Heisman 25th Anniversary Honoree

He started the season strong, but finished it even stronger. I can’t imagine anybody doing more or meaning more to his team, and doing it consistently at the biggest moments the way Charles did.

LLOYD CARR

HEAD COACH, MICHIGAN CHARLES WOODSON 1997

HEISMAN 25TH ANNIVERSARY HONOREE

Charles Woodson was an Ohio kid who went to Michigan, a star prep tailback who wanted to play defensive back in college. He was a modern-day collegiate throwback, excelling at cornerback before his talent demanded he add receiver and kick return specialist to his resume. In December of 1997, he flipped the script again by winning the Heisman Trophy in a hotly contested race, to become the first primarily defensive player to win the award and the first who saw significant time on both sides of the ball in some 60 years. Was Woodson fundamentally a dominant cornerback? Was he also a threat at wide receiver that forced defensive coordinators to game-plan for him? Did he blossom as a punt returner? Yes to all of the above. His high level of skill and versatility combined with a penchant for the spectacular launched Woodson from an All-American shutdown corner to Heisman contender and then to historic winner. It all started across the state border in Fremont, Ohio, where Woodson grew up. He became star at Ross High, earning Ohio’s Mr. Football Award as a 1994 senior after rushing for 2,028 yards on 218 carries—while also playing DB. A 1994 USA Today and Parade All-American, Woodson was heavily recruited as a running back thanks to his nearly 4,000 career rushing yards. But Michigan and head coach Lloyd Carr saw something else in Woodson and recruited him for the defensive backfield. That was all he needed to hear, and Woodson signed with the Wolverines in 1995. By the second game of his 1995 freshman season, Woodson had earned a starting job at corner. By season’s end, he had five interceptions and was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and first-team all conference. At the insistence of Carr, Woodson started digesting the offensive side of the playbook as a 1996 sophomore. He played about 10 snaps per game at receiver, ultimately catching 13 passes for 164 yards while rushing for another 152 yards on six carries. Meanwhile, he was still thriving at cornerback, breaking the Wolverine record for pass breakups with 15, while again leading the team with five interceptions. For that he earned AP first team All-American honors and was selected as a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award. A household name by the start of his junior year, Woodson and the No. 14 Wolverines opened with a late Sept. 13 home date against No. 8 Colorado. The last time the teams met in Ann Arbor, the Buffaloes and 1994 Heisman winner Rashaan Salaam pulled off the “Miracle at Michigan,” winning on a Hail Mary in the game’s final play. There were no such dramatics this time as Michigan won 27-3. Woodson opened his season with five tackles, an interception on the second drive of the game, and a key second-quarter catch for 29 yards that led to Michigan going up 10-0 before the half. Woodson scored his first touchdown of the season in a Week 2 blowout of Baylor, snagging an inside screen pass from Brian Griese and weaving 10 yards into the end zone for Michigan’s first points of the game. He later grabbed another pass for 35 yards (he also had a 34-yard TD reception called back on a false start). On the other side of the ball, Woodson did not allow a reception and three of his five tackles were for loss. Now ranked sixth, Michigan stayed local and hosted Notre Dame, eking out a 21-14 win. Woodson’s numbers were modest with four tackles, but he did have a key 20-yard punt return that set up the Wolverine’s go-ahead third-quarter TD drive. Michigan opened Big Ten play at Indiana and its nation-leading defense shut out the Hoosiers in a 37-0 win.

Woodson made his second interception of the season to go with three tackles and caught a 21-yard pass. Still No. 6, Michigan returned to the Big House to host Northwestern, ending a brief two-game losing streak to the Wildcats with a 23-6 win. Woodson secured his third interception of the season in the fourth quarter that led to a Wolverine field goal and the game’s final scoring. He had an 11-yard sack among five tackles and also a 30-yard reception that led to Michigan’s first TD of the game. Woodson next posted season highs in tackles (six) and punt returns and yardage (six for 70) in Michigan’s come-from-behind 28-24 win over No. 15 Iowa. The following week, Woodson’s legend would take off. After five of six games at home, No. 5 Michigan traveled across the state to East Lansing to take on No. 15 Michigan State and dominated the Spartans in a 23-7 win. The Wolverines made many big plays that day, but it was Woodson’s unforgettable third-quarter interception that was replayed on highlight reels throughout that Saturday. With Michigan leading 13-7, Spartan QB Todd Schultz was flushed out of the pocket on third down deep in his own territory and tried to throw the ball away. But Woodson had other ideas. Leaping high and twisting his body along the sideline, he snared the ball with his right hand, touched inbounds with his left foot and secured the ball with his left arm as he tumbled out of bounds. Michigan failed to score off the ensuing possession, and it was one of two interceptions Woodson would make that day, but the sheer athleticism and dazzling nature of the play thrust Woodson into the forefront of the Heisman contender conversation. No. 4 Michigan kept the pedal down the following Saturday, improving to 8-0 with a 24-3 win over Minnesota. Woodson, now fully on the national Heisman radar, kept his momentum going as well, scoring the Wolverines’ first touchdown of the game on a 33-yard run off of a reverse. Week 9 saw No. 4 Michigan play in front of a record crowd at No. 2 Penn State against a Nittany Lion team with a 12-game win streak in a huge match-up— and one the Wolverines dominated, 34-8. Woodson scored on a 37-yard TD pass from Griese in the second quarter, lining up in the slot and catching a seam pass, going untouched into the end zone. He also had two tackles and two pass breakups and helped limit PSU star receiver Joe Jurevicius to just 20 yards receiving. Now ranked No. 1 and a week away from facing highly ranked rival Ohio State, Michigan took care of business in a snowy battle at No. 23 Wisconsin, winning 26-16. Woodson’s fingerprints were all over this win as well. He completed his only pass of the season on Michigan’s opening TD drive, taking a lateral pass from Griese and sending it right back to his QB for a 28-yard gain to the 1-yard line. He later secured his sixth interception of the season to thwart the Badgers’ late second-quarter drive. Woodson completed his 1997 Heisman resume on just about the biggest stage imaginable, leading No. 1 Michigan to a 20-14 win over rival No. 4 Ohio State in front of a record crowd at the Big House as the Wolverines completed their first perfect regular season in 26 years. Woodson’s 37-yard second-quarter reception on third-and-12 to the 16-yard line set up Michigan’s first score and, after Ohio State went three-and-out, Woodson scored his fourth TD of the season on a 78-yard punt return. Receiving the ball at the 22, he dodged Ohio State’s first wave of coverage, broke to the left sideline and raced to the goal line, finally tackled by his own teammates in celebration. Woodson sent the crowd into a frenzy again on the opening drive of the second half, intercepting a second-and-goal pass in the end zone (his seventh of the season). Ohio State eventually closed to within 20-14 in the fourth quarter, but that was as close as Woodson and Michigan would let the Buckeyes get. Woodson finished the regular season with seven interceptions, 44 tackles (four for loss), five pass breakups, 11 receptions for 231 yards and two touchdowns, one 33-yard TD run, 33 punt returns for 283 yards and too many highlight plays to count. “Those are plays people don’t forget,” Michigan’s Carr told ESPN two decades later. “And for us, that put us in a position where we had a chance to play for the national championship. He started the season strong, but finished it even stronger. I can’t imagine anybody doing more or meaning more to his team, and doing it consistently at the biggest moments the way Charles did.”