With the 2015 season not far away, Heisman Trophy candidacy is starting to be debated, so here are five players – in no particular order – who I believe will be a part of the discussion all the way up to the announcement of the finalists in November:
Braxton Miller/Cardale Jones/T.J. Barrett (Quarterback, Ohio State)
Ladies and gentlemen, we’re set for perhaps the most epic quarterback duel in recent memory. Urban Meyer has to make a tough choice between three brilliant players, all of whom are proven performers in their own right, and all of whom could and would start at just about any other program in America.
Whoever comes out of the battle as presumptive starter – 2013 sensation Braxton Miller, his regular season replacement J.T. Barrett or Cardale Jones, who played three games in relief of the injured Barrett, and led the Bucks to a Big Ten Championship win, a defeat of top-ranked Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, and a National Championship Game win over a favoured Oregon team – is going to figure incredibly highly in pre-season Heisman Trophy buzz. It’s fair to say the toughest battle
All three guys are perfect fits for Meyer’s offence. Miller and Barrett use their legs to make shifty moves that make defenders look pretty silly, whilst Jones runs through and over players like a bull of a running back. They can all throw the football well – Jones, particularly, has a cannon for an arm. There’s no real weakness in any of the three players’ repertoires, either.
So, the Ohio State starting quarterback is going to have a good bunch of receivers and a strong offensive line in front of him. It’s a tantalising prospect, and whomever gets the nod is going to string up some great numbers. Without doubt, we’ll see the Buckeye signal-caller right in amongst the Heisman race.
Samaje Perine (Running Back, Oklahoma)
A giant guy, who can run through guys like they’re not even there, and not an easy guy for defenders to bring down. Perine (who set an FBS rushing record with 427 yards in a game against Kansas, beating the previous record set by Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon seven days before) was the bright spot of an otherwise uneven season for the Sooners last year. told, the freshman sensation ran for 1713 yards and twenty-one touchdowns. If he ticks upwards towards 2000 total yards, he’ll be right in the Heisman race.
Trevone Boykin (Quarterback, Texas Christian)
The Horned Frogs come into 2015 ranked third in the nation, and Boykin, for mine, is the guy to beat in the Heisman race. He threw for 3714 yards and thirty touchdowns last year, but that’s only half the story, because Boykin is a dual-threat quarterback, who ran for a shade over 600 yards, adding eight more touchdowns. If TCU remain inside the Top 5 all season, and Boykin improves upon those numbers, he’ll be hard to beat.
Cody Kessler (Quarterback, Southern California)
Living in the Leonard Williams/Nelson Agholor shadow, Kessler, thanks to some serious tutelage from head coach Steve Sarkisian, quietly put together an excellent season out west, throwing for 3826 yards and thirty-nine touchdowns. Those numbers are even better when you consider that he threw just five interceptions.
Kessler will no doubt be disappointed that Agholor is gone to the NFL, but this is USC, so he’s got enough other weapons – JuJu Smith and Adoree Jackson, for example – to throw to, and a few early big games from Kessler, and he’ll catch fire with Heisman buzz.
The problem with Kessler, for the most part, is that he plays a lot of his games late at night on the east coast, and, of course, the multitude of very good quarterbacks in the Pac-12 at the moment.
Ezekiel Elliott (Running Back, Ohio State)
Whichever of the three great Ohio State quarterbacks gets the starting nod is going to quickly find that one of their strongest competitors for the Heisman is going to come from their own sideline.
Elliott was a major part of Ohio State’s improbable and impressive run to a National Championship. He totalled 696 yards and eight touchdowns in the three-game stretch of Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship, Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and Oregon in the National Championship Game. Hard to imagine that Elliott won’t get even better this year.
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