Desmond Howard Desmond Kevin Howard ( born May 15 , 1970 ) is a former NFL wide receiver , punt returner and kickoff returner and currently a college football analyst for ESPN . He played football for the University of Michigan from 1989 – 1991 and won the Heisman Trophy in 1991 . He played professional football in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins ( 1992 – 1994 ) , Jacksonville Jaguars ( 1995 ) , Green Bay Packers ( 1996 , 1999 ) , Oakland Raiders ( 1997 – 1998 ) and Detroit Lions ( 1999 – 2002 ) . Howard was voted the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XXXI and is the first and only special teams player to win the award . He is one of only four players to win both the Heisman Trophy and Super Bowl MVP ; Roger Staubach , Jim Plunkett and Marcus Allen are the others . Howard was ranked the ninth Greatest Return Specialist in NFL History by NFL Network ' s NFL Top 10 Return Aces . On July 16 , 2011 , Howard was inducted into the 2011 Class of the College Football Hall of Fame . High school career . Howard was born in Cleveland , Ohio and earned All - American and All - Ohio honors as a tailback during his senior season at St . Joseph High School in Cleveland , Ohio , scoring 18 touchdowns with a record - breaking 5 , 392 rushing yards , as well as 10 interceptions on defense . He earned three varsity letter s each in track and football , as well as one in basketball . College career . During his college career at the University of Michigan , Howard set or tied five NCAA and 12 Michigan records . He also led the Big Ten Conference in scoring with 138 points during the 1991 season on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy , Maxwell Award and Walter Camp Award , earning first - team All - America n honors . Howard captured 85 percent of the first - place votes in balloting for the Heisman , the largest margin in history at that time . Howard also earned a bachelor ' s degree in communications in 1992 . In 2011 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and he was honored as the inaugural Michigan Football Legend , a program honoring former players equivalent to a retired jersey number . Each Michigan player to wear Howard ' s No . 21 jersey will wear a patch recognizing Howard , and dress at a locker bearing a plaque with his name and time of tenure at Michigan . Professional career . After college , Howard was selected by the Washington Redskins in the first round , fourth overall in the 1992 NFL Draft . The pick was considered a luxury for the Redskins , who had just won Super Bowl XXVI . The Redskins traded up to the number four spot ( with Cincinnati ) , trading the sixth and 28th picks to move up . Howard ' s performance as a receiver was secondary to his skills as a punt and kick off returner throughout his 11 - year career . Though he recorded 92 receptions in his first four seasons , he excelled as a punt and kickoff returner throughout his career . Howard played one season with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1995 . He had 26 receptions and one touchdown , with 10 kick returns . His most notable professional season was in 1996 for the Green Bay Packers . He led the NFL in punt returns ( 58 ) , punt return yards ( 875 ) , punt return average ( 15 . 1 ) and punt return touchdowns ( 3 ) , while gaining 460 kickoff return yards and catching 13 passes for 95 yards . His 875 punt return yards were an NFL record , easily surpassing the old record of 692 yards set by Fulton Walker in 1985 . During the 1996 NFL postseason , Howard had a punt return for a touchdown in a game between the Packers and the San Francisco 49ers . The Packers reached Super Bowl XXXI against the New England Patriots . The Packers led 27 - 14 at halftime , but Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe led his team on a short drive that ended with Curtis Martin ' s 18 - yard touchdown run to pull the Patriots within six late in the third quarter . With new life , the Patriots boomed the ensuing kickoff to the one - yard line , but Howard effectively shattered the Patriots ' hopes for a comeback with a 99 - yard kickoff return for a Packers touchdown . His return and the Packers ' subsequent two - point conversion closed out the scoring of the game , and the Packers eventually won 35 - 21 . Bill Parcells , the Patriots ' head coach , commented after the game : " We had a lot of momentum , and our defense was playing better . But [ Howard ] made the big play . That return was the game right there . He ' s been great all year , and he was great again today . " Howard totaled a Super Bowl record 90 punt return yards and 154 kickoff return yards with one touchdown ; his 244 all - purpose yards also tied a Super Bowl record . His performance won him the Super Bowl MVP award , making Howard the only player to ever win the award based solely on a special teams performance . Howard became a free agent after the season and signed with the Oakland Raiders . He led the NFL in kickoff returns ( 61 ) and kickoff return yards ( 1 , 381 ) . Howard spent the 1998 football season with the Raiders before re - joining the Packers in 1999 . In the middle of the 2000 season , he was traded to the Detroit Lions , where he spent the rest of his career until his retirement after the 2002 season . In a special homecoming , he scored a special teams touchdown in his Lions debut . In February 2001 , he made his first and only Pro Bowl appearance as the NFC ' s kick returner . In his 11 NFL seasons , Howard caught 123 passes for 1 , 597 yards , rushed for 68 yards , returned 244 punts for 2 , 895 yards , and gained 7 , 595 yards returning 359 kickoffs . He also scored 15 touchdowns ( 7 receiving , 8 punt returns ) . Overall , Howard gained 12 , 155 all - purpose yards . Broadcasting career . Howard currently works for ESPN as a college football analyst . He appears as an in - studio personality and , in 2005 , began traveling with Chris Fowler , Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit to marquee matchup sites during the season for the pre - game show " ESPN College Gameday " . He is also currently the color commentator for Detroit Lions pre - season games on the Detroit Lions Television Network . He called games for the NFL on Fox for one season with ESPN colleague Carter Blackburn . In popular culture . On May 6 , 2005 , EA Sports announced that Howard would be the cover athlete for its latest installment in the " NCAA Football " video game series , " NCAA Football 06 " . The announcement was a departure for the series , which has traditionally featured college athletes who went to the NFL the previous year on its covers . He was chosen to highlight the new feature " Race for the Heisman , " and his cover picture showed him striking his famous Heisman pose while at Michigan . He struck this pose after a punt return for a touchdown during the 1991 Michigan – Ohio State game . Howard was a guest star in the fourth season of " Living Single " in the episode entitled " Never Can Say Goodbye . " Within the fictional world of the show , he is said to be related to the Overton character . Howard was also a guest star in the first season of " Everybody Loves Raymond " in the episode entitled " Fascinatin ' Debra . "