Heisman Winners In The CFL
By Chris Lawton
As we head towards the NFL Draft and CFL Draft respectively focus falls on college players fighting to make the pros. One player always followed with interest is the Heisman Trophy winner as people to look where they land. Not all of them end up in the NFL. Some even go on to play in the CFL. The question here is how have those Heisman winners fared in the 3 down league?
There have been 6 quarterbacks to win the venerable college trophy and play in the CFL. In total 9 Heisman winners have played in the league. We will take a look at them below and compare the careers of the Heisman winning QBs where we will find one particular stand out, two Grey Cup winners and some tales of frustration and under achievement. So, without further ado, let’s get to it!
The Non-Quarterbacks
Three non-quarterback Heisman winners have appeared in the CFL. The first was a Halfback out of Oklahoma who played for Edmonton in 1953. The Second was a Running Back/Wide Receiver out of Nebraska who played for the Montreal Alouettes from 1973-1976. The last non-QB was Ricky Williams out of Texas who played for the Toronto Argonauts in 2006.
The First
Billy Vessels was the first Heisman winner to play in the CFL. He had been a first round draft pick of the Baltimore Colts but signed instead with Edmonton. A different time indeed! Vessels’ first game in the CFL saw him rush 9 times for 41 yards and catch 2 passes for 52 yards. He also threw a pass for 6 yards.
Over his lone season in the league Vessels would carry 129 times for 926 yards, at 7.1 yards per carry, and score seven touchdowns. He also completed 18 of 30 passes for 393 yards and four touchdowns as well as catching 20 passes for 310 yards and one touchdown. He also had 2 kickoff returns for touchdowns.
Vessels was voted the best player in the league in 1953 before heading to the NFL after serving in the army.
Cornhusker Legend
Johnny Rodgers was a key part of the Nebraska Cornhusker’s first two national titles. He was also the school’s first Heisman winner.
Rodgers was selected by the Chargers in the 1973 Draft but headed for Montreal instead. He had a successful 4 seasons in Canada. He was nicknamed the ‘Ordinary Superstar’ & won the Most Outstanding Rookie award.
Rodgers had 216 career carries for 1138 yards and seven touchdowns. He also had 186 catches for 3643 yards and 28 touchdowns. He also helped the Als win the 1974 Grey Cup.
Run Ricky Run
Ricky Williams joined the Argos in 2006. The ex Texas star started brightly enough having 18 carries for 97 yards and 2 catches for 24 yards in a 27-17 Argos win over Hamilton.
Williams joined the CFL whilst serving an NFL suspension following a second positive drugs test. The Argos would go 10-8 with Williams in the backfield as he amassed 526 yards on 109 carries before injury struck.
Prior to the 2006 Grey Cup, the league announced what came to be known as the ‘Ricky Rule‘. Teams could no longer sign players who were serving an NFL suspension. This was to nullify the NFL and Miami Dolphins irritation that a player could have been injured playing in the CFL whilst still technically under contract to them.
The Quarterbacks
So, we come to the crux of it. Who were the Heisman winning quarterbacks in the CFL and just how do they compare to each other?
Let’s take their careers in chronological order and see how they stack up.
The First Quarterback
Terry Baker was a quarterback out of Oregon State who played for the Esks in the 1967 season.
He was drafted by both the LA Rams & the San Diego Chargers of the then competing NFL & AFL in 1963. He played for the chargers for a couple of years before surfacing in Edmonton. His CFL career was limited to going 23 of 36 for 344 yards and 1 touchdown. He also ran 36 times for 120 yards and a touchdown too.
QB Comparison: Not as many yards or touchdowns as some others, but he did pass a law degree whilst in the CFL.
The Legend
Doug Flutie is a genuine CFL great. The former Boston College star is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. He finished his CFL with career with 41,355 yards passing and 270 touchdowns. A six-time CFL MOP and 3 time Grey Cup champion.
After a rookie season of adjustment with the BC Lions the rest of his career was a success. He starred for both the Calgary Stampeders and the Toronto Argonauts too.
In 2006 he was voted the best CFL player of all time.
QB Comparison: Sorry to everyone else, but you just don’t belong in this exalted company!
The Backup
Andre Ware was the backup to Flutie in 1997. Two Heisman winning quarterbacks on a Grey Cup winning team is a true one off.
Coming out of the University of Houston, Ware was drafted by the Detroit Lions in 1990.
He spent three years in the CFL. During that time, he threw for 1,532 yards and 10 touchdowns as well as rushing 40 times for 316 yards and a touchdown.
Ware appeared for 3 teams in the league, the Ottawa Rough Riders, The BC Lions & latterly the Argonauts.
Of interest to fans in the UK he was also on the NFL Europe cellar dwellers Berlin Thunder in 1999.
QB Comparison: He may have had a short career in the league but it was better than some Heisman winning QB’s statistically and he picked up a Grey Cup ring – Flutie aside, it’s advantage Andre!
The Journeyman
Eric Crouch had very little impact in the CFL. That doesn’t mean he didn’t have an interesting career though. The second Nebraska Cornhusker to win the Heisman and migrate to the CFL. He was drafted by the then St Louis Rams who wanted to convert him to receiver.
He played for the 2005 Hamburg Sea Devils in NFL Europe. He was a safety on the 5-5 expansion team.
He was on the Argos team in 2006 and 2007. He passed 13 times, completing six passes for 127 yards and one interception. He ran 6 times for 36 yards.
QB Comparison: Perhaps the most forgettable CFL career of all the Heisman winning pivots to play in the CFL.
The Under-performer Part 1
Troy Smith made his way from Ohio State to the CFL in 2013.
He played for the Montreal Alouettes in 2013 and 2014.
Originally on the practice roster, Smith didn’t get the time to develop that was planned due to injury and poor play ahead of him.
On debut he threw for 247 yards and three touchdowns. It was not the heralding of a new dawn for passing in the league.
The promise shown in 2013 saw the Als offer a 3-year contract. However, a poor start for him and Montreal in 2014 saw him released and that was that.
For his career Smith finished with 1873 yards passing and 13 touchdowns. He also ran 23 times for 96 yards and 2 touchdowns.
QB Comparison: The hype, the flash of potential and the eventual let down. At least for Smith it was on the field play rather than off the field issues that made the difference which leads to…
The Under-performer Part 2
The last Heisman winner to play in the CFL came with plenty of flash and baggage in equal measure was Johnny Manziel. ‘Money Manziel’ had made his name at Texas A&M winning the Heisman in 2012. Drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the first round of the draft in 2014 he played with them for two seasons.
In 2017 he was revealed to be on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats negotiation list and by 2018 he was on the team. However, after five games as a backup without throwing a single pass, the Ticats traded him to the Montreal Alouettes. There he played in 11 games completing 106 of 165 passes for 1,290 yards, 5 touchdowns and 7 picks.
By 2019 the Als were ordered to release him for ‘contravening’ the terms of his CFL contract and he was barred from signing with any CFL team. He had missed a number of mandated meetings that were contractual obligations from the league.
QB Comparison: The hype, the flash of potential and the eventual let down. What might have been if Manziel had applied himself we will never know but he never seemed that invested in achieving his potential in the CFL and off field issues led to his exit.
CHRIS LAWTON
CFL ANALYST
Chris originally started following the NFL with the ‘first wave’ of fans when it was shown on Channel 4 in the 1980’s. He has been a keen supporter of the Miami Dolphins since 1983. Chris first encountered the CFL in 2016 and instantly fell in love with the Canadian game. He has been writing about the CFL 2017. Chris has a degree in history, postgraduate degree in librarianship and can be found on twitter as @CFLfanUK