Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston won the 79th Heisman Trophy award in a landslide.
Winston led his Seminoles to a 13-0 regular season record and was an easy choice for the award. He completed 67.9 percent of his passes for 3,820 yards, 38 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also ran for 193 yards and four touchdowns while leading the ‘Noles to the perfect regular season.
Winston follows Charlie Ward (1993) and Chris Weinke (2000) by becoming the third Florida State quarterback to win the prized trophy. He is also the second redshirt freshman to win the award. Johnny Manziel, who won the trophy last year, became the first. Manziel was one of the finalists for the award this season and finished fifth in voting.
Winston won the award with 2,205 points. Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron was second with 704 points; Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch finished third with 558 points; Boston College running back Andre Williams was fourth with 470 points; Manziel was fifth with 421 points; and Auburn running back was sixth with 404 points.
Winston’s margin of victory was the fifth-largest in the last 50 years. What’s notable is he was left off 115 ballots entirely, likely because of the sexual assault investigation he faced. Though only the witnesses know if he was innocent, he was not charged by the state, which helped make voters feel more comfortable ranking him first on their ballots.
