A player is only eligible if he was not in a power conference during that season. For example a Utah player while they were in the Mountain West can win, any season put up after the move to the PAC-12 is ineligible.

2000: LaDainian Tomlinson (RB, TCU). Tomlinson bulldozed his way to 2,158 yards and 22 touchdowns, carrying TCU into the national spotlight and the top 10 at one point. For fans of a certain age LT is the gold standard for running backs.

2001: David Carr (QB, Fresno State). Carr led Fresno State to early season upsets of Colorado, #10 Oregon State, and #23 Wisconsin. He continued to throw darts all season to the tune of 4,308 yards and 42 touchdowns. His calm, surgical game winning drive at Colorado State sealed his legend and a future as the NFL’s #1 pick.

2002: Byron Leftwich (QB, Marshall). Leftwich threw for 4,268 yards and 38 touchdowns while breaking down defenses, and at one point sticking in a game while broken down himself. His warrior moment against Akron is still G5 folklore.

2003: Ben Roethlisberger (QB, Miami). Roethlisberger threw for 4,486 yards and 37 touchdowns, turning Miami into one of the highest scoring teams in the country. His 377 yard shootout win over Cincinnati was pure Big Ben. Surgical, explosive, and completely in control.

Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

2004: Alex Smith (QB, Utah). Before he was the NFL’s top pick, Alex Smith was running the table at Utah with clinical precision. He threw for 2,952 yards, ran for nearly 500 more, and accounted for 42 total touchdowns. Week 1 against Texas A&M was his coming out party: three passing scores, two rushing, and 435 total yards. Smith made Urban Meyer's Utah a BCS buster, the first G5 team to ever break into the exclusive bowl club. That 12-0 season wasn’t just special, it changed the sport. Here is a picture of him lining up the offense against Texas A&M.

2005: DeAngelo Williams (RB, Memphis). Williams rumbled for 1,964 yards and at least 123 in every game after Week 1, as steady as they come. His 236 yard takeover against UTEP, capped by a late game winner, cemented his status as program legend.

2006: Colt Brennan (QB, Hawai‘i). Brennan was a flamethrower, dropping 5,549 yards and 58 touchdowns in a season that made Hawai‘i games must see chaos. Against Purdue, he threw the dagger TD with a minute left in a 42–35 island shootout.

2007: Dan Lefevour (QB, Central Michigan). LeFevour did it all: 3,652 yards through the air, 1,122 more on the ground, and 46 total touchdowns. In one night vs Ball State, he accounted for six scores and nearly 500 yards. Clocked in. Clocked out.

2008: Nate Davis (QB, Ball State). Davis had Ball State at 12-0 and flirting with BCS dreams, tossing 26 touchdowns and over 3,500 yards. His clutch fourth quarter heroics to beat CMU gave him the last word over LeFevour.

Bsuorangecrush, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

2009: Kellen Moore (QB, Boise State). No quarterback ever made it look easier than Kellen Moore. In 2009, he threw 39 touchdowns and just 3 interceptions while leading Boise State to a perfect season and a #4 finish. There wasn’t one jaw dropping moment, there were 13 flawless performances. He opened the season by taking down Oregon, in a game remembered more for a postgame punch than Moore’s brilliance. But if you watched him then, you knew: he was playing chess while everyone else was stuck on checkers. Here is a picture of Moore dropping back to pass in that Oregon game.

2010: Kellen Moore (QB, Boise State). Kellen Moore became the G5’s first two time Heisman winner with 3,845 yards, 35 touchdowns, and a dagger throw to beat #13 Virginia Tech in Week 1. Smooth, unshakable, and always one step ahead.

Kevin B Long, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

2011: Case Keenum (QB, Houston). Case Keenum didn’t just rewrite the record books, he torched them. With 5,631 yards and 48 touchdowns in his final season, he led Houston to 13 wins and humiliated Penn State in the bowl game. The crown jewel? Nine touchdowns on a Thursday night against Rice. A former two star recruit, Keenum still holds the all time NCAA records for passing yards, touchdowns, and 300 yard games. For a program that hadn’t sniffed the AP poll in 17 years, Keenum kicked the door down. Here is a picture of him warming up for an instate showdown vs SMU.

