Here is how it works from Wikepedia. There have been 76 trophies awarded and 75 players have received it. Archie Griffin won it in back to back years in 1974 and ’75. Reggie Bush’s 2005 trophy was taken away so only 74 players have received it. The award was established in 1935 and renamed the Heisman in 1936 after John Heisman, who was a football pioneer and the club’s athletic director. It’ll be interesting to see how regions select throughout the country. It was nip and tuck with Mark Ingram a couple of years ago. A lot of people thought Stanford running back Toby Gerhart might win. Ingram won by 28 points, the closest finish in Heisman history.
In terms of balloting, the fifty states of the U.S. are split into six regions, and six regional representatives are selected to appoint voters in their states (the regions include the Far West, the Mid Atlantic, Mid West, North East, South, and South West).[9] Each region has 145 media votes, for a total of 870 votes. In addition, all previous Heisman winners may vote, and one final vote is counted through public balloting. The Heisman ballots contain a 3-2-1 point system, in which each ballot ranks the voter’s top three players and awards them three points for a first-place vote, two points for a second-place vote, and one point for a third-place vote. The points are tabulated, and the player with the highest total of points across all ballots wins the Heisman Trophy.[10]