Heisman Hopeful: Who's your pick to win the Heisman?

With the college football season wrapped up and conference championships the only games left to play, awards season is upon us and there is none more coveted than the Heisman Trophy award. I am sure that most of our readers and listeners know the background of the Heisman trophy that is given to the most outstanding college football player every year, I am going to give you some back ground anyway. The first Heisman trophy was awarded in 1935 to Jay Berwanger who was a halfback or running back out of the University of Chicago. The award was originally called the DAK trophy which was the name of the club that voted on the award, then in 1936 and the death of John Heisman the athletic director of the DAK club it was renamed to the Heisman Trophy award in his honor. The award itself is a 45 pound bronze statue depicting a player stiff arming and side stepping a defender on his way to the endzone. In the awards existence there has only ever been one person to win it twice, that was Archie Griffin of Ohio State. The most current winner was Jayden Daniels QB for LSU in 2023. The Heisman Trophy award had become more of a quarteback award lately since 2000, 20 of the 23 winners have been quarterbacks, which makes this year a little special because the top two candidates according to the betting sites are a cornerback/receiver and running back. Let's take a look at each candidate and their body of work and make case for each starting with the top spot and working down the list.

The betting favorite to win this year is Travis Hunter from Colorado. He is a truly unique player as he is currently playing on both sides of the ball for the Buffs and has for the past two years. Many have him pegged as the number one defensive back in the country and one of the better receivers as well. It will be interesting to see which side of the ball he decides to play in the NFL next year. Playing on both sides of the ball has been a rare feat in college football, in 1960 college football adapted the two platoon system meaning you had certain players playing defense only and certain players playing offense only, thus limiting being a two way player to special athletes with rare gifts. The last person to do it successfully was Charles Woodson in 1997, he was primarily a defensive back but played some offense and was also a return specialist, oh and by the way he won the Heisman Trophy that year. Travis Hunter has amassed 92 rec for 1152 yards and 14 touchdowns, he also has one rushing touchdown on the offensive side of the ball. On the defensive side he has 31 total tackles, 11 pass defensed, 1 forced fumble and 4 interceptions on the season. Some will look at those numbers on the defensive side of the ball and say those are a little light, but some of that has to do with teams not wanting to throw the ball in his direction because that is how good he is. When you compare these numbers to Charles Woodson's in 1997 he is much more dominant on the offensive side of the ball compared to Woodson, where Woodson shined on defense with about 16 more total tackles and 3 more interceptions. Overall he might be the best player in all of college football.

Fan Duel Hesiman Odds: -6000

Ashton Jeanty is having a really special season for the Boise State Broncos. So much so that he has been a unanimous top pick to win the Heisman by the Go4It team since about week 5. The running back position has been undervalued of late with the way the NFL and college football has evolved into a pass happy offensive system, but there is no denying Jeanty's speed, power, and instincts when running the football. He has amassed 312 carries for 2,288 yards for a 7.3 yards per carry average and 28 touchdowns. Those are absurd rushing numbers. He also has 18 receptions for 102 yards and 1 more touchdown. The guy can do it all, those numbers are Barry Sanders type numbers and we all know the kind of career he ended up having. Speaking of Sanders, Jeanty only needs 341 more yards to beat his all time single season record. He has the Mountain West Championship game tonight and possibly a game in the college football playoff this is definitely attainable for Jeanty. Some people will say well he will break it but will have played more games than Barry did when he broke it. This is true, but Jeanty in his first 3 or 4 games of the season was pulled at halftime because of how soundly they were beating teams. So, in theory he could have had the record by now and may have even surpassed it by a significant amount. If Jeanty leads Boisie to a huge victory over UNLV tonight and has a good game doing it, he may close the gap on the favorite Travis Hunter.

Fan Duel Heisman Odds: +1500

There are about 5 candidates that are all tied for the 3rd best odds to win the Heisman, which goes to show you how much of a 2 man race this is. But if you're looking for a quarterback Dillon Gabriel might be your guy. He has had one of the most consistent seasons of any quarterback in the country, and is also spearheading the only undefeated team left in college football to their first ever B1G Championship game in their first year playing in the B1G. Gabriel has attempted 374 passes on the season completing 275 of those passes for a completion percentage of 73.5%. He has thrown for 3,275 yards and 24 touchdowns to just 6 interceptions for a QBR of 85.0. He has also added another 175 yards of rushing and another 7 touchdowns on the ground to those totals, making him one of the most complete quarterbacks in college football this season. If you want a quarterback to win the Heisman I think Gabriel has the best chance out of the two I am about to list. I think if he hadn't have run into the buzz saw of Travis Hunter and Ashton Jeanty this year he would have been the top contender for the Heisman.

Fan Duel Heisman Odds: +50000

Cam Ward at the beginning of the year he may have been the odds on favorite to win the Heisman before the season started. Many believed him to be the best quarterback in college football this year and while that may still be the case there has been a slight dropoff in his game late in the season with Miami losing 2 of their last 3 games. That being said Cam Ward doesn't play defense and consistently has to put the Miami team on his back leading them to an incredible 45.8 points per game on the year. Ward has had to throw the ball 435 times completing 293 of those passes for a ridiculous 4,123 yards. He has also thrown 36 touchdowns to just 7 interceptions , while adding another 196 yards on the ground and 4 more rushing touchdowns. Had Miami's defense not been so bad this year this team very well could have been undefeated and heading to the College football playoff, but as of now Cam Ward and Miami are on the outside looking in and he is not too happy about it. Ward was interviewed on the ACC network recently and didn't hold back when it came to blasting the committee's decision to rank them 12th. He stated, "I mean at the end of the day, them boys who in that committee, I really doubt they watch tape or not. I mean you can’t, I mean, we’re a 10-2 team. Not saying Alabama’s not a good team, which they are, but let’s talk about them points. That’s probably the biggest factor, I believe. We’re playing better defenses, in my opinion, than the SEC,. So it’s just hard. I did what I could. The team, we controlled what we can control. We controlled our own destiny for a lot of the season and we didn’t end up getting the job done. So we know it’s all in our hands and it got taken away from us when we lost, so it’s nothing that we can do about it now but just sit there, be patient and just try to get an opportunity to play for another game."

Fan Duel Heisman Odds: +50000

Honerable Mentions all with the same +50000 odds: Kurtis Rourke, Jalen Milroe, and Shedeur Sanders.