2012: Jordan Lynch (QB, Northern Illinois). Lynch was a dual threat menace, racking up over 3,100 passing yards and 1,800 on the ground, a stat line that sounds made up. His game saving explosion against Army showed exactly why defenses never slept easy.

2013: Jordan Lynch (QB, Northern Illinois). He followed it up with a 4,800 total yard season accompanied by 47 total touchdowns, becoming G5 royalty. His comeback drive to shock Iowa in the opener set the tone for his second coronation.

2014: Rashard Higgins (WR, Colorado State). Higgins caught everything thrown his way, tallying 1,750 yards and 17 touchdowns. Against Utah State, he was the offense. He had 187 yards receiving that day, the rest of the team had 131 combined yards rushing and receiving.

2015: Greg Ward (QB, Houston). Ward shredded teams with over 3,900 total yards and 38 touchdowns, ending the year with a Peach Bowl win and a top 10 finish. Against Louisville, he outdueled Lamar Jackson. A game that aged like fine wine.

U.S. Army Garrison - Miami, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

2016: Quinton Flowers (QB, South Florida). Quinton Flowers was chaos incarnate, slicing up defenses with 2,812 passing yards, 1,530 rushing, and 42 total touchdowns. On any given play, he could torch you through the air or make a dozen defenders miss. Against Memphis, he threw for 263, ran for 210, and scored five touchdowns in a wild 49–42 win. But Flowers was more than a stat machine, he was must watch football. If you haven’t seen his highlights, go fix that now. Here is a picture of him in open space against Western Kentucky in the 2015 Miami Beach Bowl.

2017: Rashad Penny (RB, San Diego State). Penny put up 2,248 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns, he was unstoppable. Against Nevada he broke 200 yards, one of 6 times that season, then tacked on a punt return touchdown and a kickoff return touchdown.

2018: McKenzie Milton (QB, UCF). Milton led UCF to a second straight unbeaten regular season with 34 total touchdowns and poise for days. His fourth quarter takeover against Memphis made sure the streak stayed alive.

2019: Brady White (QB, Memphis). White threw for over 4,000 yards and 33 scores while steering Memphis to a conference title and top 20 finish. He sealed it with a final minute touchdown in the championship game against Cincinnati.

2020: Zach Wilson (QB, BYU). Wilson made BYU must watch TV with 33 touchdowns, 3,692 yards, and pure backyard style magic. His late game fireworks at Houston were the exclamation point on an undefeated regular season. Sorry Cougar fans, when you play 12 G5 teams in a year you were a G5 team.

R24KBerg Photos, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

2021: Desmond Ridder (QB, Cincinnati). Ridder took Cincinnati from back to back 4-8 seasons before he got there to the College Football Playoff in just four years. In 2021, he threw for 3,334 yards and 30 touchdowns, but more importantly, he won. His Heisman moment came in a top 10 showdown at Notre Dame, 300 yards and one of the biggest wins in program history. He finished his career with just seven losses, two of which came against Georgia and Alabama in New Year’s games. Since he left, neither Cincinnati nor Fickell at Wisconsin have come close to that level again. Here he is dropping back to pass in a game at East Carolina.

2022: Tyjae Spears (RB, Tulane). Spears was untouchable, racking up 1,837 total yards and 21 touchdowns on a 12 win Tulane squad. In the conference title game, he averaged nine yards a carry. UCF had no chance.

2023: Javon Solomon (DE, Troy). Solomon terrorized backfields with a nation leading 16 sacks. He tacked on 2 more as well as two forced fumbles in the Sun Belt title game to help clinch a conference championship. Sun Belt offensive coordinators still have nightmares.

2024: Ashton Jeanty (RB, Boise State). Jeanty was a national sensation, rushing for 1,031 yards in the first five games and ending the season with over 2,600. Nobody could stop him, he is the poster boy for the G5 Heisman and the closest any of these players came to actually winning it.