Who Will Win the Heisman Race?

By: Henry Jones

I usually talk about the NFL regarding my favorite team, the Arizona Cardinals, but in this blog I will be answering the question of who I think is most favored to win the Heisman award this year in college football. For a long time, the Heisman award has been seen as a quarterback award, such as the MVP Award in the NFL. However, that narrative has a chance to change this year because of two generational players : Ashton Jeanty and Travis Hunter. Both are spectacular athletes and put up video game number statistics. To begin, Ashton Jeanty has been amazing his year. He is putting up unbelievable rushing amounts every game and is on pace for 2,912 rushing yards, shattering Barry Sanders’s college rushing record of 2,628. This record has been standing for a very long time and some thought of it as unbreakable. Paired with these mass amounts of yards, Jeanty also has 19 touchdowns. Keep in mind that Jeanty has only played 6 games. This means that he is also on pace for 38 total touchdowns breaking the touchdown record for running backs as well.

Next, Travis Hunter is another guy who can’t be talked about enough. His main point of argument of why he should win the Heisman is that he plays both sides of the ball. This means he plays offense and defense. Not only does he play offense and defense, but he plays both of them extremely well. Hunter has 604 yards receiving and six touchdowns this year. Now normally people would look at that and see an above average receiver at best, but when you watch the film and see him making these spectacular contested catches over defenders heads, then you will see him as the player he truly is. This paired with the fact that he is also tied for the third best corner in the nation with a coverage ranking of 81.2 and two interceptions on the year proves why he is a solid contender for Heisman.

To wrap up, I do think that the race will be extremely close this year because the two players are very competitive and both want it very bad. However, due to Jeanty’s immense aura when carrying the ball, I have to think that he is the favorite to take home the trophy.