Saturday night’s Heisman Trophy ceremony featured some drama that got the college football world in a bit of a frenzy. There were no surprises when it came to the winner of the award. USC quarterback Caleb Williams took home the Heisman Trophy as predicted, but another moment caught the eye of fans. Ohio State QB CJ Stroud refused to shake the hand of former Michigan Wolverine Desmond Howard as he was announced on stage. Howard had made some negative comments about Ohio State’s performance versus Michigan prior to the 2021 ceremony, which apparently have not been forgotten.
Caleb Williams wins Heisman Trophy
Let’s get the boring bit out of the way first – Caleb Williams won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday evening. It was much as expected as Williams has easily been the best player in college football this season especially down the home stretch.
CALEB WILLIAMS IS THE 2022 HEISMAN TROPHY WINNER 🏆
🎵 Connor Price & Bens – Spinnin pic.twitter.com/wU8SGaIg10
— ESPN (@espn) December 11, 2022
Despite missing out on the College Football Playoff like the other finalists, Williams’ stats stood ahead of the pack. Accounting for a total of 47 touchdowns this year and throwing for over 4,000 yards, Williams’ production this season was head and shoulders above his fellow finalists.
In his speech, Williams said that the ‘job was not done’ with his head coach Lincoln Riley, who both moved from Oklahoma to USC this offseason. It sounds like they are intent on chasing that title at least one more time.
“Big dog, Coach [Lincoln] Riley,” Williams said. “We committed to each other on two separate occasions, but with the same dream. As we say, and you’ve heard me say in the locker room, there can never be a great book or a great story without some adversity in it.
“So since our OU days, we’ve been through a lot. And even the sudden change in field from Norman, Oklahoma, to the University of Southern California, our dreams have not changed. They say you either change your dreams or change your habits, and I damn sure wasn’t going to change my dreams. I’m glad you didn’t change yours either. But we both know the job’s not done.”
CJ Stroud refuses Desmond Howard handshake
In the other big story of the night, Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud refused to shake the hand of former Michigan wide receiver Desmond Howard. Howard, who won the Heisman back in 1991 made some comments that irritated Ohio State players before the 2021 ceremony, which Stroud was also a part of.
Last year, Heisman finalist, Michigan defensive Aiden Hutchinson was asked about his goals for that year and he stated he wanted to beat Ohio State and win the Big Ten Championship. Kenny Pickett was stood in between Stroud and Hutchinson and Tim Tebow joked he was glad Pickett was there.
“Better than his offensive line,” Desmond Howard said.
Aidan Hutchinson and Desmond Howard providing the greatest off the field slaughtering by Michigan on Ohio State 🤣🤣
Damn Desmond 🤣🤣 #HeismanTrophy pic.twitter.com/QQi7SFqLuZ
— The Whole Delivery (@TWDTV1) December 12, 2021
Fast forward to this year, and the Buckeyes have not forgotten the disrespect shown by Howard on a national stage. Prior to the ceremony, former Ohio State players Cardale Jones and Garrett Wilson basically told Howard to keep his beak shut this year.
Facts.
— Garrett Wilson (@GarrettWilson_V) December 6, 2022
As CJ Stroud walked on stage this year, he shook the hand of the first two previous Heisman winners and Desmond Howard was third in line. CJ Stroud skipped over Howard, who was looking away and headed straight to presenter Chris Fowler. In fact, it could be said that Howard is once again to blame.
While being introduced at the Heisman Trophy ceremony, C.J. Stroud shook the hands of the first two Heisman winners on stage. He stopped at the third guy, who just so happened to be Desmond Howard. pic.twitter.com/eNXxPxpa5K
— Josh Poloha (@JorshP) December 11, 2022
Robert Griffin III, also a former Heisman winner can be seen howling with laughter as he realizes what has just transpired. He later tweeted that ‘CJ Stroud understood the assignment.’
CJ Stroud understood the assignment @CJ7STROUD pic.twitter.com/r7RKoNKN0g
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) December 11, 2022
All in all, a very fun ten seconds. We do love a bit of good, old fashioned drama around here.
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