Manning leads deep field in Heisman Trophy conversation

We’re inching closer and closer to college football’s full launch, but the Heisman Trophy conversation has been raging for months – dating back to last December, really, from the moment Colorado’s Travis Hunter stepped off the stage in New York City after winning the 2024 award.

But for all the talk and all the anticipation, we’re reminded of the same thing every year: The Heisman isn’t handed out in September, October or even November. It’s a 14-week scramble, upended by upsets, injuries and unpredictability.

But it’s impossible not to discuss.

Here are some players that might find themselves in the thick of this season’s race:

The Chosen One: Arch Manning, Texas

The next in line in America’s greatest family football dynasty isn’t just big in name. Last season, Manning got his first real taste of college football as a redshirt freshman, filling in for Quinn Ewers and flashing both his legs and arm in easy wins over UTSA, UL Monroe and Mississippi State.

But how does that production translate this year against elite competition?

Manning will have no shortage of opportunities to showcase he belongs in the Heisman conversation. Texas opens in Columbus against defending national champion Ohio State in a rematch of last season’s playoff semifinal, and travels to Athens in November to face a Georgia team that accounted for the Longhorns’ other two losses last year.

In October, Manning gets his first taste of the Red River Rivalry in a meeting with revamped rival Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl.

Manning isn’t the only new element in Steve Sarkisian’s offence in 2025. In all, the Longhorns had 12 players drafted – including top pass-catchers Matthew Golden and Gunnar Helm, in addition to Ewers – and have a handful of other players at skill positions taking on larger roles.

Ryan Wingo, who caught touchdown passes from Manning against UTSA and UL Monroe, steps in as Texas’ WR1 after a 29-catch, 472-yard season as a true freshman.

How Manning and the rest of Texas’ offence adapts won’t just impact the Heisman race – it’ll also impact the balance atop the SEC in a year where perennial powers Georgia and Alabama are also undergoing change at the quarterback position.

If Manning is ordinary, the Longhorns figure to be in the playoff mix. If he’s extraordinary – Archie, Peyton and Eli-like – Texas might just win a national championship.

The tale of two Tigers: Garrett Nussmeier, LSU and Cade Klubnik, Clemson

LSU and Clemson each have an opportunity for a signature win when they meet in Week 1 – a matchup that also serves as a statement game for Nussmeier and Klubnik, who are both Heisman candidates and projected top-10 picks in next April’s NFL Draft.

LSU was in the playoff picture following an electrifying overtime win over Ole Miss last October, but a trio of losses – including a 42-13 thrashing against Alabama at Death Valley – squashed those hopes, and lessened Nussmeier’s chances of being a day-one pick in 2024.

Instead, he’s back in Baton Rouge, with a restacked wide receiver room that includes a pair of big-play threats in Nic Anderson and Barion Brown, who joined the Tigers last December via the transfer portal.

Klubnik carried Clemson through an uneven season last year, winning the ACC championship and reaching the playoffs despite losing three times and not beating a ranked opponent during the regular season.

The Tigers retained one of the best wide receiver rooms in the country, with standout Antonio Williams returning, as well Bryant Wesco Jr. and T.J. Moore, who were impact players last season as freshmen. Dabo Swinney even dipped into the portal, adding Tristan Smith, who starred in Clemson’s spring game in April.

One other note on that Week 1 meeting: A win would be LSU’s first to open the season since 2019, when it went on to win a national championship behind Joe Burrow, who won the Heisman and was drafted first overall the following April. Oh, and the team they beat that year? Clemson, and Trevor Lawrence, who went first overall a year later.

The SEC’s (Other) Three: LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina, DJ Lagway, Florida and John Mateer, Oklahoma

Sellers was anything but a household name this time last year, but an outstanding season in his first year as a starter catapulted South Carolina from SEC afterthought to the brink of the playoffs. He comes into this year with perhaps more momentum than any other Heisman candidate, after the Gamecocks finished 2024 on a six-game winning streak – a stretch where he threw for 12 touchdowns and rushed for three more.

If Sellers has the most tantalizing all-around skill set in the conference, then Lagway isn’t far behind. The Gators weathered a near-impossible schedule last season, finishing with wins over LSU and Ole Miss behind Lagway, who threw 12 touchdown passes and won six of his seven starts as a true freshman.

