| Year | Name | Position | College | NFL team | Notes |
|---|
| 1936 | Riley Smith | QB | Alabama | Boston Redskins | College Football Hall of Fame |
| 1937 | Ed Goddard | QB/HB | Washington State | Brooklyn Dodgers | |
| 1938 | Jim McDonald | HB | Ohio State | Philadelphia Eagles | |
| 1939 | Sid Luckman ‡ | QB | Columbia | Chicago Bears | Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| 1940 | George McAfee ‡ | HB | Duke | Philadelphia Eagles | Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| 1941 | John Kimbrough | FB | Texas A&M | Chicago Cardinals | College Football Hall of Fame |
| 1942 | Jack Wilson | HB | Baylor | Cleveland Rams | Appeared in only 10 NFL games, 3 as a starter |
| 1943 | Joe Muha | FB | VMI | Philadelphia Eagles | 2x All-Pro |
| 1944 | Pat Harder* | FB | Wisconsin | Chicago Cardinals | 3× first-team All-Pro; College Football Hall of Fame |
| 1945 | Paul Duhart | QB/HB | Florida | Pittsburgh Steelers | Appeared in only 13 NFL games, 7 as a starter |
| 1946 | Dub Jones* | HB | LSU | Chicago Cardinals | 2× AAFC champion, 3× NFL champion |
| 1947 | Glenn Davis* | HB | Army | Detroit Lions | Heisman Trophy (1946) |
| 1948 | Skip Minisi | HB | Penn | New York Giants | College Football Hall of Fame |
| 1949 | John Rauch | QB | Georgia | Detroit Lions | College Football Hall of Fame |
| 1950 | Adrian Burk* | QB | Baylor | Baltimore Colts | 2× Pro Bowl |
| 1951 | Bob Williams | QB | Notre Dame | Chicago Bears | College Football Hall of Fame |
| 1952 | Les Richter ‡ | LB | California | New York Yanks [a] | Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| 1953 | Billy Vessels | HB | Oklahoma | Baltimore Colts | Heisman Trophy (1952) |
| 1954 | Lamar McHan | QB | Arkansas | Chicago Cardinals | |
| 1955 | Max Boydston | E | Oklahoma | Chicago Cardinals | |
| 1956 | Earl Morrall* | QB | Michigan State | San Francisco 49ers | 3× Super Bowl champion, NFL Most Valuable Player (1968) |
| 1957 | Jon Arnett* | HB | USC | Los Angeles Rams | College Football Hall of Fame; 5× Pro Bowl |
| 1958 | John David Crow* | HB | Texas A&M | Chicago Cardinals | Heisman Trophy (1957) |
| 1959 | Dick Bass* | FB | Pacific | Los Angeles Rams | 3× Pro Bowl |
| 1960 | George Izo | QB | Notre Dame | St. Louis Cardinals | |
| 1961 | Norm Snead* | QB | Wake Forest | Washington Redskins | 4× Pro Bowl |
| 1962 | Roman Gabriel | QB | NC State | Los Angeles Rams | College Football Hall of Fame; 4× Pro Bowl, NFL Most Valuable Player (1969) |
| 1963 | Jerry Stovall* | DB | LSU | St. Louis Cardinals | 3× Pro Bowl |
| 1964 | Bob Brown ‡ | T | Nebraska | Philadelphia Eagles | Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| 1965 | Ken Willard* | FB | North Carolina | San Francisco 49ers | 4× Pro Bowl |
| 1966 | Tom Mack ‡ | G | Michigan | Los Angeles Rams | Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| 1967 | Clint Jones | HB | Michigan State | Minnesota Vikings | College Football Hall of Fame |
| 1968 | Bob Johnson | C | Tennessee | Cincinnati Bengals | College Football Hall of Fame |
| 1969 | George Kunz* | T | Notre Dame | Atlanta Falcons | 8× Pro Bowl |
| 1970 | Mike McCoy | DT | Notre Dame | Green Bay Packers | |
| 1971 | Archie Manning | QB | Ole Miss | New Orleans Saints | 2× Pro Bowl |
| 1972 | Sherman White | DE | California | Cincinnati Bengals | |
| 1973 | Bert Jones | QB | LSU | Baltimore Colts | Pro Bowl (1976), NFL Most Valuable Player (1976) |
| 1974 | Bo Matthews | HB | Colorado | San Diego Chargers | |
| 1975 | Randy White ‡ | DT | Maryland | Dallas Cowboys | Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| 1976 | Steve Niehaus | DT | Notre Dame | Seattle Seahawks | NFC Defensive Rookie of the Year (1976) |
| 1977 | Tony Dorsett ‡ | HB | Pittsburgh | Dallas Cowboys | Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| 1978 | Art Still* | DE | Kentucky | Kansas City Chiefs | 4× Pro Bowl |
| 1979 | Mike Bell | DE | Colorado State | Kansas City Chiefs | |
| 1980 | Lam Jones | WR | Texas | New York Jets | |
| 1981 | Lawrence Taylor ‡ | LB | North Carolina | New York Giants | Pro Football Hall of Fame , 2× Super Bowl champion (XXI, XXV) NFL Most Valuable Player (1986) 3× NFL Defensive Player of the Year (1981, 1982, 1986) NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year (1981) 2× UPI NFC Player of the Year (1983, 1986) 8× First-team All-Pro (1981–1986, 1988, 1989) 2× Second-team All-Pro (1987, 1990) 10× Pro Bowl (1981–1990) NFL sacks leader (1986) NFL 1980s All-Decade Team NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team Bert Bell Award (1986) PFWA All-Rookie Team (1981) New York Giants Ring of Honor New York Giants No. 56 retired 100 greatest Giants of all-time Unanimous All-American (1980) ACC Player of the Year (1980) First-team All-ACC (1980) North Carolina Tar Heels Jersey No. 98 honored |
