Congratulations to University of Oregon’s QB Marcus Mariota on winning the Heisman trophy. Mariota is the first Oregon player and first Hawaii native to win the award.
Other first that come along with Mariota’s win;
Mariota is the Pac-12 Conference’s first Heisman winner from a school other than USC since 1970, when the trophy went to Stanford quarterback Jim Plunkett. He was the third player from Oregon to attend the Heisman ceremony as a finalist, joining quarterback Joey Harrington in 2001 and running back LaMichael James in 2010.
He earned 2,534 points in total, with 788 of 874 first-place votes. Former USC running back O.J. Simpson, who won the Heisman in 1968, holds the record with 2,853 points; that came with nearly 300 more voters than in the 2014 race.
Mariota was named on 95.16% of all ballots collected, a record for the award. USC running back Reggie Bush was named on a record 91.77% of ballots when he won the Heisman in 2005, an award since vacated following NCAA penalties. One year later, Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith was named on 91.63% of all ballots in winning the award, and Mariota is second with 90.9.
On Jan. 1, Mariota and Oregon will face Florida State and last year’s Heisman winner, quarterback Jameis Winston, in the first of the two national semifinals in the College Football Playoff.
Jill Munroe is a Los Angeles-based host, producer, and writer. You can find her work on sites such as FoxSports.com, EURweb.com, and MSN.com. Munroe is a current member of the African-American Film Critics Association and the National Association of Black Journalists. Munroe has also been a frequent guest on ESPN radio and Yahoo Sports. In 2015, Munroe released her first book, "PostGame Pass: access into "the life" JillMunroe.com