Every year, college football players compete their hardest in hopes of winning college football’s most prestigious award, the Heisman Trophy. This year, there are 5 Heisman hopefuls that we are going to focus on. Firstly is Ohio State’s running back, Ezekiel Elliott; another is Leonard Fournette, the running back from LSU. There is also Trevone Boykin, the quarterback from TCU, and Dak Prescott, another quarterback from Mississippi State. Finally, there is Dalvin Cook, the running back from Florida State. Usually, the majority of the Heisman candidates are quarterbacks, but this year, we have seen an increase in the dominance of running backs. Although these are not the final candidates for the Heisman, there is no denying that these players have been the most dominant throughout this half of the season.
Our top 3 picks to take the Heisman are Fournette, Prescott, and Boykin. Fournette has totalled 1202 yards and 14 TDs on 150 carries. Averaging 8 yards per carry with his longest rush of 87 yards, he is widely considered one of the best backs in college football. He propelled LSU to big wins over Auburn, Florida, South Carolina, Mississippi State. Boykin, the QB at TCU, has also had an incredible start to the season, throwing for 2539 yards, 25 TDs, and 5 picks. He’s been a very consistent QB, with his longest throw of 61 yards, and led TCU to a big win over Texas Tech. Prescott has thrown for 1700 yards and 11 TDs and a long of 59 yards. He has lead Mississippi State to big wins over Auburn and Southern Miss. He was one of two favorites for a QB to win the Heisman, and has certainly lived up to the hype.
Our two sleeper picks are Elliott and Booker. Elliott is the running back for last year’s national champions, Ohio State. Last year, Ezekiel was heavily featured in Ohio’s offense and had a fantastic year. This year, he has continued to play well. This year he is averaging 6.7 yards per carry, while last year he averaged 6.9 yards per carry. He is on pace to have another fantastic year, but is an underdog due to the other fantastic candidates. Another underdog candidate is Booker, the senior running back for Utah. He is averaging 5 yards per carry, which is fantastic for a running back, but this year other running backs are putting up incredible numbers. We took a poll at lunch on who students think will win the Heisman. These 50 students were all people who watch college football. 27 out of the 50, believed Fournette will win after a monstrous start with LSU. Prescott received eight, closely followed by Boykin with seven votes. Second to last was Elliott with five votes, followed by Booker with three votes. It is still very early in the season, and these candidates may change as the season progresses.
