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Max Olson, ESPN Employees Author
On this date final 12 months, Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. regarded just like the Heisman Trophy frontrunner after defeating Oregon. In 2022, Hendon Hooker held the lead at midseason following Tennessee’s upset of Alabama. The 12 months earlier than, Kenneth Walker III and Matt Corral have been surging.
None of these gamers ended up taking dwelling the {hardware}. The Heisman race is a marathon, not a dash, and a tough one to forecast early within the season.
Here is how ESPN.com writers voted on their high Heisman candidates at midseason. On this spherical of voting, 11 totally different gamers acquired votes.
To reach on the remaining rankings, 14 voters have been requested to vote for his or her high 5. First-place votes earned 5 factors with 4 factors assigned for second-place votes, three factors for third-place votes, two factors for fourth-place votes and one level for fifth-place votes.
Complete factors: 66 (first-place votes: 11)
In school soccer, few particular person information have appeared extra unbreakable than Barry Sanders’ single-season speeding report. The Oklahoma State celebrity rewrote the report books and secured the Heisman in 1988 with a jaw-dropping 2,850 speeding yards and 44 touchdowns.
Six video games in, Jeanty is effectively on his method to breaking it. Boise State’s unstoppable star has now gained 1,248 speeding yards and scored 18 complete touchdowns whereas averaging an absurd 9.9 yards per carry. Sanders had 1,156 speeding yards and 19 TDs on 7.5 yards per carry by his first six video games in 1988.
Jeanty is essentially the most explosive playmaker within the sport, with eight landing runs of fifty or extra yards. Defenses spend all week scheming to stuff the field and gradual him down, however Jeanty leads all FBS backs in damaged tackles. He is completed all this regardless of sitting out the second half of two blowout wins for the No. 15 Broncos as they chase one other Mountain West title and a School Soccer Playoff bid.
A operating again from a non-power convention hasn’t been invited to New York as a Heisman finalist since TCU’s LaDanian Tomlinson in 2000. Jeanty is leaving little doubt he’ll be there in December.
Heisman second: No one has found out a great way to close down Jeanty, and that features the now-No. 2 ranked Oregon Ducks. Jeanty rushed for 192 yards and three touchdowns in Eugene on Sept. 7 and legitimately put Oregon on upset alert in a 37-34 thriller. Jeanty broke a 70-yard landing run early within the fourth quarter to tie the sport, then punched in his third rating of the evening with 10 minutes left to place the Broncos forward 34-27. The Geese rallied late and gained on a game-winning subject aim with time expiring, however Jeanty earned much more believers that evening.
Key stat: Jeanty has gained 841 speeding yards after first contact this season, in keeping with TruMedia. That is 355 yards greater than some other operating again in FBS. Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson ranks second with 586. How excessive is that quantity by six video games? In 2023, solely eight FBS operating backs completed the season with 850 or extra speeding yards after contact. Jeanty was one in every of them, rating fourth nationally with 934.
ESPN BET Heisman odds: +175
Complete factors: 52 (first-place votes: 3)
No one else in school soccer can do what Hunter does. Colorado’s two-way star and future first-round choose bought off to a dominant begin within the Buffaloes’ first season again within the Massive 12, main the convention in catches with 49 for 587 yards and 6 touchdowns. He opened the season with 4 consecutive 100-yard performances at receiver, however his play at cornerback has been simply as spectacular. Hunter has but to permit a landing move and has recorded three move breakups and two interceptions.
Hunter suffered a shoulder harm on Saturday evening towards Kansas State and needed to miss the second half of the Buffaloes’ 31-28 loss. After the sport, coach Deion Sanders did not supply an replace on the severity of the harm nor a timetable for Hunter’s return. Let’s hope it is only a minor setback for essentially the most dynamic participant within the sport.
Heisman second: Hunter struck the Heisman pose after diving for an interception towards UCF, one in every of a number of spotlight performs he made in a 48-21 blowout street win on Sept. 28. Hunter additionally hauled in 9 catches for 89 yards and a landing towards the Knights.
Key stat: Previous to his harm, Hunter had been on the sector for 92% of Colorado’s performs on offense and protection this season. He has totaled 322 snaps on offense and 341 on protection, in keeping with TruMedia. No different FBS participant has performed greater than 500 snaps this season.
ESPN BET Heisman odds: +1100
Complete factors: 43
Six video games in, Ward is really exceeding Miami followers’ wildest expectations. The Washington State switch took over a crew that went 7-6 in 2023 and turned them into the undefeated frontrunner to win the ACC.
The 6-foot-2, 223-pound senior has all the time possessed elite arm expertise however has taken his sport to a different degree this fall with 2,219 passing yards (second-most in FBS), 23 complete touchdowns and 5 interceptions whereas working the No. 1 scoring offense within the nation.
