ESPN doc on Charles Woodson Heisman season to debut on ESPN on Saturday

There are plenty of current reminders to 1997 for Michigan football fans these days.

The Wolverines are ranked No. 1 for the first time since their national championship-winning season 26 years ago, and now ESPN will debut a documentary about Charles Woodson's unprecedented Heisman Trophy win.

ESPN debuts its new 30 for 30 documentary, “The Great Heisman Race of 1997," on Saturday, following the 2023 Heisman Trophy ceremony. It is about the heightened competition for the award and Woodson’s victory as the first primarily defensive player to take home the award.

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The documentary dives into the competitive Heisman race between Woodson, Payton Manning, Ryan Leaf and Randy Moss. Woodson narrowly beat out Manning with a 1,815-1,543 vote margin while Leaf and Moss both earned hundreds of votes, making it one of the most competitive Heisman years of all-time.

The film, which will also be available on ESPN Plus, uses archival footage to recreate the story and let fans understand how the debate between the players went down in real time.

“The film takes an immersive, time-capsule style approach to telling the story of the Heisman Trophy race of 1997, going back a quarter century to chronicle a season that fans will never forget, with future Hall of Famers Peyton Manning and Charles Woodson headlining a cast of legendary players – and living at the center of a debate that still lives on all these years later,” ESPN said in a news release.

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As a junior, Woodson became the two-way player to win the Heisman since college football moved to having specialized offensive and defensive players in the 1960s. He recorded seven interceptions and 43 tackles on defense while catching 11 passes for 231 yards on offense in addition to returning punts.

Woodson only returned one kick or punt for a touchdown at Michigan, but it was the defining moment of his Heisman campaign. In the final regular season game of the year against Ohio State, Woodson returned a punt 78 yards for a touchdown, as well as recording an interception and 37-yard catch, to finish Michigan’s perfect season with a 20-14 win over their rival.

Woodson was the third Michigan player to win the Heisman, joining Desmond Howard and Tom Harmon. In 2021, defensive end Aidan Hutchinson became the first Michigan player since Woodson to be a top-three finalist for the award.

Woodson entered the NFL draft following the Heisman win and was the fourth overall pick by the Oakland Raiders. He was a three-time All-Pro, nine-time Pro Bowl selection and a member of the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 2000s. His 65 career interceptions is fifth-best in NFL history and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: ESPN doc on Michigan football's Charles Woodson Heisman year to debut