News And Notes From Around The Heisman World

We are just over four weeks out from the first handful of games of the 2024 college football season and five weeks out from the first complete slate of games. Someone will emerge as the 90th  2024 Heisman Trophy winner from that first weekend of action.

While we (somewhat) patiently wait for the season to begin, let’s catch up on news from the Heisman world.

This year’s Heisman Trophy 50th anniversary award winner — and next year’s too — is Ohio State legend Archie Griffin.

He will kick off his anniversary season by dotting the “i” for the Ohio State marching band in its season-opening performance of “Script Ohio” during halftime of the Buckeye’s Aug. 31 game against Akron.

Griffin, who will remain the Heisman’s only two-time winner at least until 2025, will be the first former Ohio State player to dot the “i”. He joins former OSU coaches Woody Hayes and Earl Bruce as well as a handful of celebrities who have had the honor.

Griffin rushed for 5,177 yards and 26 touchdowns in his career in Columbus and remains the Buckeyes’ all-time leading rusher.

Switching gears from someone celebrating his 50th Heisman win in Griffin, we transition to Jayden Daniels, who hopes to celebrate his first anniversary as a Heisman winner this December while battling for a playoff spot with Washington as an NFL rookie QB.

With NFL training camps opening within the past week, many Heisman winners are back to their day jobs, including two rookies, Daniels and fellow Heisman-winning NFL rookie Caleb Williams.

Williams and the Bears will face Houston in the Hall of Fame game on Aug. 1 to kick off exhibition season. Daniels and the Commanders will open action on Aug. 10 at the Jets.

Daniels is currently splitting reps with fellow Heisman winner and new teammate Marcus Mariota, but he is the anticipated Week 1 starter.

That’s not uncommon for NFL rookie QBs. Williams, however, appears to already have the No. 1 job all to himself.

Speaking of Heisman-winning QBs, one has returned to training camp donning a new look. When last we saw 2019 winner Joe Burrow, he had flowing locks resembling, perhaps, a Disney prince. 

But when he reported to Cincinnati’s  training camp this week, he looked more like fellow Ohio celebrity Eminem. That’s thanks to Burrow’s close-cropped and platinum-dyed buzz cut.

You can see it for yourself here via Yahoo! Sports and hear him talk about it here. And the chief reason for the new look? “I got bored,” Burrow said. “That’s about it.” 

In other off-season Heisman news, 1985 Heisman winner Bo Jackson was inducted into the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame in a June 29 ceremony.

Jackson spent five years as a Royal and eight in the big leagues, hitting .250 with 141 career home runs. He was drafted by the Royals following his Heisman-winning season and debuted in September of 1986.

But his real mark on the game was turning the ordinary into the extraordinary, making run-of-the-mill baseball plays, like a routine grounder or chasing down an outfield fly, exciting. In fact, his first home run as a Royal was at Kauffman Stadium and is still believed to be the longest homer ever at the stadium.

“When I see people wearing my jersey in this day and age it means one thing to me,” Jackson said. “That I did something right, and people still respect me for doing those right things when I was younger.”

Fellow 1980s Heisman winner Tim Brown had his own shining moment this summer, posting his third career hole-in-one while playing the 12th hole at the American Century Championship, a celebrity golf tournament with much of its proceeds going to charity.

The hole-in-one off his nine iron also won him a MasterCraft boat. He was one of four Heisman winners playing in the event and its highest finisher, tying for 16th in the 90-player field. Marcus Allen, Charles Woodson and Baker Mayfield also participated in the event, which tennis player Mardy Fish won. 

The family of late Auburn Heisman winner Pat Sullivan celebrated another major athletic accomplishment in the family. 

Sullivan’s grandson, Joseph Sullivan, was drafted by the Houston Astros in the seventh round in the recent Major League Baseball draft. He played three seasons at South Alabama as an outfielder.

Finally, in an offbeat note, two of the most famous trophies in sports got together last week in St. Louis. 

Florida Panther star Matthew Tkachuk, who led the Panthers to the 2024 Stanley Cup title, was spending the day in his home town of St. Louis, sharing it with a Children’s Hospital, a fire station, his old prep school and other stops.

Toward the end of the day, Tkachuk met with Heisman winner and family friend Chris Weinke, who was in town with his Heisman Trophy. 

And Tkachuk took this epic photo with both iconic trophies. This collage also features Tkachuk and Weinke together.