Nebraska Heisman Trophy Winners and Finalists

Updated September 4, 2026.

Nebraska has three Heisman Trophy winners, one per decade for three decades: wingback Johnny Rodgers in 1972, I back Mike Rozier in 1983 and quarterback Eric Crouch in 2001. All three played on teams that won or played for a national title, and two of the three ceremonies produced some of the closest votes in Heisman history. The program also has one of the most famous second place finishes, Tommie Frazier in 1995, and the highest finish by a defensive tackle in the modern era, Ndamukong Suh in 2009.

HEISMAN TROPHY

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Rodgers 1972 · Rozier 1983 · Crouch 2001

Heisman winners, tied 6th most

2,148

Rozier rushing yards in 1983

Points separating Crouch and Grossman in 2001

2nd

Tommie Frazier, 1995

The Winners

Year	Player	Position	Runner up	Team result
1972	Johnny Rodgers	Wingback / returner	Greg Pruitt, Oklahoma	9-2-1, Orange Bowl win over Notre Dame
1983	Mike Rozier	I back	Steve Young, BYU	12-1, Orange Bowl loss to Miami
2001	Eric Crouch	Quarterback	Rex Grossman, Florida	11-2, BCS title game loss to Miami

Johnny Rodgers, 1972

Rodgers was the first Heisman winner whose case rested on doing everything: he caught passes, ran from the wingback, and returned punts and kicks, and his 72 yard punt return to open the 1971 Game of the Century is the most replayed play in program history. As a senior in 1972 he led Nebraska in receiving and all purpose yards and finished his career with an NCAA record for all purpose yardage at the time. He beat Oklahoma’s Greg Pruitt and his own teammate, middle guard Rich Glover, who finished third, the rare case of two players from one school in the top three. Rodgers closed his career with four touchdowns and a touchdown pass in the Orange Bowl rout of Notre Dame. Nebraska named him its Player of the Century in 1999.

Mike Rozier, 1983

Rozier ran for 2,148 yards and 29 touchdowns on 7.8 yards a carry for the Scoring Explosion offense, which averaged 52 points and had two other Heisman candidates in quarterback Turner Gill (fourth) and receiver Irving Fryar. He won the Heisman, Maxwell and Walter Camp awards and left as the NCAA’s career leader in yards per carry. Steve Young was second and Doug Flutie third. Rozier played the Orange Bowl loss to Miami on a bad ankle and was on the sideline when Osborne went for two.

Eric Crouch, 2001

Crouch, an Omaha native, won the closest Nebraska vote: 770 points to 708 for Florida’s Rex Grossman, with Ken Dorsey third and Joey Harrington fourth. He accounted for 1,510 rushing yards and 1,115 passing yards and set the NCAA record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback. The defining play was Black 41 Flash Reverse, the 63 yard touchdown catch from Mike Stuntz that beat No. 2 Oklahoma 20 to 10 in the first regular season No. 1 versus No. 2 game of the BCS era. He also won the Davey O’Brien and Walter Camp awards. The 62 to 36 loss at Colorado two weeks before the vote nearly cost him the trophy and did cost Nebraska a clean shot at the title.

Closest Finishes

Year	Player	Position	Finish	Winner
1995	Tommie Frazier	QB	2nd	Eddie George, Ohio State
1972	Rich Glover	MG	3rd	Johnny Rodgers, Nebraska
1983	Turner Gill	QB	4th	Mike Rozier, Nebraska
2009	Ndamukong Suh	DT	4th	Mark Ingram, Alabama
1950	Bobby Reynolds	HB	5th	Vic Janowicz, Ohio State

Frazier, 1995. Frazier lost to Eddie George by 264 points despite quarterbacking an undefeated team that averaged 53 points, then ran for 199 yards and was named MVP of the Fiesta Bowl against Florida three weeks later. The Heisman vote closed before the bowl; his 75 yard run through seven tacklers is the play voters never got to weigh.

Suh, 2009. Suh finished fourth after a 12 tackle, 4.5 sack performance against Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game that came days before the ballots were due. He won the Nagurski, Bednarik, Lombardi and Outland awards the same year, the most decorated defensive season in program history. He remains the only defensive tackle to finish in the top four since the award expanded its ballot.

Reynolds, 1950. As a sophomore Reynolds led the country in scoring with 157 points and finished fifth; injuries limited his final two seasons.

Nebraska’s Other National Award Winners

The Outland Trophy is practically a Nebraska tradition: Larry Jacobson (1971), Rich Glover (1972), Dave Rimington (1981 and 1982, the only two time winner), Dean Steinkuhler (1983), Will Shields (1992), Zach Wiegert (1994), Aaron Taylor (1997) and Ndamukong Suh (2009). Glover, Rimington, Steinkuhler, Grant Wistrom (1997) and Suh won the Lombardi. Trev Alberts won the 1993 Butkus, Dominic Raiola the 2000 Rimington Trophy, named for his predecessor at center, and Frazier the 1995 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.