The evolution of Heisman campaigns
After winning the Big 12 Championship, Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield walked into the post-game press conference wearing a crimson and cream campaign button on his shirt. Originally it read “2016 Heisman. Mayfield/Westbrook” and included the campaign website, but Mayfield’s button was different. He had marked out his own name in black ink, leaving only his teammate and star Oklahoma wide receiver Dede Westbrook.
The button is only one of the ways the University of Oklahoma athletic department has been promoting Mayfield and Westbrook in a dual Heisman campaign. Heisman campaigning has evolved over the years from sending out postcards and fighting for space in print publications to websites and social media. From ties to promote Ty Detmer in 1990 to bobbleheads to promote Byron Leftwich in 2002 to GIFs to promote Mayfield in 2015, the campaigns get more creative each year.
Every year, one college football player is recognized as the best in the nation, earning the most prestigious individual award in college football — the Heisman Trophy. Though the award is based on athletic ability, it’s become an accolade universities consider worth spending money to campaign for.
The Heisman Trophy has been around since 1935, recognizing the player who best epitomizes skill, persistence and a strong work ethic. Five Sooners have won the prestigious award, with the most recent winner being Sam Bradford in 2008. For universities, money spent on a Heisman campaign is well worth it if their player wins. A Heisman winner adds to the prestige of a university’s football program and entices better recruits to commit. Recruits that tour OU see how the university cements their Heisman winners in school history by erecting statues of the players in what is known as Heisman park outside of Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
For example, after University of Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota won the Heisman in 2014, the Ducks opened the Marcus Mariota Sports Performance Center, which focuses on sports performance, sports science and sports medicine.
In recent years, universities have begun campaigning for their Heisman hopefuls, with lobbying becoming more elaborate every year, especially with the help of social media.
In 2015, Mayfield was in the running for the Heisman, and a website was set up for his campaign, as well as a GIF of Mayfield as a video game character dancing that circulated on social media. A feature had run on Mayfield earlier in the campaign focusing on his love of video games and the GIF became a creative touch in his campaign. The junior quarterback ended up finishing fourth in voting.
Athletic departments’ PR teams try to capitalize on their candidates’ best qualities, and sell them to the public, despite Heisman voting being restricted to select sports journalists around the nation as well as prior winners. Depending on the player’s personality, the PR team will try to come up with creative ways to promote their candidate.
Kenny Mossman, senior associate athletic director for external relations at OU, said a Heisman campaign is about finding the right fit for a player.
“In most cases we sit down and try to find out what lends itself best to that particular candidate,” Mossman said. “You also look at what you’re competing against and be strong where they’re weak.”
If other programs sent out lengthy letters, Mossman sent out a page with one or two bullet points of information on it. If the opponents were going to be long-winded, he would be brief.
Mossman led Heisman campaigns for Oklahoma quarterbacks Jason White and Sam Bradford and running back Adrian Peterson. White took home the trophy in 2003, and came in third behind Peterson who finished in second in 2004. Bradford won the Heisman Trophy in 2008.
“In Jason White’s case his dad was in the concrete business in Tuttle and Jason worked there so it was very blue collar,” Mossman said. “With Sam, the Native American community got behind him and that became a portion of his story that was interesting.”
Over the years Mossman has watched the evolution of Heisman campaigns.
“The biggest change has been in digital media,” Mossman said. “In 2003 and 2008 there was no Facebook, no Twitter. Everything was run by email. There’s also a much different approach graphically. We had websites but nothing like last year’s. We had to be more creative because you had less to work with. Mainly, it was postcards and emails, though.”
The weekend prior to OU’s Big 12 title game with Oklahoma State, the Sooners’ PR team put up a joint Heisman website for Mayfield and Westbrook, capitalizing on the fact it’s an election year in their design (mayfieldwestbrook2016.com). Mayfield and Westbrook aren’t the first to use an election year for a Heisman strategy, as Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell and wide receiver Michael Crabtree used the idea in 2008. Harrell and Crabtree finished fourth and fifth in voting.
The PR team faced more of a challenge this year with two candidates who couldn’t appear more opposite in the public eye. Mayfield is outgoing and fiery, showing emotion on the field and viral dance videos in his downtime. Westbrook, on the other hand, is quiet and subdued, showing emotion on the field, but nowhere near the level of Mayfield.
“This year we were in a situation like 2004 with two candidates,” Mossman said. “It puts you in a bind because it inhibits what you can do. You don’t want to pick one over the other. This year I think it was done well and was creative with the election year. I think we maintained team chemistry by not promoting one over the other.”
Mayfield and Westbrook campaigned hard for each other toward the end of the season and continued to heap praise on one another after they were announced as finalists.
“Go back and watch the film and if you say he wasn’t there for the first few games when we played tougher opponents I’d say he wasn’t healthy and if he was then his numbers would be even better and he’d be a no-doubt winner,” Mayfield said of why Westbrook should win the Heisman. “It wouldn’t be a question. So just go watch the film. Watch the types of plays he makes when we need him. Look at the score and the timing. He really changes the game whenever he touches the ball.”
The finalists were announced in alphabetical order, so Mayfield found out he was going to New York first. While Mayfield said he was sure Westbrook would be announced, the senior receiver wasn’t so sure himself, and retains his belief that Mayfield will win as he’s “the best player in the land.”
“I really wasn’t expecting to be in it,” Westbrook said. “ Whenever the camera crew came over to my house, in my head I was like ‘I think you guys may be wasting your time a bit here.’ I knew for sure that Baker was going to get called, reason being because he missed out on it last year and I knew they weren’t going to let it happen two years in a row but for them to follow up and say my name afterwards, it was crazy and I didn’t know what to think at the time.”
Whenever Mayfield walked into the post game press conference after defeating in-state rival Oklahoma State 38–20, he knew exactly what he was doing by marking out his own name. After being announced as a Heisman candidate, Mayfield admitted he had been worried about splitting votes with Westbrook.
“We were worried about splitting votes so it was the number of people that were invited that I think helped my situation out,” Mayfield said. “He was going to get invited regardless but it’s fun that we’re both going.”
On Dec. 10, the Heisman Trophy was awarded to Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson with 2,144 total points. Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson came in second with 1,524 points, followed by Mayfield (361), Westbrook (209) and Michigan linebacker Jabrill Peppers (208). Despite Mayfield and Westbrook worrying about splitting votes, their combined points wouldn’t have landed either of them the Heisman.
Westbrook is a senior who’s lost his chance at the trophy, but Mayfield has one year of eligibility left. After Bedlam, the redshirt junior quarterback announced that he would be returning for his senior season. With Mayfield showing no signs of slowing down and Heisman campaigns getting more creative by the year, the Sooners’ PR team will be faced with topping dancing GIFs and the presidential campaign next year.
