The most prestigious award in college football, the Heisman Trophy is presented annually to the nation's top player. Over the years Hurricane players have made a habit of being invited to the Downtown Athletic Club in New York City as finalists. 13 times a Miami player has finished among the top 10, including two winners: Gino Torretta and Vinny Testaverde.
Gino Torretta, 1992
University of Miami quarterback Gino Torretta capped an illustrious career by bringing the Heisman back to the Coral Gables campus in 1992. Named the 58th winner all-time, Torretta was the 47th senior and the 19th quarterback to win.
Torretta still ranks as Miami's all-time leader with 7,690 passing yards, 555 completions and 7,722 yards in total offense. He also had 123 consecutive pass attempts without an interception. Torretta had 310 first-place votes compared to Faulk's 164 and Hearst's 140.
A 6-foot 3-inch, 205-pound senior, Torretta was the key man in the extraordinary success of his team. The one attribute shared by all great quarterbacks is that they find a way to lead their team to victory week after week. It is no easy thing to do this for even one season, but it is a truly amazing accomplishment to do it twice in succession.
Vinny
Testaverde, 1986In 1986, Vinny Testaverde became the first Hurricane to capture the coveted award. The UM signal-caller outdistanced his nearest competitor by the second-highest margin of victory in the award's history. Testaverde finished first in each of the six geographic regions, receiving 678 of the 790 first-place votes cast.
Testaverde threw for 2,557 yards and 26 touchdowns with only nine interceptions while leading Miami to an undefeated regular season and the nation's number one ranking entering the Fiesta Bowl.
Let that most successful of college football coaches, in terms of winning percentage, Oklahoma's Barry Switzer, tell you how good Vinny is as a quarterback. "In 21 years," Switzer said, after Vinny had thrown four touchdown passes to beat his number-one-ranked Sooners earlier in the season, "I have never seen a better quarterback."
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