Troy Smith won the 2006 Heisman Trophy, his senior year with the Buckeyes. He took 86.7% of the first place votes, a record that still stands today.
Troy Smith's mother raised him and two siblings in Columbus, Ohio, then moved to Cleveland in 1987, without the support of his father.
Smith first brought out an interest in playing football in Cleveland, where he played for the Glenville A's, initially as running back and tight end. Irvin White, his coach, moved Smith to quarterback after a few games and Smith stayed in the position.
In 1993, Smith was placed in foster care with Diane and Irvin White while his mother dealt with personal issues.
Smith played his first two years at St. Edward High School in Lakewood, Ohio, but was thrown off the team after elbowing an opponent in the head while playing in a varsity basketball game. He transferred to Glenville High School in Cleveland, Ohio shortly thereafter.
Smith graduated from Glenville where he was coached by Ted Ginn, Sr., father of his teammate Ted Ginn, Jr. Interestingly, Smith and Ginn went on to play together at Ohio State.
After his junior football season in high school, Smith was invited to participate in the Elite 11 competition, featuring the eleven top ranked high school quarterback prospects in the US. He earned good praise following his performance, and although it was relatively late in the recruiting process, Ohio State offered Smith a football scholarship. He verbally committed to the Buckeyes, signing his letter of intent on February 6, 2002, the last player for the upcoming season.
Smith threw for 969 yards and 12 touchdowns in his senior year. He played alongside current San Francisco 49ers' teammate, Ted Ginn, Jr., while leading Glenville to the state playoffs.
Smith also played three years of basketball and ran track (high jump, long jump and 1,600-meter relay). West Virginia University and Ohio State recruited him. Smith accepted the last scholarship of Ohio State's 2002 football recruiting class.
As a redshirted freshman for the Buckeyes, Smith played sparingly at running back and kick returner in 2003.
Smith played the season opener against Washington as a scatback and returner, and he compiled fourteen yards rushing and 83 return yards. After the game, he came on the NFL scouting radar as an "athlete."
He entered his sophomore season as the backup quarterback to Justin Zwick, but took over as the starter when Zwick was injured halfway through the 2004 season against Iowa. Smith won four of the five games he started in 2004, including a victory over the archrival Michigan Wolverines. Smith was suspended for breaking an undisclosed team rule before the Alamo Bowl, with Coach Jim Tressel extending the suspension to include the first game of the 2005 season after it was revealed that Smith had accepted $500 from a booster.
With Smith at QB, Ohio State lost only two games in the 2005 regular season, and in only one of those, was Smith the starter. The first was to the eventual BCS National Champion Texas Longhorns (which he did not start) and the other was to the Penn State Nittany Lions, co-Big Ten champions. Smith's 2005 stats included 2,282 passing yards with 16 touchdowns and four interceptions. This led to a passer rating of 162.66, the fourth-highest of the season. He rushed for 611 yards and 11 touchdowns on 136 carries. In January 2006, he was named the Offensive MVP of the Fiesta Bowl, after leading the Buckeyes to a 34-20 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
In the second week of the 2006 season, Smith and the Buckeyes took revenge for their 2005 loss to Texas. The top ranked Buckeyes won their rematch with the (again) second-ranked Longhorns, 24-7. Smith went 17-27 with 269 yards passing, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. For many fans and analysts, Smith's performance against the Longhorns gave credibility to the preseason Heisman Trophy hype he'd received. His passing statistics improved during the 2006 season, completing 67% of his passes for 2,507 yards, with 30 touchdowns and five interceptions. This led to a quarterback rating of 167.87, again fourth in the country.
Smith was one of five finalists for the 2006 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, given to the top senior college quarterback.
Teammates voted Smith the 2006 most valuable player. On 2006-12-07 the Davey O'Brien Foundation awarded Smith the Davey O'Brien Award for best college quarterback. He defeated other finalists Colt Brennan of the University of Hawaii and Brady Quinn of the University of Notre Dame.
In three games against Michigan, Smith has a total of 1,151 yards of total offense, two rushing touchdowns, and seven passing touchdowns. The Buckeyes won all three games, making Smith the first Ohio State quarterback since Tippy Dye (1934-1936) to quarterback in three victories over Michigan, and the first to win three straight games against Michigan as a starter.
Smith's college football career came to an end on January 8, 2007, when he and the Ohio State Buckeyes were beaten by the Florida Gators in the 2007 BCS National Championship Game, 41-14. Smith completed just four of 14 passes for 35 yards along with an interception, a fumble, and was sacked 5 times.
He graduated with a bachelor's degree in communications.
In 2010, ESPN listed Smith as the "Big Ten player of the decade."
Smith won the 2006 Heisman Memorial Trophy on December 9, 2006. He beat out sophomore RB Darren McFadden (2nd) from Arkansas and senior QB Brady Quinn (3rd), from Notre Dame.
In winning the 2006 Heisman, Smith took 86.7% of the first place votes, a record that has not been broken. His tally of 2,540 votes was the third largest behind that of the then-2005 Heisman Trophy winner, Reggie Bush of the University of Southern California (2,541 votes) and 1968 Heisman winner O.J. Simpson who also played for USC (2,853 votes). His margin of victory (1,662 votes) was also the second largest in the history of the award, eclipsed only by O.J. Simpson who won by 1,750 votes.
Troy Smith joined Les Horvath (1944), Vic Janowicz (1950), Howard "Hopalong" Cassady (1955), Archie Griffin (1974 and 1975) and Eddie George (1995) in the elite Buckeye fraternity.
He has advocated for the passage of the FIT Kids Act, federal legislation that would require school districts to report on students' physical activity and to give youngsters health and nutritional information.
Taken from Wikipedia