THE APEX TIMES
Desmond Howard and Charles Woodson highlighted as The Athletic names top 1990s college football players
The Wolverines’ Heisman peak in the 1990s is getting renewed attention, with Desmond Howard and Charles Woodson placed among the decade’s standouts by The Athletic.
Desmond Howard is getting fresh recognition as one of the top college football players of the 1990s, with The Athletic’s decade list also featuring Michigan teammate Charles Woodson. The renewed spotlight matters for Michigan fans because both players represent the most memorable individual era in program history, when Wolverines football combined elite quarterback playmaking with defensive game-changing.
According to the report, Howard and Woodson were selected for the list by The Athletic, placing two Michigan stars side-by-side as defining figures of the decade. The same article places the selections in program context, noting how Michigan’s 1990s run helped set the tone for what it meant to win nationally during that period.
The 1990s were especially impactful for Michigan because the Wolverines have had three Heisman Trophy winners in program history, with two of them coming during the 1990s. That fact alone explains why Howard and Woodson’s names carry weight beyond nostalgia, since the award is often used as a shorthand for sustained excellence across an entire season.
The timing also aligns with a transitional stretch for the program’s leadership. The article describes the Wolverines moving from Bo Schembechler’s long tenure to Gary Moeller and then to Lloyd Carr. That coaching sequence provides a framework for why the decade is remembered not just for one breakout team, but for a sustained talent pipeline that could produce Heisman-caliber players across different systems and head coaches.
Howard’s inclusion on the list underscores Michigan’s offensive and special-teams identity during the era, while Woodson’s presence highlights the defensive ceiling the program reached in the same timeframe. Together, the selections portray a decade in which Michigan could dominate through multiple phases, a balance that often separates perennial contenders from good teams.
It is also worth noting that the story is about a retrospective ranking, not a current-season evaluation. Decade lists are opinion-driven by nature, so the value lies more in what the selections reveal about legacies than in any measurable, season-specific metric.
Looking ahead, the most practical takeaway for Michigan observers is how the program’s 1990s identity continues to shape recruiting narratives and fan expectations. When a modern conversation about the Wolverines invokes Howard and Woodson in the same breath, it indicates that elite individual production remains one of the standards fans associate with competing for championships.
Why It Matters
- Michigan’s 1990s legacy is reinforced through a decade-wide player ranking that pairs two Heisman-linked Wolverines.
- The selections highlight how Michigan’s best stretch combined impact across both offense and defense rather than relying on a single unit.
- Retrospective rankings like this can influence how programs are discussed in recruiting and culture, particularly around the standard of individual production.
- The coaching-change context emphasizes that elite outcomes happened across different leadership eras, not one static system.
Key Facts
- Desmond Howard was named among the top college football players of the 1990s in a The Athletic list.
- Charles Woodson was also included among the top 1990s college football players in the same ranking.
- The report ties the selections to Michigan’s Heisman success during the decade.
- Michigan has had three Heisman Trophy winners in program history, with two coming in the 1990s.
- The article frames the 1990s as a lucrative period for Michigan that included coaching transitions from Bo Schembechler to Gary Moeller and then Lloyd Carr.