If DeVonta Smith won the Heisman Trophy, what would be its historical significance?

The world will find out Tuesday night whether Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith becomes the first Heisman Trophy winner in 23 years, whose primary position isn’t quarterback or running back.

Smith is one of four finalists for top individual college football award, with three quarterbacks – Crimson Tide teammate Mac Jones, Trevor Lawrence of Clemson and Kyle Trask of Florida. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Heisman will be featured in a virtual ceremony airing Tuesday at 6 p.m. on ESPN.

According to odds released Monday by online gambling site BetOnline.Ag, Smith is the big betting favorite to win this year’s Heisman. Smith is a 1-to-15 pick by punters, followed by Jones (9-to-2), Lawrence (14-to-1) and Trask (50-to-1).

The last non-quarterback / running back to win the Heisman was Charles Woodson of Michigan, who beat Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning in a surprising vote in 1997. Woodson’s primary position was running back corner, but he also returned punts and saw significant action on the wide receiver.

The three non-QB / RB Heisman winners before Woodson were also all-round players who excelled as punt returns: Desmond Howard of Michigan in 1991, Tim Brown of Notre Dame in 1987, and Johnny Rodgers of Nebraska in 1972. Howard and Brown were pure receivers. / returners, while Rodgers also played a running back for the Cornhuskers in addition to the wide receiver and return man.

Wide receivers and tight ends were known as “ends” in football jargon before the late 1960s, and two players in this position won the Heisman. Yale’s Larry Kelley won the trophy in 1936, followed by Notre Dame’s Leon Hart in 1949 (both also stood out in defense during the ‘Iron Man’ era).

In addition to the six winners, 16 other players classified as wide receivers, tight ends or just ends finished in the top four of the Heisman poll, as is known Smith has done this year. (It would be wise to do without the designation of “finalist”, as this is simply a construction for media purposes. There was no additional ballot after the announcement of the “finalists” , as there are with other college football awards, like the Outland Trophy or Biletnikoff Award. But the “best vote-givers” don’t have the same ring, one assumes).

Of those 16 other top four Heisman finishers who were receivers of some sort, two of them played in Alabama: David Palmer in 1993 and Amari Cooper in 2014. Palmer finished third behind quarterbacks Charlie Ward of the Florida State and Heath Shuler of Tennessee, while Cooper was third behind Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota and Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon (no vote was close, although Palmer and Cooper both received more votes for first place than this year’s finalist).

Since Woodson in 1997, the closest receiver to winning the Heisman has been Larry Fitzgerald of Pittsburgh in 2003. Fitzgerald was second to Oklahoma quarterback Jason White, just 128 points and 66 first-place votes behind. .

It is Fitzgerald who is perhaps an apt comparison to Smith, at least statistically. Fitzgerald – who continued what is almost certainly a Hall of Fame career with the NFL Arizona Cardinals – led the country in receiving yards (1,672) and touchdowns (22) in 2003, while finishing with 92 receptions.

Smith is nationally first in receptions (105), receiving yards (1,641) and receiving touchdowns (20), while his touchdown tally (22) ranks behind teammate Najee Harris (27) and Breece Hall ( 23) of Iowa State. Smith has one rushing touchdown (a 14-yard versus Ole Miss) and one on a punt return (an 84-yard versus Arkansas), but did the vast majority of his damage as a pass-catcher.

The Heisman Trophy has become the award for a quarterback in the 21st century, with 17 of the last 20 winners in that position. However, recent history tells us that if anyone could be an exception to this “rule”, it’s an Alabama player.

Only three non-quarterbacks – all running backs – have won the Heisman since 1999. Those three are Reggie Bush of USC (who was later forced to give up his Heisman amid NCAA sanctions) in 2005, Mark Ingram of Alabama in 2009 and Derrick Henry of Alabama in 2015.

Ingram and Henry both won the Heisman by narrow votes, with Ingram’s margin of victory being the slimmest in prize history. Ingram finished just 28 points and five first-place votes ahead of compatriot Toby Gerhart of Stanford, and just 159 points and 24 first-place votes ahead of Texas quarterback Colt McCoy.

Henry also won a pretty close three-way race, beating Stanford returns / returns specialist Christian McCaffrey by 88 first place votes and 293 points. Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson was third, 230 votes for first place and 667 points behind Henry. (Heisman vote totals via sports-reference.com/cfb).

DeVonta Smith was not among the 20 Heisman Trophy favorites for 2020, according to pre-season odds released in August. If he leaves with the prize on Tuesday evening, he will have exceeded expectations in more than one way.

Creg Stephenson is a sports reporter for AL.com and a Heisman Trophy voter. Follow him on Twitter at @CregStephenson.