By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
New York — Louisville Cardinals sophomore quarterback Lamar Jackson has won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night. He is the first Cardinals player to win the Heisman Trophy.
Jackson won the award in a live presentation from the PlayStation Theater in Times Square. He’s also the school’s first-ever finalist.
“To be able to stand up here with all the former winners, I’m extremely proud to represent this class and Louisville as their first Heisman Trophy winner,” Jackson said. “For my teammates, it’s an award for all of us. I can’t wait to cherish it with all of you.”
He is the fourth sophomore player to win the award. He joins Tim Tebow — who was in attendance when Jackson heard his name called — along with Sam Bradford and Mark Ingram. He’s the 36th quarterback to win the award.
Jackson is the youngest player to win the award. He broke Jameis Winston’s 2013 record when he won the award at 19-years-old and 342 days. Jackson broke Winston’s record by five days at 19 years and 337 days.
“Man, I almost cried,” he said. “To hear my name called with all those great players, I was overwhelmed.”
The Florida native had 3,390 passing yards along with 1,538 rushing yards. He combined for 4,928 yards, which the second most ever for a Heisman winner. Ty Detmer of the BYU Cougars had 5,022 yards in 1990.
Jackson had 51 total touchdowns and was the first player in FBS history to get 3,300 passing yards and 1,500 rushing yards in a season. He became the first player since 1987 to win the trophy after their team lost it’s final two games since Tim Brown (Notre Dame Fighting Irish) in 1987.
“I had no idea how the vote was going to come out,” Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino said. “I want you to know how proud I am of Lamar. He’s a young man that prepared extremely hard, went out on the field and played as hard as he possibly could and did a great job being a leader for this football team.”
Clemson Tigers quarterback DeShaun Watson finished second this year. One year ago, he finished third behind Derrick Henry, the Heisman winner, and Christian McCaffrey.
It’s the first-time in Heisman history that two players from the Atlantic Coast Conference finished 1-2.
The Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield and wide receiver Dede Westbrook finished third and fourth, while Michigan Wolverines utility player Jabrill Peppers was fifth.
Jackson had 2,144 total points, while Watson had 1,524 points. Mayfield had 361 points, while Westbrook had 209 and Peppers had 208.
Jackson appeared on 90.53% of the ballots. Watson was on 74.63%, while Mayfield was on 25.51%. Peppers was on 15.72% and Westbrook was on 15.18%.
