Who are the leaders in the race for the 2019 Heisman Trophy?
Top Heisman Contenders After Week 1 Are …
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The Heisman race is brutal. It’s not just enough to be very, very good – you need the stats, too.
In other words, going 13-of-23 for 168 yards with a touchdown and two picks and a rushing score isn’t good enough, even if you’d be a starting quarterback next weekend on Sunday instead of Saturday if you were eligible, Mr. Lawrence.
This can and will wildly change in a hurry, but if the Heisman voting was done right now …
Player of Week 1 (besides the five main guys on this list)
QB Hank Bachmeier, Boise State
The true freshman was beaten up and battered, getting sacked six times by the relentless Florida State pass rush. Down 31-14 on the road in the heat of Tallahassee, he kept his cool – sorry for that – and pulled off the phenomenal 36-31 comeback win, completing 30-of-51 passes for 407 yards and a score with a pick.
5 Players On The Radar …
In alphabetical order.
QB Joe Burrow, LSU
QB Sam Ehlinger, Texas
RB Chuba Hubbard, Oklahoma State
QB Trevor Lawrence, Clemson
RB DeAndre Swift, Georgia
5. RB Travis Eitenne, Clemson
And just like that, the season-opener for Clemson against Georgia Tech became a laugher.
Give the Tiger offensive line credit for giving the slippery Etienne a little room to move on the interior, and once he got the sliver of daylight …
Trevor Lawrence is Clemson’s best player – and maybe college football’s most talented star – but again, the overall stats won’t be there compared to the top passers. Etienne has the combination of talent, big opportunities – at least over the next few weeks against Texas A&M and Syracuse – and almost certainly, the big stats to make a run at being a finalist.
It was more than just the 90-yard dash in the first quarter. He threw off a 14-yard touchdown run, and blew the game wide open in the third quarter with a 48-yard scoring dash. When it was over, he took off for 205 yards and three touchdowns on just 12 carries.
Averaging 17.1 yards per carry … not bad.
NEXT: And that’s exactly what everyone wanted to see …
4. QB Justin Fields, Ohio State
Could he really throw? Could he really handle being the No. 1 guy? Could he really play like the next superstar Ohio State quarterback?
It only took less than ten minutes against Florida Atlantic, and then it was all over. Justin Fields showed he really is ready to play like the superstar prospect who was supposed to rock Georgia’s world last season.
Less than two minutes in, he took off for a 51-yard scoring dash.
Two minutes later, he connected on a perfect pass for a touchdown. Two minutes after that, he hit Binjimen Victor for a 32-yard score. Three minutes after that, he connected with Chris Olave for a touchdown.
28-0, and it was over. So what if Ohio State wasn’t all that great the rest of the way? Fields had already delivered the knockout punch.
He completed 18-of-25 passes for 234 yards and four scores, and ran 12 times for 61 yards and a touchdown. With the weapons he has around him, the offensive line to pave the way, and the amazing offense to operate, this isn’t going to stop.
NEXT: Oh is this going to be fun …
3. QB Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama
It’s as if we forgot what the guy was like over the first 12 games of last season.
Never quite right after not being able to get through a leg injury late in the year, Tua Tagovailoa struggled in the SEC Championship against Georgia, and wasn’t his sharpest self in the College Football Playoff.
Against Duke, he was back.
It also helped to have an NFL receiving corps around him to make magical things happy – that Jerry Jeudy touchdown catch was simply unfair – but the conductor made the orchestra go.
Tagovailoa was moving better, throwing with more confidence, and in total command of the attack in the 42-3 win over Duke, completing 26-of-31 passes for 336 yards and four scores to go along with 15 rushing yards.
It’s going to be another amazing ride.
NEXT: And he can catch, too?
2. RB Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin
The entire USF defense was focusing on slowing down Jonathan Taylor.
Wisconsin was starting the season with one returning starter up front – it was a bit of a rocky day for the front five – and the Bulls dared QB Jack Coan to try to make plays. But there was no need to mess with it. Give the ball to No. 23 and let him go.
Taylor took control on the opening drive with a 37-yard touchdown run, ran for a 38-yard score early in the third quarter, and along the way, did something new.
He caught a few passes.
For all the good things he has done over his first two seasons, being a part of passing game wasn’t in the plan with just 16 grabs. He only caught two passes against the Bulls, but he took them both for touchdowns.
On the day, the workhorse made it all look so easy with 16 carries for 135 yards and two scores, two catches for 48 yards and two touchdowns, and a 49-0 win for the Badgers.
NEXT: Just imagine if he and the team were sharp …
1. QB Jalen Hurts, Oklahoma
It all looked so easy, but don’t dismiss just how much pressure was on Jalen Hurts to be fantastic.
There’s a long season ahead and it’s just one game, but Kyler Murray was in the house. Baker Mayfield is still looming large of the program. The Oklahoma offense was supposed to explode against a highly-suspect Houston defense, and if it didn’t it sure as shoot wasn’t going to be Lincoln Riley’s fault.
To add even more to what Hurts was able to do, this was the only game in town. The NFL wasn’t rolling yet, baseball is baseball, and Novak Djokovic was out with a shoulder problem – if you’re into that US Open sort of thing.
It’s not like the world was tuning in to see Houston on a Sunday night.
Hurts was in total command from the start, completing 20-of-23 passes for 332 yards and three touchdowns, and running 16 times for 176 yards and three scores in the 49-31 win that was even more dominant than the final score.
It’s just the beginning, and he’ll be expected to do that every time out, but if he’s able to put up the numbers in the system and be the ultimate leader and handle the ridiculous expectations of being the one who followed that guy and that other guy, that’s how Heismans are won.
