DeVonta Smith Latest Heisman Winner Set For The Super Bowl Stage

For the second year in a row, the Super Bowl will feature a Heisman Trophy winner, this time 2020 trophy recipient DeVonta Smith, who will look to help the Philadelphia Eagles win their second Lombardi Trophy.

Smith, a two-year pro, completed another strong season in the City of Brotherly Love to help the Eagles register the top record in the league.

The former Crimson Tide standout led the Eagles with 95 receptions, 11th-most in the NFL this season, and turned in his first 1,000-yard receiving season with 1,196 yards, ninth most in the league. He also had seven touchdown receptions.

In the Eagles two decisive playoff wins en route to the Super Bowl, Smith caught a combined eight passes for 97 yards and a score.

Smith will join a fairly modest list of Heisman Trophy winners who have played in the Super Bowl and, should the Eagles win, he will be welcomed into an even more exclusive group.

Joe Burrow is the most recent Heisman winner to play in the game, quarterbacking the Bengals to within minutes of a title in 2022. This year marks the first time the Super Bowl has had a Heisman winner in back-to-back seasons since 1981 (Jim Plunkett) and 1982 (Archie Griffin).

There has been a Heisman winner in 21 of the first 56 Super Bowls with 19 different players on Super Bowl rosters making a combined 22 appearances. 

Roger Staubach accounts for five of those as he quarterbacked Dallas in the Super Bowl in 1971, 1972, 1976, 1978 and 1979 while fellow Cowboy Tony Dorsett joined him in the last two. 

The Cowboys won in 1972 and 1978, giving Staubach a pair of rings. The only other Heisman winner who has two Super Bowl wins is Plunkett, who led the Raiders to titles in 1981 and 1984.

The other two Heisman winners to make multiple appearances in the Super Bowl are Mike Garrett with the Chiefs (1967, 1970) and Charles Woodson with the Raiders (2003) and the Packers (2011).

Should the Eagles win, Smith would join Dorsett, Marcus Allen and Woodson as the only Heisman winners to have also won a Super Bowl and a national championship in college. 

Of those three, only Allen has also been named a Super Bowl MVP. Overall, four Heisman winners have earned Super Bowl MVP honors. Allen (1984), Staubach (1972), Plunkett (1981) and Desmond Howard (1997).

A couple of other items to keep an eye on when Smith takes the field next week in Arizona.

The most receptions and receiving yards by a Heisman winner in the Super Bowl is Dorsett’s five catches for 44 yards in the 1979 games. the longest reception by a Heisman winners is 32 yards, by Eddie George in 2000.

Allen and George share the mark for most touchdowns by a Heisman winner in the Super Bowl with two apiece.