| Year |
Name |
College |
| 1950 |
Travis Tidwell |
Auburn |
| 1951 |
Bucky Curtis |
Vanderbilt |
| 1952 |
Al Dorow |
Michigan State |
| 1953 |
Harry Agganis |
Boston University |
| 1954 |
Gene Filipski |
Villanova |
| 1955 |
Bobby Freeman |
Auburn |
| 1956 |
Don Goss |
SMU |
| 1957 |
Don Bosseler |
Miami (FL) |
| 1958 |
Jim Taylor |
LSU |
| 1959 |
Theron Sapp
Norm Odyniec |
Georgia
Notre Dame |
| 1960 |
Jacky Lee |
Cincinnati |
| 1961 |
Dick Norman |
Stanford |
| 1962 |
Earl Gros
Ronnie Bull |
LSU
Baylor |
| 1963 |
Glynn Griffing |
Ole Miss |
| 1964 |
Ode Burrell |
Mississippi State |
| 1965 |
Steve DeLong |
Tennessee |
| 1966 |
Howard Twilley |
Tulsa |
| 1967 |
Bubba Smith |
Michigan State |
| 1968 |
Kim Hammond |
Florida State |
| 1969 |
Jerry Levias |
SMU |
| 1970 |
Terry Bradshaw |
Louisiana Tech |
| 1971 |
J. D. Hill |
Arizona State |
| 1972 |
Pat Sullivan |
Auburn |
| 1973 |
Chuck Foreman |
Miami (FL) |
| 1974 |
Bill Kollar |
Montana State |
| 1975 |
Steve Bartkowski |
California |
| 1976 |
Craig Penrose |
San Diego State |
| 1977 |
Tommy Kramer |
Rice |
| 1978 |
James Lofton |
Stanford |
| 1979 |
Willie Jones |
Florida State |
| 1980 |
Marc Wilson |
Brigham Young |
|
| Year |
Name |
College |
| 1981 |
Neil Lomax |
Portland State |
| 1982 |
John Fourcade
Steve Clark |
Ole Miss
Utah |
| 1983 |
Dan Marino
Terry Kinard |
Pittsburgh
Clemson |
| 1984 |
Walter Lewis
Doug Smith |
Alabama
Auburn |
| 1985 |
Paul Ott Carruth |
Alabama |
| 1986 |
Napoleon McCallum |
Navy |
| 1987 |
Don Smith |
Mississippi State |
| 1988 |
Thurman Thomas |
Oklahoma State |
| 1989 |
Cleveland Gary |
Miami (FL) |
| 1990 |
Blair Thomas |
Penn State |
| 1991 |
Alvin Harper |
Tennessee |
| 1992 |
Tony Smith |
Southern Miss |
| 1993 |
Eric Hunter |
Purdue |
| 1994 |
Stan White |
Auburn |
| 1995 |
Derrick Brooks |
Florida State |
| 1996 |
Bobby Hoying |
Ohio State |
| 1997 |
Pat Barnes |
California |
| 1998 |
Dameyune Craig |
Auburn |
| 1999 |
Cade McNown |
UCLA |
| 2000 |
Chad Pennington |
Marshall |
| 2001 |
LaDainian Tomlinson |
TCU |
| 2002 |
Antwaan Randle El |
Indiana |
| 2003 |
Larry Johnson |
Penn State |
| 2004 |
Philip Rivers |
NC State |
| 2005 |
Charlie Frye |
Akron |
| 2006 |
Sinorice Moss |
Miami (FL) |
| 2007 |
Tony Hunt |
Penn State |
| 2008 |
Matt Forte |
Tulane |
| 2009 |
Pat White |
West Virginia |
| 2010 |
Brandon Graham |
Michigan |
| 2011 |
Christian Ponder |
Florida State |
| 2012 |
Isaiah Pead |
Cincinnati |
|