What stood out, though, was Lagway’s blend of strength and accuracy. He led all FBS passers with a 52.8 completion percentage on throws of 20-plus yards downfield, completing 19 of 36 attempts for 733 yards and five touchdowns. Injuries are a concern, though – Lagway missed a game last season with a hamstring injury, sat out Florida’s spring program with a shoulder injury, then battled a calf injury at the opening of fall camp.

Mateer was a dynamic dual threat last season at Washington State following Cam Ward’s transfer to Miami, finishing with nearly 4,000 total yards and 44 total touchdowns (29 passing, 15 rushing). Like Ward, he’s stepping onto a bigger stage, shifting to an Oklahoma team that never got its feet off the ground last year in its first tour through the SEC.

The Big Ten’s best, and the five-stars: Drew Allar, Penn State, Julian Sayin, Ohio State and Bryce Underwood, Michigan

Allar’s 2024 season was memorable for all the wrong reasons – in particular, an ill-advised, untimely interception that led to Penn State’s loss to Notre Dame in the playoff semifinal, as well as a rather pedestrian performance in a loss to Ohio State at Happy Valley in November.

But Allar was otherwise efficient, completing 66.5 per cent of his passes – an increase of 6.6 per cent over his sophomore season – while showing the ability to make plays with legs as well.

Allar is experienced, with a 23-6 record over parts of three seasons as a starter, but is plagued by that same critique that’s attached to head coach James Franklin: an inability to win the big one. Allar is 0-5 in his career against teams ranked in the Top 10, with his other loss coming against 11th-ranked Ole Miss at the Peach Bowl two seasons ago.

And what about those perennial contenders, the ones Penn State can’t get over the hump against?

Ohio State has a new look at quarterback, with true sophomore Julian Sayin stepping in place of Will Howard following last year’s national championship. Sayin had an up-and-down spring, but retained the inside track on the Buckeyes’ starting spot and has the benefit of one of college football’s best supporting casts, which includes other-worldly wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. He’ll also get a chance to assert his Heisman bid right off the bat, with that meeting against Manning and Texas in Week 1.

At Michigan, there’s optimism following a lost season in 2024. Uber-talented recruit Bryce Underwood steps in as the starter, a year after Davis Warren, Alex Orji and Jack Tuttle combined for just 1,655 passing yards. Winning the Heisman. might be an extreme long shot –  if Underwood does, he’d be the first true freshman in history to win it – but if nothing else, the Wolverines have upside at a position that was their downfall last season.

A couple other notes regarding first-year quarterbacks: only four have won 10-plus games in a season as a true freshman – a group that includes Jalen Hurts, as well as Lawrence, who led Clemson to a national title in 2018. Sixteen have won that many games as redshirt freshmen, including Heisman winners Johnny Manziel and Jameis Winston, and a pair that reached the playoff last year – Nico Iamaleava and Sam Leavitt.

The phenom: Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State

You can’t talk about college football’s most prestigious award without mentioning the most electrifying player in the sport.

Last year as a true freshman, Smith filled the void left by Marvin Harrison Jr., smashing first-year receiving records and saving his best for the playoffs, where he was prolific in blowout wins over Tennessee (103 yards, two touchdowns) and Oregon (187 yards, two touchdowns) and had 88 yards and a score in Ohio State’s win over Notre Dame in the national championship.

When the smoke cleared, Smith’s numbers were staggering: 76 catches, 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns in 16 games.

This year, he could factor in even more prominently in the Buckeyes’ offence, after the departure of fellow receiver Emeka Egbuka for the NFL. And the Heisman – considered, for the most part, a quarterback award since the turn of the century – could end up back in the hands of a pass-catcher for the second straight time, after Hunter outlasted Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty a season ago.

One other playmaker to keep an eye on: Alabama wide receiver Ryan Williams, whose twisting, turning, game-clinching touchdown against Georgia last October was one of the viral moments of 2024. After reclassifying a year forward, Williams starred as a 17-year-old, catching 48 passes and leading the Crimson Tide in receiving yards (865) and receiving touchdowns (eight).