It was a Tuesday in December when the news broke that Jameis Winston would not be charged in a sexual assault case that had hovered over the college football world for weeks. Honestly, that moment shifted the entire narrative of the Heisman race. Just two days later, the Florida State quarterback was named a finalist, and by Saturday night, he was holding the bronze statue in New York City.
Who won the Heisman Trophy 2013? It was Jameis Winston. But saying "Jameis won" doesn't even begin to describe the absolute whirlwind of that season. It was loud. It was controversial. And on the field, it was perhaps the most dominant freshman performance we’ve ever seen.
Winston didn't just win; he obliterated the competition. He received 669 first-place votes. To put that in perspective, the runner-up, AJ McCarron, had 79. That’s a gap so wide it feels like a typo, but it wasn’t. Winston was the youngest player to ever win the award at the time, being just 19 years and 342 days old. He beat the record set by Johnny Manziel just one year prior.
Why the 2013 Heisman Race Felt Different
Usually, the Heisman race has this "November surge" where a dark horse comes out of nowhere. Not in 2013. From the moment Winston carved up Pittsburgh on a Monday night in early September, going 25-of-27 for 356 yards and four touchdowns, the award felt like his to lose. He looked like a pro playing against middle schoolers.
The 2013 season was a strange transition period for college football. We were in the final year of the BCS. The four-team playoff was just a looming shadow on the horizon. Alabama was trying to maintain a dynasty, and Auburn was busy summoning "kick-six" miracles. Amidst all that chaos, Winston was the steady, albeit polarizing, force leading a Florida State team that averaged over 50 points per game.
People forget how stacked that FSU roster was. You had Devonta Freeman in the backfield, Kelvin Benjamin out wide, and a defense full of future NFL starters like Jalen Ramsey and Lamarcus Joyner. Yet, Winston was the engine. He finished the regular season with 3,820 passing yards and 38 touchdowns.
The Voting Breakdown
If you look at the raw numbers from the Heisman Trust, the margin of victory was staggering.
Winston finished with 2,176 total points. AJ McCarron from Alabama came in second with 704 points. Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch took third with 558 points. Then you had Andre Williams from Boston College and Tre Mason from Auburn rounding out the top five.
It’s actually kind of wild to look back at the names. Bryce Petty from Baylor was in the mix. Johnny Manziel, the defending champ, finished fifth. The vote wasn't even close because Winston was the only player who combined individual statistical brilliance with an undefeated team record.
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The Controversy That Almost Changed Everything
We have to talk about the "off-field" stuff because it’s a massive part of the 2013 Heisman story. In mid-November, news surfaced that Winston was under investigation for an alleged sexual assault dating back to December 2012. For a few weeks, sports talk radio was basically just one long debate: "Can you give the Heisman to someone under investigation?"
The Florida State Attorney’s Office eventually announced they wouldn't be filing charges due to a lack of evidence. That announcement came just days before the ballots were due.
Had that legal timeline shifted by even a week, the 2013 Heisman might belong to AJ McCarron. Voters were clearly uneasy. You could see it in the way columnists wrote about him. There was a weird tension in the air at the Best Buy Theater when his name was called. He was a freshman who spoke with the bravado of a ten-year vet, and in 2013, that rubbed some of the "old guard" voters the wrong way.
Tactical Brilliance: How Winston Actually Played
Watching Jameis Winston in 2013 was like watching a masterclass in the "pro-style" offense. Jimbo Fisher’s system was notoriously difficult to learn. It required the quarterback to make full-field progressions and checks at the line that most college kids can't handle.
Winston’s footwork was heavy but effective. He had this weirdly wide base and a high release. He was fearless. Maybe too fearless sometimes? He would throw into windows that didn't exist, but in 2013, his receivers were big enough to just go get the ball.
The Clemson game was the peak. #5 FSU vs. #3 Clemson in Death Valley. A "statement" game. Winston walked into one of the loudest stadiums in the country and threw for 444 yards. FSU won 51-14. That was the night he became "Famous Jameis." It was the night the Heisman race effectively ended.
