College Football: This is not the year for a quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy

• There are only two picks for the Heisman Trophy: As of right now, Colorado wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter and Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty are the clear top two players in college football.

• Each is having a historic season: Jeanty’s numbers are on pace to break almost every rushing record while Hunter is the greatest two-way star ever.

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Estimated reading time: 14 minutes

The highest individual honor in the NFL is the MVP trophy. By definition, that award goes to the “most valuable player.” Therefore, it makes sense that the last 11 winners have been quarterbacks. They’re not only the most valuable players in football but in all of team sports. According to PFF’s wins above replacement stat, the most valuable NFL quarterback in 2023 was nearly four times more valuable than the top non-quarterback. In fact, 20 signal-callers in total posted a higher WAR than the best non-quarterback. 

The Heisman Trophy, the preeminent individual award in college football, also mostly goes to quarterbacks. Only four of the 24 winners this century came from positions outside of that position. But unlike the MVP trophy, the Heisman goes out to “the most outstanding player in college football,” not necessarily the most valuable, although the two often coincide. 

That’s not the case this year. Colorado wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter and Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty have far and away been the two most outstanding players in the country because they’re each having historic seasons.

Hunter is quite simply the greatest two-way player college football has ever seen. The junior has been a true ironman for the Buffaloes, playing 920 snaps in eight games which averages out to 115 a week. For reference, the snap minimum we set for any given week is 25 since that’s normally what a key contributor would play. That sort of workload would exhaust practically any other player, which would in turn lead to poor results on the field. Hunter isn’t just performing at an admirable level both ways, he’s playing like a superstar at both positions. 

Hunter’s eight receiving touchdowns are tied for second in the Power Four while his 757 receiving yards are sixth. 

He has nine coverage stops on the season, tied for third among Power Four corners. The junior also has two interceptions and four forced incompletions on the year with just a 40.5 passer rating surrendered into his coverage. Spiking the ball every play yields a 39.6 rating.

Hunter’s 86.8 receiving grade trails only Ole Miss’ Tre Harris among Power Four wideouts and is fourth nationally. His 88.7 coverage grade is also fourth among FBS cornerbacks.

Let that sink in for a second. A player who is playing at least double the snap count of a normal starter is grading out as at least a top-five player at two separate positions on completely different sides of the ball. 

Travis Hunter is the greatest two-way player college football has ever seen. pic.twitter.com/PENyszu2Qy

— Max Chadwick (@CFBMaxChadwick) October 29, 2024

Normally, that’d be enough to run away with the Heisman Trophy. Except for the fact that there’s a running back in Idaho who’s challenging Barry Sanders’ historic 1988 season. Ashton Jeanty is on pace to smash nearly every rushing record in the book through seven games.

Ashton Jeanty’s historic first seven games of the season:

*Since PFF began charting college football in 2014

That season-long pace only accounts for the regular season, so Sanders’ records could be in even more danger when considering Jeanty could play two or more games in the postseason. 

For those disregarding his video game numbers due to the level of competition in the Mountain West, remember that he ran for 192 yards and three touchdowns against top-ranked Oregon in Week 2. 

Even with those two putting up historic years in their own right, the betting odds still give the top quarterbacks a great chance at taking home the stiff-arm trophy.

Current Heisman odds (via DraftKings Sportsbook):

While this is by no means discrediting the terrific years that Gabriel and Ward are each having, they’re not quite putting up monumental seasons like Cam Newton in 2010 or Joe Burrow in 2019. 

On the flip side, Hunter and Jeanty are posting all-time years. If these two keep this pace up for the rest of the season, they should be the only choices for the Heisman Trophy. 

That is, if you’re truly looking for “the most outstanding player in college football”.