Audacity or Inevitability? Analyzing the True Impact of Premature Heisman Poses
Jeremiah Smith did not invent this pantomime. The standard traces directly back to November 1991, when Michigan receiver Desmond Howard returned a punt 93 yards against arch-rival Ohio State. Howard came to a dead stop in the end zone, lifted his left leg, extended his stiff arm, and held the stance. It remains one of the defining television images in sports history. Howard knew precisely what he was doing: he was clinching the trophy on live television before the ballots were mailed.
Six years later, Charles Woodson repeated the feat after an electric punt return against the Buckeyes on his way to becoming the only primarily defensive player to win the award. For Howard and Woodson, the pose was not speculation. It was an exclamation point at the end of a dominant regular season campaign.
Yet, the gesture carries clear operational risks. In 2012, West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith flashed the silhouette early in the season after lighting up defenses in September, only for a midseason skid to derail his campaign entirely. When Baker Mayfield grabbed headlines in 2017, his aggressive swagger walked a razor-thin line between Heisman favorite and bulletin-board fodder. Striking the pose early in a campaign either cements your status as a national award frontrunner or sets you up for mockery should performance waver.
