Revisiting Ohio State’s historic run of Heisman Trophy finalists
On Saturday night, the 89th winner of the Heisman Trophy will be announced. Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. is in New York City as a finalist for the most prestigious individual award in college football, along with Oregon quarterback Bo Nix, LSU signal caller Jayden Daniels and Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr
.Harrison hopes to be the Buckeyes’ eighth Heisman Trophy winner when the award is handed out. The Scarlet and Gray’s previous Heisman winners were halfback Les Horvath, running back Vic Janowicz, running back Howard “Hopalong” Cassady, running back Archie Griffin (twice), running back Eddie George and quarterback Troy Smith, tying Ohio State for the most all-time with Notre Dame, Oklahoma and USC.
While the last Buckeye to win the Heisman was in 2006 (Smith), the Scarlet and Gray have gotten used to having players in New York for the ceremony. Harrison is the sixth finalist in the last seven years. And while the likes of Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields, Chase Young and C.J. Stroud would have preferred to hear their names called and taken home the famous bronze statue, even being considered a Heisman Trophy finalist in an hour.
After taking over for J.T. Barrett, winning an offseason battle for the starting quarterback job against Joe Burrow, Haskins put together one of the greatest seasons in Buckeye history. After throwing only 57 passes before the 2018 season, Haskins proved himself more than capable of being the Scarlet and Gray’s starter, completing 70 percent of his passes for 4,831 yards and 50 touchdowns with just eight interceptions.
Haskins won six Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week awards in 2018 and was also the Graham–George Offensive Player of the Year, the Griese–Brees Quarterback of the Year, the Chicago Tribune Silver Football, and the Male Ohio State Athlete of the Year awards. Haskins finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting that year.
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Revisiting Ohio State’s historic run of Heisman Trophy finalists
The Buckeyes have had a ridiculous run of players
On Saturday night, the 89th winner of the Heisman Trophy will be announced. Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. is in New York City as a finalist for the most prestigious individual award in college football, along with Oregon quarterback Bo Nix, LSU signal caller Jayden Daniels and Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr.
Harrison hopes to be the Buckeyes’ eighth Heisman Trophy winner when the award is handed out. The Scarlet and Gray’s previous Heisman winners were halfback Les Horvath, running back Vic Janowicz, running back Howard “Hopalong” Cassady, running back Archie Griffin (twice), running back Eddie George and quarterback Troy Smith, tying Ohio State for the most all-time with Notre Dame, Oklahoma and USC.
While the last Buckeye to win the Heisman was in 2006 (Smith), the Scarlet and Gray have gotten used to having players in New York for the ceremony. Harrison is the sixth finalist in the last seven years. And while the likes of Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields, Chase Young and C.J. Stroud would have preferred to hear their names called and taken home the famous bronze statue, even being considered a Heisman Trophy finalist in an hour.
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Before the latest player is inducted into a prestigious college football fraternity, let’s take a look back at this historic run of Heisman finalists by Ohio State
QB DWAYNE HASKINS
After taking over for J.T. Barrett, winning an offseason battle for the starting quarterback job against Joe Burrow, Haskins put together one of the greatest seasons in Buckeye history. After throwing only 57 passes before the 2018 season, Haskins proved himself more than capable of being the Scarlet and Gray’s starter, completing 70 percent of his passes for 4,831 yards and 50 touchdowns with just eight interceptions.
Haskins won six Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week awards in 2018 and was also the Graham–George Offensive Player of the Year, the Griese–Brees Quarterback of the Year, the Chicago Tribune Silver Football, and the Male Ohio State Athlete of the Year awards. Haskins finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting that year.
QB JUSTIN FIELDS
After Haskins’ one impressive season, the quarterback left Ohio State for the NFL. Ryan Day took over as head coach for Urban Meyer and went to the transfer portal to land Justin Fields from Georgia. The sophomore came in and quickly won the job, showing why in his first year with the Buckeyes. Fields completed 67.2 percent of his passes while throwing for 3,273 yards and 41 touchdowns with just three interceptions. Fields also rushed for 484 yards and 10 more scores.
Following the season, Fields followed in Haskins’ footsteps, being named the Graham–George Offensive Player of the Year and the Griese–Brees Quarterback of the Year. He was also named first-team All-Big Ten and second-team All-American. He too finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2019.
Ohio State was dominant on both sides of the ball in 2019. Fields ran the offense, while Young was the best defensive player in the country. As a junior, Young registered 46 total tackles, 21 tackles for a loss, 16.5 sacks, seven forced fumbles and three passes defended. The defensive end did all this despite missing a game against Wisconsin due to a suspension.
Young won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Chuck Bednarik Award, Ted Hendricks Award, Chicago Tribune Silver Football, Nagurski–Woodson Defensive Player
