When Auburn Tigers QB Cam Newton is handed the 2010 Heisman Trophy tonight, he’ll become the first player in over a decade to have won all three of college football’s major non-position-specific awards in a single season. Newton won the Maxwell and Walter Camp Thursday night.
Only two SEC players have pulled off a run of all three, and only five players from southeastern schools. Nineteen players have won all three. The Walter Camp is the youngest, first being handed out in 1967 to O.J. Simpson.
The following players have won both the Maxwell and Walter Camp, with asterisk’d players also winning the Heisman. Ron Dayne’s asterisk doubles as a reminder that Georgia Tech’s Joe Hamilton should’ve won any and all of the 1999 awards. As you can see, the three awards go through periods where they forget they’re supposed to disagree, then go out of their way to come up with differing results:
2009: Colt McCoy, Texas Longhorns
2002: Larry Johnson, Penn St. Nittany Lions
1999: Ron Dayne, Wisconsin Badgers *
1998: Ricky Williams, Texas *
1996: Danny Wuerffel, Florida Gators *
1995: Eddie George, Ohio St. Buckeyes *
1993: Charlie Ward, Florida St. Seminoles *
1992: Gino Torretta, Miami Hurricanes *
1991: Desmond Howard, Michigan Wolverines *
1989: Anthony Thompson, Indiana Hoosiers
1988: Barry Sanders, Oklahoma St. Cowboys *
1986: Vinny Testaverde, Miami *
1984: Doug Flutie, Boston College Eagles *
1983: Mike Rozier, Nebraska Cornhuskers *
1982: Herschel Walker, Georgia Bulldogs *
1981: Marcus Allen, USC Trojans *
1980: Hugh Green, Pittsburgh Panthers
1979: Charles White, USC *
1976: Tony Dorsett, Pittsburgh *
1975: Archie Griffin, Ohio St. *
1973: John Cappaletti, Penn St. *
1970: Jim Plunkett, Stanford Cardinal *
1968: O.J. Simpson, USC *