The Pro-Am Triple Crown is a stat I have been unofficially tracking in my football observing life for decades. It’s an incredibly rare achievement. The feat requires winning the Heisman Trophy, the National Championship, and then being selected first overall in the spring draft that follows.
To date there have been only five players to achieve this. Three of them within the last 15 years.
Cam Newton went 14-0 at Auburn in 2010, took the Heisman, beat Oregon for the BCS title, and went first overall to Carolina that April. Joe Burrow’s 2019 at LSU is the best season a quarterback has ever put on tape — 5,671 yards, 60 touchdown passes, 15-0, and a Heisman margin so wide it broke O.J. Simpson’s 1968 record. Cincinnati took him first the next spring. The passing game coordinator who built the juggernaut offense around him was Joe Brady, current head coach of the Buffalo Bills. Burrow was also the first LSU player to win the Heisman in sixty years. The third player to complete the trifecta this century is Fernando Mendoza, and we’ll get to him.
Which brings me to the other two, both from my beloved Fighting Irish.
Angelo Bertelli won the Heisman for Notre Dame in 1943 in six games. The Marines called him up after the Navy game in late October and his college career was over. The Irish won the national title anyway and the Boston Yanks took him first overall in 1944. He never played a down in the NFL. He deployed to Iwo Jima instead.
Six years later Leon Hart did it again for Frank Leahy. Undefeated 1949, consensus national champion, Heisman and Maxwell winner, first overall to Detroit in 1950. He’s still the last lineman to win the Heisman. Notre Dame has two of the five and both of the historical ones. Nobody else has more than one.
There have been a few players in recent years that hit all three objectives but did so over the course of multiple seasons. Jameis Winston won the Heisman and the title in the same year at Florida State in 2013 as a redshirt freshman, then played another season before entering the draft in 2015 to go first overall. O.J. Simpson has all three pieces — the 1967 title at USC in his first year on campus, the 1968 Heisman, first overall to Buffalo in 1969. Billy Cannon won LSU’s title in 1958 as a junior, took the 1959 Heisman, and went first overall to the Rams in 1960. And Ernie Davis was a sophomore on Syracuse’s 1959 championship team, led them in rushing and won Cotton Bowl MVP, then took the Heisman in 1961 as the first black player to win it and went first overall in 1962. Like Bertelli, he never played a professional down. Leukemia took him at just twenty-three years old.
Bryce Young has the three honors over multiple years, but my criteria requires being a starter at their position in the national championship season. He threw for 156 yards the entire 2020 season behind Mac Jones. Vinny Testaverde is out by the same rule — he redshirted in 1983 while Bernie Kosar won Miami a championship.
Bo Jackson is the one worth arguing about. Auburn went 11-1 in 1983 and beat Michigan in the Sugar Bowl playing the hardest schedule in the country. Miami vaulted from fifth to first after the Orange Bowl and took the AP, UPI, FWAA and coaches titles. Auburn got named champion by the New York Times computer poll, Billingsley, the CFRA and a few others, and Auburn now officially claims it. Pat Dye said his team would wear New York Times rings. So Bo has a Heisman, a first overall pick, and a national title that exists entirely at the discretion of whichever selector you feel like trusting. He also never signed with Tampa Bay.
And there’s a much longer list of players who have hit two-out-of-three. Baker Mayfield won the Heisman at Oklahoma in 2017 and went first overall to Cleveland in 2018, but Georgia bounced the Sooners in the Rose Bowl semifinal. Caleb Williams took it at USC in 2022 and went first overall to Chicago in 2024 — no title, and two years between the trophy and the pick. Carson Palmer won the 2002 Heisman and went first to Cincinnati in 2003 while Ohio State won the championship and USC finished fourth. Kyler Murray, Heisman at Oklahoma in 2018, first overall to Arizona in 2019, nothing else. Earl Campbell won the 1977 Heisman at Texas and went first to Houston in 1978, and it was Notre Dame that beat the Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl and took the title. Trevor Lawrence gets there from the other direction — title as a true freshman starter at Clemson in 2018, first overall to Jacksonville in 2021, but no Heisman. He finished second to DeVonta Smith in 2020.
