Throughout the 88-year history of the Heisman Trophy, there has been just one repeat winner. Ohio State running back Archie Griffin captured the award in both 1974 and 1975.
Can USC quarterback Caleb Williams break the draft and become the first repeat winner in nearly a half-century?
Former New York Giants quarterback and TV personality Jesse Palmer doesn’t think so.
Speaking to Fox News Digital on Friday, the former Florida Gator gave two reasons why it will be tough for the USC quarterback to repeat.
Palmer’s first point focused on the depth of the Pac-12, saying, “I think he’s playing at potentially the second-best conference in college football. When you look top to bottom — USC, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Oregon State — there’s a lot of good teams, and part of the reason why we don’t see Pac-12 teams reach the College Football Playoff very often is that because there’s a lot of attrition, a lot of parity and teams knock each other off.”
While Palmer is correct that generally, the Heisman goes to a player on a team that is in championship contention, USC missed the College Football Playoff last season and Williams still won.
Palmer’s second point has to do with the constantly changing landscape of college football, in which he noted Williams may be focused on future opportunities, “I think in today’s modern college football, we see a lot of the best players protect themselves late in the year. Guys opt out of games. There’s NIL money coming in. People focus on different things. Can Caleb Williams stay hungry enough?”
Williams looked focused in USC’s season-opening win, throwing for four touchdowns against San Jose State.
The Trojans play Nevada on Sept. 2
[Fox News]
