I want to preface this article by saying that these rankings are not my own personal rankings on who I believe should win the Heisman. Instead, these rankings are based on how I think the voters will view these players as the season goes on.
1) Cam Ward | QB | Miami
It is hard to ignore Wards’ performance through the first five weeks of the college football season and I am not going to ignore it. Ward has been the best Quarterback in the Nation in the place of Quinn Ewers who you will see later on the list. Ward has led #10 Miami to a 4-0 start and has done so in a dominant fashion. Ward has accumulated 1,439 yards (second in the nation), 14 touchdowns (first) and two interceptions over the course of four games and he does not appear to be slowing down yet. I have said before that his lack of head to head competition could be held against him, but when it comes to straight up performance on the field, no one compares to Ward.
2) Ashton Jeanty | HB | Boise State
Jeanty has fallen victim to two separate factors to drop him from first to second place on this list. One factor is Jeanty’s lack of competition is on a different level compared to someone like Ward previously. Jeanty will be playing in the Mountain West, a significantly inferior conference to those of his Heisman competitors. In fact, Jeanty would be the first winner from a Group of 5 conference since Roger Staubach in 1963. The second factor against Jeanty, ironically, is that Boise State will be too good. In his most recent game, Jeanty had his worst stats of the season, 127 yards and no touchdowns on 11 carries. This was not because Boise State played a good defense, that could not be further from the truth. Boise State played so well that there was not a point in Jeanty playing past the second quarter. Unfortunately, Jeanty’s odds to win the Heisman are not in his hands. He is easily talented enough to win it. It is all decided by the opportunities he gets to use his talent.
3) Quinn Ewers | QB | Texas
Ewers missed this past week with an abdominal injury. I said before that as long he is injured, Ewers’ place on this list is decided by how quickly he returns from this injury. As of the time I write this, Tuesday Sept. 24, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian has made it known that Ewers is questionable for this coming week, meaning Ewers has a 50/50 chance of playing this weekend. Depending on what shape Ewers is in when he returns, he could hop back up to the top two with Ward. If Ewers returns and he isn’t 100% then we could see someone take his spot. As of right now, we are just going to have to wait and see.
4) Jaxson Dart | QB | Ole Miss
Dart is our other big stats against no competition guy with Ward so far. However, that is likely to change in the coming months. Dart will play #14 LSU, #21 Oklahoma and number two Georgia later on in the season. Dart and Ewers will easily face the toughest competition of their competitors on this list, and it will not be particularly close. However, Dart has yet to play anyone so far in the season and that keeps him at number four on this list. If you look at Dart’s stats four weeks through the season, it is clear why he is here. 1,554 passing yards (first in the nation) with 12 touchdowns (fourth) on 79.8% completion percentage (second) is an absurd stat line for Dart and is the reason he will be on lists like this for the rest of the season.
5) Travis Hunter | CB | Colorado
Hunter is the newest face on this list, but that does not mean he has not been performing at the highest level since week one. For those who are not familiar with Hunter, he is currently playing Division I football at the highest level on both offense and defense. Something that has only been done by a handful of elite talents in college football history and names most football fans will recognize such as Champ Bailey, Rod Woodson and Jabrill Peppers. As a receiver, Hunter has amassed 37 catches for 472 yards and five touchdowns through four games. As a corner, Hunter has 14 tackles, two passes defended and one interception. Both are absolutely amazing stats when you take into account that Hunter is playing almost double the number of snaps as your typical player does in the same four game span. Hunter’s play by itself on either side of the ball would probably land him as a first-round pick in the NFL, but the reason he makes this list is for his ability to affect the game every single drive.
