Charles Woodson
University of Michigan
Defensive Back, 1995-97

• Two-time First Team All-American (unanimous in 1997) and only primarily defensive player to win Heisman Trophy.
• Led Wolverines to 1997 national championship while claiming almost every national award for which he was eligible.
• Two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year led team in interceptions all three seasons of career.
• Played for College Football Hall of Fame coach Lloyd Carr.
• Becomes the 31st Wolverine player to enter the Hall.

Charles Woodson knew he was good enough, but history was working against him. He was Michigan's jack-of-all-trades, lifting the Wolverines to a perfect regular season and a berth in the Rose Bowl. But he was primarily a cornerback, and defensive players simply didn't win the Heisman Trophy.

"There's no doubt that I thought I should win it," Woodson said. "But when you're going up against the offensive side of the ball, when you start throwing up numbers and what that guy has done, when you take Peyton Manning and all the touchdowns he's thrown, the yards he passed for, you take Randy Moss, a receiver who puts up a lot of yards, a lot of touchdowns, the defensive guys' numbers really don't match up."

In 1997, they finally did. Woodson had eight interceptions during his senior year, and those numbers — along with many other on-field exploits — helped him make history as the first primarily defensive player to win the Heisman. Michigan went on to win the Rose Bowl and earned a split of the national championship (No. 1 in the AP poll, No. 2 behind Nebraska in the coaches' poll). And Woodson has now become the 31st Michigan player to make the College Football Hall of Fame.

The Heisman is not a 1972 Dolphins' situation for Woodson, as he has rooted hard in recent years for fellow defensive guys to join the fraternity. But being the first is certainly special.

"Of course I take pride in being the only one, being the guy that went out there and just getting the job done and turning the eyes of some of the voters," he said. "But at the same time, I respect what we do on the defensive side of the ball, even though you don't get the highlights each and every week the way that the running backs and the receivers and the quarterbacks do. We're still out there grinding, playing 60-plus plays a game. So we're out there. We've just got to be noticed."

Woodson did all that and more in '97, highlighted by his epic performance in the regular-season finale against Ohio State: A pick in the end zone, a 78-yard punt return touchdown and a 37-yard reception that set up the Wolverines' only offensive touchdown.

He looks back on those days and thinks about defensive backs coach Vance Bedford, who took an athletic kid out of Fremont, Ohio, and turned him into a lockdown corner. And he thinks about head coach Lloyd Carr, who took over ahead of Woodson's freshman year and, by year three, had Michigan winning it all, and who now Woodson joins in the Hall as a fellow inductee.

After 18 years in the NFL playing for the Raiders and Packers, Woodson now works as an NFL analyst for ESPN, which surprised him on-air with news of the induction. He also stays very busy out of the studio, especially back where it all started, donating millions of dollars through his foundation to the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital for pediatric research, and he regularly appears on campus — including for some royal treatment last spring.

"This past year I had the honor of addressing the graduating class," Woodson said. "That was an incredible honor."

Charles Woodson will be honored this Saturday, Sept. 22, with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments, during Michigan's game against Nebraska. He will officially be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame during the 61st NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 4 in New York City.