The "Other" Candidates of 2013
It’s worth looking at who Winston beat because the 2013 class was actually pretty deep with talent that would go on to have solid pro careers.
AJ McCarron was the "safe" pick. He was the leader of the Alabama machine. He didn't have the flashy stats, but he had the rings. Voters who were turned off by Winston’s personality or the legal cloud tended to park their votes with McCarron.
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Jordan Lynch was the "stats" guy. Playing for NIU, he put up video game numbers. He ran for 1,920 yards and threw for 2,892. In any other year, a dual-threat guy with those numbers wins in a landslide. But the "strength of schedule" argument killed his chances of catching Winston.
Andre Williams was an absolute bruer. He ran for over 2,000 yards for Boston College. He was a throwback to the 90s style of football. I remember watching him run through Virginia Tech like they were a JV squad. He was fun, but he wasn't "transformative" like Winston.
The Johnny Football Factor
Johnny Manziel was actually better in 2013 than he was in 2012 when he won the award. His passing numbers improved across the board. But the "Manziel fatigue" was real. People were tired of the antics, and Texas A&M lost a few games they shouldn't have. He finished fifth, which is kind of an insult when you look at his actual production that year.
Records and Legacy
When we look back at who won the Heisman Trophy 2013, we’re looking at a specific archetype of player that doesn't really exist in the NIL era. Winston was a redshirt freshman who was treated like a king in Tallahassee.
He finished the season by leading Florida State to a comeback victory over Auburn in the BCS National Championship game. That final drive—the pass to Kelvin Benjamin—cemented his legacy. He became the first person since Matt Leinart in 2004 to win a Heisman and a National Title in the same season.
Key stats from Winston’s 2013 campaign:
- 4,057 total passing yards (including the bowl game).
- 40 passing touchdowns.
- 10 interceptions.
- 66.9% completion percentage.
- 184.8 passer rating (led the nation).
He was efficient. He was explosive. He was, quite literally, the best player on the field every single Saturday.
Misconceptions About the 2013 Vote
A lot of people think Winston won because there was nobody else. That’s just wrong.
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The 2013 season had several players with "Heisman moments." Tre Mason had a legendary SEC Championship game. Marcus Mariota was already starting his rise at Oregon (he’d win it the following year). The reason Winston won so decisively wasn't a lack of competition; it was the fact that he was playing "NFL Sunday" football on a Saturday afternoon.
Another misconception is that the vote was purely about stats. It wasn't. It was about "the aura." Winston had this presence where you felt like FSU could never lose. They were down big to Auburn in the title game, and nobody in the stadium thought Jameis would let them lose. That's what Heisman winners are supposed to feel like.
What This Means for Today's Fans
If you're looking back at the 2013 Heisman to understand the award today, there are a few big takeaways. First, the "freshman barrier" is gone. Before 2012 and 2013, freshmen never won. Now, it's expected that a young guy can take the trophy.
Second, it showed that the Heisman Trust is willing to separate off-field noise from on-field performance, provided there are no legal convictions. It set a precedent for how the media handles "controversial" stars.
Steps for further research into the 2013 season:
- Watch the "FSU vs. Clemson 2013" highlights. It is the most complete game of Winston's career and explains the hype better than any spreadsheet.
- Look up the 2013 All-American list. You'll see just how much talent Winston was competing with (and playing alongside).
- Compare Winston’s 2013 to Mariota’s 2014. It’s a fascinating study in two completely different styles of quarterbacking that both dominated the college landscape.
The 2013 Heisman didn't just crown a winner; it defined an era of Florida State football that burned incredibly bright and incredibly fast. Jameis Winston remains one of the most talented, complicated, and dominant figures in the history of the award. Whether you liked him or not, you couldn't take your eyes off him. That is the definition of a Heisman winner.
To understand the full context of that year, one should examine the final BCS standings of 2013 to see how the team's success directly fueled Winston's individual campaign. Investigating the shift in Heisman voting patterns post-2013 also reveals how Winston's win paved the way for more underclassmen to be taken seriously by the 870+ media voters. Check the official Heisman Trust archives for the point-by-point regional breakdown to see how he swept every section of the country.