 and won the Heisman as a junior in ’18.
QB Joe Burrow, LSU, 2019: Burrow played in 10 games in three years at Ohio State and transferred to LSU following the 2017 season. After enjoying a modicum of success as the Tigers’ starter in 2018, he won the Heisman as a senior in 2019.
The transfers who could win this year
The players are listed alphabetically.
QB Hendon Hooker, Tennessee: His “candidacy” took a hit with the loss to Georgia, but he (and the Vols) has three games left to impress voters. The games are against Missouri (solid defense), South Carolina (mediocre defense) and Vanderbilt (bad defense). Against those three teams last season, Hooker threw eight TD passes and no interceptions.
QB Bo Nix, Oregon: Nix is on fire of late and has Oregon at No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings – the highest of any Pac-12 team. He has completed at least 77 percent of his passes in four consecutive games – he’s 89-of-112 in that stretch, 79.5 percent – and has accounted for 36 touchdowns this season (22 in the air, 13 on the ground, one as a receiver).
QB Caleb Williams, USC: Usually, it’s quarterbacks who transfer into Oklahoma who are Heisman front-runners. Williams, of course, left OU after last season. He has accounted for at least 398 yards and at least five total touchdowns in each of USC’s past three games (he had 1,261 yards of offense in those contests). The Trojans are eighth in the CFP rankings and one of four teams with the strongest chance of playing in the Pac-12 title game.
Four other transfers – Illinois RB Chase Brown, UCLA RB Zach Charbonnet, LSU QB Jayden Daniels and Washington QB Michael Penix Jr. – have at least an outside shot of getting into the Heisman hunt. Brown is the nation’s leading rusher and Penix the leading passer. But team success, above all, is the key for the quartet – and each stars on a team that conceivably could win out and grab its conference title.