Ranking the most dominant Heisman campaigns of the last 25 years

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 13: Marcus Mariota, quarterback for the University of Oregon Ducks, hoist the trophy after being named the 80th Heisman Memorial Trophy Award winner during the 2014 Heisman Trophy Presentation at the Best Buy Theater on December 13, 2014 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: Photographer approval needed for all Commercial License requests. (Photo by Kelly Kline/Getty Images for The Heisman) /

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Oklahoma quarterback Jason White during the FedEx Orange Bowl National Championship at Pro Player Stadium in Miami, Florida on January 4, 2005. USC beat Oklahoma 55-19. (Photo by A. Messerschmidt/Getty Images) /

21. Jason White

Despite being ravaged by injuries, White held off a worthy challenger in Larry Fitzgerald to take home the 2003 Heisman Trophy.

A native of Tuttle, a rural town in central Oklahoma, White remained in-state to play for Bob Stoops and the Sooners ahead of the 1999 season. White appeared sparingly as a freshman and took a redshirt in 2000 with star quarterback Josh Heupel leading a national title run atop the Oklahoma depth chart.

After taking over for the injured Nate Hybl in October 2001, White tore his ACL in a game against Nebraska, and suffered the same injury in the opposite leg two games into the 2002 season. White could barely run the next year and had to take every snap from out of the shotgun, but managed to put together an incredible season with 3,846 yards and 40 touchdowns to eight interceptions to help Oklahoma reach the national title game once again.

Those numbers certainly had White in the Heisman conversation all season wrong, although he was unable to get much separation from Fitzgerald, who racked up 1,672 yards and 22 touchdowns for Pittsburgh. By narrowly edging Fitzgerald in first place votes, White won the award by 128 points to become the fourth Heisman recipient in Oklahoma program history.

As impressive as White’s numbers were on two bad knees, he was never in full control of the 2003 Heisman race and can’t be considered among the more dominant performances of the last 25 years. White nearly became the second two-time Heisman winner the next season, finishing in third place behind Matt Leinart and teammate Adrian Peterson.

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