The Michigan Wolverines are one of the most famous and iconic brands in college football. Many legends of the game have made their way through Ann Arbor, with some of the best players in college football being Wolverines, surely some have won a Heisman Trophy.
Who Has Won the Heisman Trophy at Michigan?
The Heisman Trophy has been won each year since 1935 by the most outstanding player in college football, and given Michigan is the winningest program in college football history, you would expect that they have won their fair share of the award.
Michigan has had three players win the Heisman Trophy. Tom Harmon, Desmond Howard, and Charles Woodson have won the award while playing in Maize and Blue.
That means other celebrated players who played for the Wolverines, such as Tom Brady and Anthony Carter, didn’t win the Heisman Trophy.
Heisman-Winning Seasons at Michigan
Tom Harmon won in 1940 as only the sixth player to have won the award and the first in Michigan’s long history. A year previously, in 1939, Harom came second in Heisman voting.
Desmond Howard became the second Wolverine to win the Heisman Trophy in 1991, with one of the best seasons college football has seen from a receiver. In 11 games, Howard had 61 receptions for 950 yards and 19 touchdowns. The offensive weapon also had 2 rushing touchdowns and two kick return TDs to total 23 on the season.
On the back of this legendary season, Washington drafted Howard fourth overall in the 1992 NFL Draft. Howard is now one of the co-hosts on ESPN’s College GameDay.
Charles Woodson won in 1997, becoming the third Michigan player to win the prestigious award. Woodson is also the only winner of the Heisman Trophy to be a two-way player. Playing both cornerback and wide receiver, Woodson is the “only player to win the Heisman playing significant minutes on both sides of the ball since college football moved to a two-platoon system in the early 1960s.”
MORE: Michigan Playoff History
Woodson was drafted at No. 4 in the 1998 NFL Draft by the Raiders and won Defensive Rookie of the Year.
On top of having three winners, Michigan has had players finish in the top 12 in voting 30 times.
Harmon, Bob Chappuis, and Aidan Hutchinson all finished as runners-up, while Rob Lytle, Rick Leach, and Jim Harbaugh, all finished third.
Bob Timberlake, Anthony Carter, and Chris Perry all finished fourth in the Heisman voting.
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