Ward dominated Florida in his debut, has pulled off dramatic comeback wins over Virginia Tech and Cal and has created actual CFP expectations for the Hurricanes as they’ve risen to No. 6 within the AP ballot. After two seasons on the FCS degree at Incarnate Phrase and two at Washington State, Ward got here near getting into the NFL draft however had a late change of coronary heart. He needed to return again to highschool for one remaining season, win large and show he is a first-round expertise. To this point, so good.
Heisman second: For those who stayed up late sufficient to look at it, you witnessed greatness from Ward throughout Miami’s resilient 39-38 comeback win at Cal on Oct. 5. Ward confronted a 25-point deficit halfway by the third quarter however simply saved enjoying. He threw for 437 yards and expertly led 4 consecutive landing drives, connecting with tight finish Elijah Arroyo for the game-winning rating with 26 seconds left.
Key stat: Ward is averaging 12.2 yards per try on third downs this season in keeping with TruMedia, finest amongst all FBS beginning quarterbacks. The Hurricanes are No. 1 nationally in third-down conversions (60.3%) because of their veteran QB. Ward has performed 64 snaps on third downs and has accounted for 559 complete yards and 7 touchdowns.
ESPN BET Heisman odds: +600
Complete factors: 32
The Geese sought a veteran quarterback with big-game expertise to succeed Bo Nix as they aimed to take their subsequent large step as a program in Yr 3 underneath Dan Lanning. They have been proper to guess on Gabriel, a 49-game starter at Oklahoma and UCF who’s predictably proving to be a terrific match as a frontrunner and playmaker.
Gabriel made the transfer to Eugene figuring out his remaining school season can be outlined by how he carried out in high-pressure conditions on a squad with nationwide championship ambitions. He aced his hardest check but with unbelievable poise on Saturday evening, placing up 373 complete yards with three touchdowns and no turnovers within the Geese’ 32-31 upset of No. 2 Ohio State, this system’s second-ever win over an AP top-2 opponent.
Six video games in, Gabriel has accounted for 1,893 complete yards with 17 touchdowns and three interceptions whereas finishing a career-high 76% of his passes. A 12-0 run by Oregon’s regular-season schedule appears solely potential now, which would definitely maintain Gabriel within the Heisman race the remainder of the best way.
Heisman second: Gabriel’s efficiency towards Ohio State was arguably the perfect of his profession. He beat one of many high defenses within the nation time and again with outstanding accuracy on downfield pictures, going 6-of-7 for 220 yards with a landing and no turnovers on throws of 15-plus yards towards the Buckeyes.
Key stat: Gabriel solely wants 2,563 extra passing yards and 18 extra passing touchdowns to surpass Houston’s Case Keenum because the NCAA all-time main passer.
ESPN BET Heisman odds: +375
Complete factors: 4
Discovering a brand new beginning quarterback within the switch portal was excessive on coach Curt Cignetti’s to-do checklist upon taking the Indiana job. He discovered a confirmed winner to construct round in Rourke, a 33-game starter at Ohio who’d thrown for greater than 7,500 yards and earned MAC Offensive Participant of the Yr in 2022. And collectively, they only maintain profitable.
The sixth-year senior has been very good through the Hoosiers’ gorgeous 6-0 begin and rise to No. 16 within the AP ballot, passing for 1,752 yards with 16 complete touchdowns and two interceptions on a Massive Ten-best 11 yards per try. Rourke has put up a 91.9 QBR – finest amongst Energy 4 starters – whereas masterfully working a rebuilt offense that is scoring 47.5 factors per sport. His expertise and effectivity have injected a ton of confidence right into a crew that went 3-9 a 12 months in the past.
Heisman second: Indiana has but to path in any sport this season, so Rourke hasn’t confronted too many stress moments. With Nebraska up subsequent and video games towards Michigan and Ohio State on their November schedule, these alternatives are coming quickly. When Northwestern did make it a 3-point sport towards the Hoosiers early within the fourth quarter, Rourke shut down the Wildcats’ upset bid with consecutive landing drives, ending with 380 passing yards and three TDs in a 41-24 win.
Key stat: Indiana has outscored its six opponents by a mixed margin of 196 factors this season. Solely Texas (221 factors) and Ole Miss (216) have been higher by that customary. Of their 9 losses final season, the Hoosiers have been outscored by a mixed margin of 135 factors.
ESPN BET Heisman odds: +6000
Additionally receiving votes: Military QB Bryson Daily (3 factors), Alabama WR Ryan Williams (3), Navy QB Blake Horvath (2), Alabama QB Jalen Milroe (2), Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith (2), Pitt RB Desmond Reid (1)