Steve Spurrier Reveals His 2025 Heisman Trophy Vote – Sort Of

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It’s been a long time since Steve Spurrier was named the first Heisman Trophy winner in Florida Gators history, but the 80-year-old SEC legend still has a say in the honor — even if he’s keeping things close to the vest when it comes to his 2025 vote.

The former Duke-Gators-Gamecocks coach joined the Heisman fraternity back in 1966 when he tossed for 2,012 passing yards and 16 touchdowns on the way to an 8-2 UF record and the No. 11 ranking in the polls.

And while he also voted for a fellow quarterback to win this year’s award, he wouldn’t specify which exact one…

Spurrier plays coy with ’25 Heisman vote

Appearing on “Another Dooley Noted Podcast” over the weekend, the legendary ball coach was asked about his Heisman vote and here’s what he had to say:

“I voted for both those guys. I won’t give you the order, but [Fernando] Mendoza and [Diego] Pavia were my first and second, or second and first,” Spurrier said. “And then the other two guys that were there, the running back at Notre Dame, Jeremiyah Love was there. And let’s see, who was there … Julian Sayin the quarterback, yes. And he transferred from Alabama to Ohio State. That’s sort of different. But gosh, he completed like 70, 75% of his passes this year … so he’s a nice, young man.”

Mendoza ended up walking away with the award over Pavia as the leader of Indiana’s historic ’25 season. But it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise if Spurrier’s SEC ties led him voting for Vanderbilt‘s Pavia who placed runner-up amongst the four finalists.

Fernando Mendoza appreciative of Heisman, IU success

Speaking to the media on Monday in the aftermath of his Heisman win, Mendoza opened up about what it means to take home the prestigious award as the Hoosiers prepare for the CFP.

“I think it’s great because our team has worked so hard throughout the season,” Mendoza said, via On3.com. “We’re 13-0, and I believe that we’ve earned these couple bye weeks here. Not only selfishly, I’m going to say it’s great for myself because we want to let this bad boy sink in and my teammates who also went to New York, let all of us recover a little bit.”

“So we don’t have a game this upcoming Saturday. However, I think it’s a great honor to have a bye week, and we still have great momentum going into the College Football Playoff, and I think it’s going to be a great opportunity to rest our bodies and stay sharp on our fundamentals,” he concluded.

Indiana only trails defending national champion Ohio State in the Playoff odds — despite beating them in the Big Ten Championship game. Now it’s just a matter of going out and getting it done against ninth-seeded Alabama in Jan. 1’s Rose Bowl on the way to the semifinal.

This story was originally published by The Spun on Dec 21, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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