And then there’s the reverse case: Johnny Lujack won the Heisman on Notre Dame’s undefeated 1947 championship team and missed the whole thing by three draft slots, because the Bears had already spent the fourth overall pick on him the year before.
The newest member to this exclusive club is Fernando Mendoza, fresh off one of the most incredible seasons in College Football history. A true Cinderella story, something that would have seemed only possible in a video game just three years ago. I know, because I saw Indiana play in person three years ago and the idea they were less than two years away from a Natty then is mind-blowing.
Mendoza is an interesting case, the jury is out on if he truly possesses what it takes to be a franchise quarterback in the NFL. The truth is, I’m not sure. Both sides make salient points in their arguments. What he becomes at the pro level remains to be seen. What I do know is that because of his personality, I will be rooting for him to succeed. He’s been clowned on for his overly kind and professional disposition in interviews and for his answers getting him the nickname ChatGPT. During his appearance on Monday Night Football in the preseason this year he referred to play-by-play man Joe Buck as Mr. Buck. I love the contrast this gives to Raider Nation. The Raiders have also been making moves that make the team more competitive, and dare I say more watchable.
“He is a bad dude, man. He’s what the Raiders need.” — Jon Gruden
Which leads me to a quick sidebar: I do this insane thing as a sports fan, I hope for teams, that I don’t hate, to become fun to watch. Sports are the ultimate content, and they should be enjoyable to follow. Sure, when it’s your team it’s a whole different vibe, but the rest of the games, I want to actually have the desire to tune in and be entertained. It helps when you’re watching great ensembles that honor the game by playing it with a high-level of execution, situational awareness and discipline. Sloppy football is not good content. I’ll cover which teams I think are going to be the most “fun” to watch this season in a future post. With a few teams to be included that may surprise you.
This offseason the Raiders added Mendoza, Tyler Linderbaum, my favorite center. Yes, I have a favorite center. He’s a monster in the middle from Iowa by way of the Ravens that should be a huge contributor to Mendoza’s odds of sticking around. They gave him three years and $81 million, which makes him the highest-paid interior offensive lineman in football. They tried to trade Maxx Crosby — and by tried I mean the deal was done, two first-round picks from Baltimore, before the Ravens failed him on a physical and walked away from it. They also signed linebackers Quay Walker and Nakobe Dean, edge rusher Kwity Paye, receiver Jalen Nailor, and Kirk Cousins on a one-year deal. They also welcome in a new head coach too, Klint Kubiak from Seattle, taking over a team that went 3-14. It looks like the Tom Brady Era in Las Vegas has officially begun.
My hope for the Raiders is they lose enough games to snag a top-five pick and land Jeremiah Smith, the Ohio State WR that is the best prospect at the position in years, drawing comparisons physically to Calvin Johnson. But with Kirk Cousins at the helm and an improved roster, that may be difficult for them to pull off. A big time receiver and a fortified offensive line would help Mendoza’s chances once he gets put into the fray.
And I don’t think they should rush it, letting him sit behind Cousins for the vast majority of the season and ending the year with 3-4 starts could be a much better way to bring him along than feeding him to the wolves right out of the gate the way franchises often do with top QB’s now.
The exclusivity of Mendoza’s accomplishment should be applauded, he has entered rarified air. And his attitude and disposition make it easy to do so.
This College Football season has a few potential contenders who could actually pull the Triple Crown off. Arch Manning at Texas, Julian Sayin at Ohio State, Dante Moore at Oregon, and my personal favorite, CJ Carr at Notre Dame — who opened as the betting favorite for the Heisman, for whatever that’s worth in August.
The game is afoot.