Who are the leaders in the race for the 2019 Heisman Trophy?
Top Heisman Contenders After Week 0, Before Week 1 Are …
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It’s not like Khalil Tate was a top Heisman pick throughout the offseason, but now any crazy thought of him being in the mix is long gone even with 361 passing yards and three scores, and with 108 rushing yards. But if he had powered his way into the end zone and pulled off the win over Hawaii, everything changes.
And, nah, Feleipe Franks isn’t going to take a massive leap forward and be a Heisman-caliber passer, either.
After Week 1 – with more games to go off of, this will all be based on how the race go if the season ended at the moment. For now, this is a projection, trying to get into the minds of the voters and where they might be leaning after it’s all over.
Player of Week 0
WR Cedric Byrd, Hawaii
14 catches for 224 yards and four scores in the 45-38 win over Arizona.
5 Players On The Radar …
In alphabetical order. Lines from playMGM …
QB Sam Ehlinger, Texas +2000
QB Justin Fields, Ohio State +1100
QB Jake Fromm, Georgia +1600
QB Adrian Martinez, Nebraska +1100
RB DeAndre Swift, Georgia +1400
5. RB Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin
Despite rushing for 4,171 yards and 29 touchdowns in his first two seasons, he hasn’t been in the Heisman race as more than an also-ran so far.
He tore off 1,977 yards and 13 touchdowns in his breakout freshman campaign, and ripped it up for 2,194 yards and 16 scores last season. What’s the problem?
It starts with his fumbling issues around the goal line – the stats would be much, much more impressive to the Heisman voters if he was hitting the 20+ TD mark – and it also hurts that he’s been so amazing just as Oklahoma quarterbacks, Dwayne Haskins, and Tua Tagovailoa are coming up with some of the greatest passing seasons in college football history.
The 2018 Doak Walker winner has to work behind a bit of a revamped O line, but it’s Wisconsin. It’ll be fine.
He needs to once again put up eye-popping numbers, he has to be the best running back in college football again, and he has to rock on the biggest of Big Ten stages, but he’s the top running back on the radar in a crowded group of quarterbacks.
playMGM Line: +2000
NEXT: It all comes down to Week 1 …
4. QB Justin Herbert, Oregon
To sound like a cliché, you can’t win the Heisman in Week 1 – ask Josh Rosen vs. Texas A&M to kick off the 2017 season – but you can certainly lose it.
The Oregon showdown against Auburn is the marquee battle of the big opening weekend. Everyone will be paying attention, everyone will be looking at Oregon to see if it’s really ready to make a big statement, and everyone will be looking at Justin Herbert to see if he’s about to take that next step to cement himself as a one of the top players in the 2020 NFL Draft.
It’ll be about the stats this year with Herbert has he has to compete with some phenomenal talents for the Heisman, but it all starts by generating a buzz. He has to be the story, and he has to be the reason the Ducks get a huge win for the Pac-12.
So far in his career the stats have been fine – 63% for 7.070 yards and 63 touchdowns with 17 picks and nine rushing scores – but this week, just get the win, look good doing it, and the Heisman campaign will be underway.
Lose to Auburn, and all of the Heisman hopes are kaput.
playMGM Line: +1600
NEXT: There’s NO way there can be a three-peat, but …
3. QB Jalen Hurts, Oklahoma
If you were told two years ago at this time that Baker Mayfield was going to put up the greatest passing season in college football history – at least, the most efficient – and would win the Heisman on the way to being the No. 1 pick in the draft, you wouldn’t have been totally shocked, but … you would’ve been a wee bit stunned.
If you were told last year at this time that Kyler Murray was going to put up the greatest passing season in college football history – at least, the most efficient – and would win the Heisman on the way to being the No. 1 pick in the draft, you would’ve laughed and pointed out that he’s WAY too small.
And you would’ve walked out of the room after being told Murray would be playing for Arizona head coach Kliff Kingsbury, who’ll be coming off a losing season at Texas Tech.
And if you’re being told right now that Jalen Hurts was about to …
There’s no way Hurts can make it three in a row for the Sooners when it comes to Heisman, can he?
There isn’t a more likable and respected player in college football, and he has the resumé, too.
The Alabama stats are better than you think, completing 63% of his passes for 5,626 yards with 48 scores and 12 picks, and he ran for close to 2,000 yards with 23 touchdowns.
He’s a veteran who knows what he’s doing, and now he gets the best gig going in the college football world as the man to run the Lincoln Riley attack.
It’s going to be fun.
playMGM Line: +1000
NEXT: Redemption Tour 2019 …
2. QB Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama
It took Kyler Murray – and an injured ankle late in the regular season – to keep Tagovailoa from being the runaway winner in the 2018 race.
It’s been a bit forgotten about now after the way the season ended, but 1) the 3,966 yards, 43 touchdowns, six picks and averaging over 11 yards per pass were at an all-time great level, and 2) the raw stats – if not the performance – in the Clemson debacle weren’t that bad, hitting 65% of his throws for 295 yards and two scores with two picks.
And that’s going to be the key to his Heisman campaign.
The numbers are going to once again be ridiculous with an NFL starting receiving corps to throw to. But can he keep the picks to a bare minimum again?
What was so amazing about his 2018 run to being the Heisman runner-up was how he threw just two picks up until the SEC Championship. He was banged up and wasn’t himself, but he threw two interceptions against Georgia, and he tossed those two against Clemson.
If Alabama goes 13-0 again, and he puts up the stats he cranked up last year, he likely wins the Heisman. But for now …
playMGM Line: +260
NEXT: The NFL types would like to put him in bubble wrap for the next two years …
1. QB Trevor Lawrence, Clemson
Here’s the one problem with this …
Will he have the numbers?
Granted, he didn’t take over the starting job until the fifth game of the season, but the 3,280 yards and 30 touchdowns with four picks were – relatively speaking compared to what the other top quarterback were doing – cute.
He not only has to be close to perfect, and he not only has to lead Clemson to an unbeaten regular season against an okay-not-too-bad schedule, but the numbers have to be there to hold serve in the Heisman race against Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts.
If this was all about the NFL Draft, he’s the No. 1 overall pick. He’d have been the top pick in this year’s drat, he’d be the top pick in next year’s draft, and when he’s eligible, he’ll be the top pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
But the Heisman is about the numbers, the big moments, and the WOW.
It’s not really about who the most talented player is – it’s about who’s the MVP, the MOP, and the signature player in a given college football season.
All of that might just be Lawrence as the star of the nation’s No. 1 team. He’s the defending national championship starter, and everyone will be chasing him.
playMGM Line: +240
