Heading into week five of the college football season, the Heisman race is starting to shape up, with some early favorites falling out of favor and some dark horses finding themselves amongst the leaders. Here are my current top five favorites, in order, to win the Heisman award as of week four.
1. Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon Ducks
New head coach and position players, no problem. This redshirt sophomore has been the most consistent and explosive player in college football thus far. With Mariota’s leadership the Ducks are undefeated to begin the season, scoring at least 59 points in every game, including against Tennessee and Virginia. This week they begin conference play against California where Mariota is likely to once again show his incredible athletic ability. This was on display previously on a 71-yard running touchdown he had against Virginia where he outran the entire defense. Thus far Mariota has thrown seven touchdowns and no interceptions and has run for 262 yards, averaging a whopping 17.5 yards per carry. His future Heisman chances are going to be determined in big conference games against Stanford and Washington.
2. Todd Gurley, RB, Georgia Bulldogs
Although the Bulldogs are not undefeated, I believe Gurley has been the most impressive running back thus far in college football with huge games against no. 8 Clemson and no. 6 South Carolina in back to back weeks. In the Clemson game, Gurley rushed for 154 yards on only 12 carries with two touchdowns, and against South Carolina he went off for another 132 yards and a score. If Gurley can continue to put up these incredible stats against the tough teams he will easily find himself in New York by year’s end for the trophy presentation ceremony.
3. Jameis Winston, QB, Florida State Seminoles
Although he is just a redshirt freshman and has only played against subpar teams so far this year, Jameis is definitely one of the best players in the country. He competes on a different level than the other players on the field and has demoralized defenses with his confidence and desire to win. He currently has the second-best quarterback rating in all of college football. With a strong possibility of going undefeated against a weak ACC schedule and a Florida team that lost its starting quarterback, Jameis in a position to be the best player on the best team this season. However, with no experience in big games and with Florida State’s history of losing to bad teams, this feat will not be an easy one.
4. Melvin Gordon, RB, Wisconsin Badgers
Melvin currently leads the nation in rushing yards and yards per attempt and is second in the nation in touchdowns. The speedster has not gone under 140 yards in any of the four games Wisconsin has played this year, while splitting carries the entire time. This back just knows how to put up monstrous stats. Like Gurley, if Melvin can find himself dominating against better teams, like he’ll have to do against no. 4 ranked Ohio State in his next game, he’ll also find himself at the Heisman presentation at the end of the year. With an offense that highly utilizes the run, with its plethora of future NFL offensive lineman, that could be a possibility.
5. Johnny Manziel, QB, Texas A&M Aggies
Probably just a win against Alabama away from being no. 1 on this list, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner is back with his backyard football style of play. His stats are about the same as they were last year, including big numbers against no. 1 ranked Crimson Tide, but the loss at home against the Tide really hurt Manziel’s Heisman status. However, the season is still young and with a strong showing against a pretty strong schedule that includes Ole Miss and LSU, Manziel can easily build up his Heisman resume and with some luck find himself in championship contention. If Johnny Football can’t do it, no one can.
