When it comes to pedigree, few programs can match the legacy and historical impact of the USC Trojans. With well over 800 career wins and a trophy case that includes 11 claimed national titles, it is easy to understand why USC is considered a college football blueblood.
With great programs come great players, and the Trojans have had several stars who shone brightly under the lights of Los Angeles. USC has had more Heisman winners than any other college football program.
The Heisman Trophy is an annual award given to the most outstanding player in college football, and multiple Trojans have won the award. Let’s examine the USC Trojans Heisman Trophy winners and recap their contributions to the program.
Mike Garrett, RB (1965)
Garrett was impressive in his senior year, and was one of the first backs in college football to average over 25 carries a game as a running back. That production, combined with his versatility is part of why the Los Angeles native was named the Heisman winner.
He rushed for 1,440 yards and scored 17 touchdowns, two of which came on punt returns. He went on to win a Super Bowl with the Chiefs and later returned to his alma mater as the athletic director, a position he held until 2010.
O.J. Simpson, RB (1968)
Before Simpson’s infamous murder acquittal in 1994, he was the 1968 Heisman winner for the Trojans. Simpson transferred to USC in 1967 from City College of San Francisco, and he rushed for 1,543 yards and 13 touchdowns as part of a USC squad that went 10-1 and won a national championship.
The next season, his Heisman-winning campaign, he tallied 1,709 yards and 22 touchdowns as the Trojans went 9-0-1 and finished second in the polls. His 1,750-point margin of victory was a record at the time.
Charles White, RB (1979)
White was the third straight running back to win the Heisman trophy, and his senior campaign was good enough to lead him to finish as the NCAA’s No. 2 all-time leading rusher. He entered the season as a Heisman frontrunner, and all he did was run away with the trophy as he had 1,803 yards and 18 touchdowns despite missing a game and a half with an injury.
His Trojans finished 10-0-1 that season and White finished with an average of 201 yards per game over the last ten games, beating out Billy Sims of Oklahoma.
Marcus Allen, RB (1981)
Allen may have been the lynchpin in cementing USC as RBU at the time, and what a season it was for the magnificent Allen. He was the first player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a single season, and his final number of 2,342 still sits in fourth place today.
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Allen added 23 touchdowns and caught 29 passes as well, and he passed the 200-yard mark in eight of 11 games that season before moving on to the NFL and was named to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999.
Carson Palmer, QB (2002)
Palmer was the first non-running back to win the Heisman trophy for the Trojans and broke a 21-year drought for USC with his win in 2002. With the arrival of Norm Chow in 2002, Palmer threw for 3,639 yards and 32 touchdowns as USC won ten games that season and received their highest ranking since 1979.
Palmer beat out Larry Johnson and Willis McGahee to win the award, a competitive field, and after winning the Heisman led the Trojans to a victory over Iowa in the Orange Bowl and a number four finish in the country.
Matt Leinart, QB (2004)
Leinart was part of a fantastic stretch of three Heisman winners in four years and won the award after a fantastic junior campaign that saw him throw for 2,990 yards and 28 TDs and just 6 ints, while also rushing for three TDs as he led the Trojans to an undefeated regular season.
Leinart beat out Oklahoma’s Adrian Peterson and Jason White, Utah’s Alex Smith, and teammate Reggie Bush as he went home with the award, and was validated as he led his team to a convincing 55-19 win over Oklahoma and a second-straight national title. Leinart had an even better season in 2005, throwing for 3,815 yards and 28 touchdowns but finished third in voting.
Reggie Bush, RB (2005)
Bush had one of the most breathtaking and incredible seasons in the history of college football in 2005 and was the overwhelming winner with 2,541 total points, 933 points more than runner-up Vince Young.
Bush was part of a team that won an incredible 34 games in a row while he rushed for 1,658 yards and 15 touchdowns while adding 31 receptions for 383 yards and two TD receptions while also returning a punt for an 84-yard score as part of a multi-dimensional offensive attack that was one of the greatest in history.
Bush’s clinching game was a regular-season finale against Fresno State, where Bush totaled 513 all-purpose yards, second most in NCAA history.
Bush declared for the NFL draft as a junior after winning the Heisman and had his Heisman trophy rightfully restored in 2024 after Bush was forced to forfeit his trophy in 2010 as part of NCAA sanctions against USC for improper benefits he received while playing for the Trojans from 2003 to 2005.
With the ruling in 2021 allowing athletes to benefit from name, image, and likeness, the campaign began for the trophy to be returned to Bush and the Heisman Trophy Trust did so to much acknowledgment in April of 2024.
Caleb Williams, QB (2022)
Williams was the eighth overall and third quarterback to win a Heisman trophy while at USC, and he was a must-watch television during his 2022 Heisman campaign.
Williams is the rare sophomore winner of the Heisman trophy, and for good reason, as he finished the season ranked third in total offense with 4,447 yards, a new school record for the Trojans. His 47 total touchdowns led the country, with 37 coming through the air and 10 coming via the ground game.
Williams’ Heisman moment came as the Trojans faced off against rival Notre Dame, a prolific performance as he had four total touchdowns with three coming on the ground and accounted for 267 total yards while completing 18 of 22 passes and having a QBR of 97.5.
Williams nearly outscored the Irish by himself as USC won the game by a score of 38-27.
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