When is the last time a quarterback didn’t win the Heisman Trophy?

The Heisman Trophy has long been considered a quarterback’s award. It makes sense as the outcome of the game is largely determined by quarterback play. Either the quarterback causes their team to lose or is the reason they won. 

Which is why the last three winners have all been quarterbacks. Each has been drafted either No. 1 or No. 2 in each of the last two NFL Drafts as well. But is it possible for a non-quarterback to win the award?

The last time a QB didn’t win the Heisman Trophy

Of course, there have been other players outside of the quarterback that have won the award. If you go back to the 2020 Heisman winner, against all odds, former Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith won the award. 

He had a dominant season with 117 receptions, 1,856 yards and 23 touchdowns. Smith edged out the win over Trevor Lawrence. It was a bit of a power shift in the award as he was the first non-quarterback since Derrick Henry won in 2015. 

Coincidentally enough, the only non-quarterbacks to win the award since 2006 were all Alabama — Mark Ingram won in 2009. 

This seems like the trend of the quarterback running away with the Heisman will be on a brief pause this year. With Travis Hunter and Ashton Jeanty being frontrunners for the award, it seems Dillon Gabriel and Cam Ward are on the outside. 

Every non-QB to win the Heisman Trophy since 1990

Aside from Smith, the last non-quarterbacks to win the award, Henry and Ingram were two of the most dominant players in their respective seasons. Henry went on to dominate in the NFL and is even in NFL MVP conversations in his first year in Baltimore. 

When Henry won in 2015, he led the nation in both rushing yards with 2,219 and rushing touchdowns, finishing with 28. He led Bama to a national championship as well. He won the Walter Camp Player of the Year award, Maxwell Award, for the best all-around player, and the Doak Walker Award, given to the top running back. 

Before him, Mark Ingram was the first Alabama player to ever receive the award. 

This season, Ashton Jeanty is having an even more dominant season than Henry did when he won the award in 2015. Jeanty has 2,497 rushing yards this season and 29 rushing touchdowns, both higher than Henry’s. 

Even if you compare their seasons, it’s hard to argue he deserves the Heisman. And if it weren’t for Travis Hunter, he would probably run away with the award. 

Hunter’s rise from flipping from Florida State to Jackson State, to dominating both sides of the ball at Colorado has been nothing short of remarkable. What he’s done this season is certainly comparable as well to what Charles Woodson did when he won the award as a two-way player at Michigan back in 1997.

During Woodson’s junior season, the year he won the Heisman, he had seven interceptions, 43 tackles on defense and had 231 receiving yards and a touchdown. Back then, playing both sides of the ball was unheard of and he’s the first two-way player to win the award. 

Hunter could be the second. This season, Hunter had 92 catches for 1,152 and 14 touchdowns, leading all skill players on offense. Defensively, he had 31 total tackles with a forced fumble, four interceptions and 11 passes defensed. 

If either player played in different seasons than each other, it would be a landslide. But this year’s Heisman winner could win the closest vote since Ingram won in 2009.