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Top 15 College Football Players Who Never Won The Heisman Trophy

By Patrick Schmidt

Dec 14, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Detailed view the Heisman Trophy awarded to Florida State Seminoles quarterback Jameis Winston (not pictured) after a press conference at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York following the awards ceremony. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 14, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Detailed view the Heisman Trophy awarded to Florida State Seminoles quarterback Jameis Winston (not pictured) after a press conference at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York following the awards ceremony. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dec 14, 2013; New York, NY, USA; The Heisman Trophy during a press conference before the announcement of the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 14, 2013; New York, NY, USA; The Heisman Trophy during a press conference before the announcement of the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /

These college football players had legendary seasons that just fell short of winning the Heisman Trophy

The Heisman Trophy is the most prestigious individual award in college football and perhaps in all of college and professional athletics with only a gold medal holding more prestige than the bronze stiff-armed statue handed one at the end of every college season and for these players, they came up just shy of reaching the pinnacle of their sport.

In the last of a three-part series that looked at the biggest Heisman busts, the Heisman winners with the best NFL careers, now let’s take a closer look at the best college players who came close as finalists for the award, but failed to get the most votes and didn’t win the Heisman.

They’re the best of the non-Heisman winners and with the benefit of hindsight and time we can now see that they were among the best players to ever play on Saturday’s and probably should have won the Heisman in some cases and in some cases just lost out to another historic player.

Evaluating these players was strictly based on their college careers so while Tom Brady is one of the greatest NFL players of all-time he did not have a college career that ranks among the best of all-time.

Further, I tried to keep with the theme of the Heisman voters who have made this an award for offensive skill position players, otherwise it would have just been a list of the best college football players and that’s not the intent. Secondly, only players from Division I are eligible for the Heisman so if you’re wondering why Jerry Rice or Walter Payton aren’t on the list, that’s your reason.

And as is the case when the list is limited to 15 players in a sport that has hundreds of players who could make a case for inclusion of this list there will be players who are snubbed, so please continue the conversation and leave your comments in the section below and nominate your pick for the best player who should have won the Heisman.

Without further ado, here are the best college football players who came close but never won the Heisman Trophy.

All college stats and Heisman voting results courtesy of sports-reference.com and NFL stats courtesy of pro football reference

Next: Darren McFadden

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