Who won the 2014 Heisman Trophy?

With the 2015 Heisman Trophy award set to be announced, let’s take a look back at the 2014 winner.

It is time to name a Heisman Trophy winner in 2015, and the class to win the award is just as talented as it has ever been. Three men from three great schools will find out on Saturday, if they are going to walk away with the most prestigious prize in college football. Each of these men has carried their team to where they needed to go this season. Each of them are certainly worthy of winning the the Heisman this season.

Alabama‘s Derrick Henry, Clemson‘s Deshaun Watson and Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey all have a chance to go down in history on Saturday. Each individual has performed exceptionally on the field and has shown that they have what it takes to be called the best in college football.

While each of those individuals will be anxiously waiting for their name to be called, let’s go back a year ago when one individual captured the Heisman Trophy in 2014. In 2014, it was a Pac-12 affair, as Marcus Mariota led the Oregon Ducks to the National Championship Game as the Ducks competed in the first-ever College Football Playoff.

While the Ducks would fall to the Ohio State Buckeyes, Mariota would leave his mark on college football, thanks to an incredible system and his incredible smarts on the field. Mariota could throw for touchdowns and run for touchdowns, as he stepped up each and every single week for the Ducks.

But perhaps greater than his ability to throw or run, was his brain, as Mariota was one of the smartest quarterbacks in college football. He had the presence of mind to not turn the ball over and really kept his team ahead of others by never making costly mistakes on the field. It was those tangibles that led to him being drafted high by the Tennessee Titans in the draft. As he has shown thus far in the NFL, he is going to be a very good quarterback in this league someday.

The winner of the Heisman Trophy in 2015, will have big shoes to fill following one of the most exciting quarterbacks to ever play in college football. Mariota left a legacy of character and excellence on the field. Each of these finalists have shown the same as well.