| 1982 | Johnie Cooks | LB | Mississippi State | Baltimore Colts | |
| 1983 | Eric Dickerson ‡ | HB | SMU | Los Angeles Rams | Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| 1984 | Dean Steinkuhler | T | Nebraska | Houston Oilers | Outland Trophy (1983) |
| 1985 | Bill Fralic | G | Pittsburgh | Atlanta Falcons | 4× Pro Bowl |
| 1986 | Tony Casillas | DT | Oklahoma | Atlanta Falcons | College Football Hall of Fame |
| 1987 | Cornelius Bennett | LB | Alabama | Indianapolis Colts | 5× Pro Bowl |
| 1988 | Neil Smith | DE | Nebraska | Kansas City Chiefs | NFL 1990s All-Decade Team, 6× Pro Bowl |
| 1989 | Tony Mandarich | T | Michigan State | Green Bay Packers | |
| 1990 | Blair Thomas | HB | Penn State | New York Jets | |
| 1991 | Eric Turner | DB | UCLA | Cleveland Browns | 2× Pro Bowl |
| 1992 | Quentin Coryatt | LB | Texas A&M | Indianapolis Colts | |
| 1993 | Rick Mirer | QB | Notre Dame | Seattle Seahawks | |
| 1994 | Marshall Faulk ‡ | HB | San Diego State | Indianapolis Colts | Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| 1995 | Tony Boselli ‡ | T | USC | Jacksonville Jaguars | Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| 1996 | Kevin Hardy | LB | Illinois | Jacksonville Jaguars | Pro Bowl (1999) |
| 1997 | Darrell Russell | DT | USC | Oakland Raiders | 2× Pro Bowl |
| 1998 | Ryan Leaf | QB | Washington State | San Diego Chargers | |
| 1999 | Donovan McNabb* | QB | Syracuse | Philadelphia Eagles | 6× Pro Bowl |
| 2000 | LaVar Arrington* | LB | Penn State | Washington Redskins | Bednarik Award (1999), 3× Pro Bowl |
| 2001 | Leonard Davis* | G | Texas | Arizona Cardinals | 3× Pro Bowl |
| 2002 | Julius Peppers ‡ | DE | North Carolina | Carolina Panthers | Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| 2003 | Charles Rogers | WR | Michigan State | Detroit Lions | Biletnikoff Award (2002) |
| 2004 | Robert Gallery | T | Iowa | Oakland Raiders | Outland Trophy (2003) |
| 2005 | Ronnie Brown* | HB | Auburn | Miami Dolphins | Pro Bowl (2008) |
| 2006 | Reggie Bush | HB | USC | New Orleans Saints | Heisman Trophy (2005) |
| 2007 | Calvin Johnson ‡ | WR | Georgia Tech | Detroit Lions | Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| 2008 | Chris Long | DE | Virginia | St. Louis Rams | 2× Super Bowl champion, Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year (2018) |
| 2009 | Jason Smith | T | Baylor | St. Louis Rams | |
| 2010 | Ndamukong Suh* | DT | Nebraska | Detroit Lions | NFL 2010s All-Decade Team; 5× Pro Bowl |
| 2011 | Von Miller | LB | Texas A&M | Denver Broncos | 2× Super Bowl champion, NFL 2010s All-Decade Team; 8× Pro Bowl |
| 2012 | Robert Griffin III | QB | Baylor | Washington Redskins | Heisman Trophy (2011), Offensive Rookie of the Year, Pro Bowl (2012) |
| 2013 | Luke Joeckel | T | Texas A&M | Jacksonville Jaguars | Outland Trophy (2012) |
| 2014 | Greg Robinson | T | Auburn | St. Louis Rams | |
| 2015 | Marcus Mariota | QB | Oregon | Tennessee Titans | Heisman Trophy (2014) |
| 2016 | Carson Wentz | QB | North Dakota State | Philadelphia Eagles | Bert Bell Award (2017), Pro Bowl (2017) |
| 2017 | Mitchell Trubisky | QB | North Carolina | Chicago Bears | Pro Bowl (2018) |
| 2018 | Saquon Barkley | HB | Penn State | New York Giants | Offensive Rookie of the Year, 3× Pro Bowl |
| 2019 | Nick Bosa | DE | Ohio State | San Francisco 49ers | Defensive Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year (2022), 5× Pro Bowl |
| 2020 | Chase Young | DE | Ohio State | Washington Redskins | Defensive Rookie of the Year, Pro Bowl (2020) |
| 2021 | Zach Wilson | QB | BYU | New York Jets | |
| 2022 | Aidan Hutchinson | DE | Michigan | Detroit Lions | Pro Bowl (2023) |
|
| 2023 | C. J. Stroud | QB | Ohio State | Houston Texans | Offensive Rookie of the Year, Pro Bowl (2023) |
|
| 2024 | Jayden Daniels | QB | LSU | Washington Commanders | Heisman Trophy (2023), Offensive Rookie of the Year, Pro Bowl (2024) |
| 2025 | Travis Hunter | CB/WR | Colorado | Jacksonville Jaguars | Heisman Trophy (2024) |
