Colorado Buffaloes receiver/defensive back Travis Hunter and Boise State Broncos running back Ashton Jeanty are two names that have drifted near the top of the Heisman Trophy betting chart, and experts at the top-rated sportsbooks agree they could be top contenders by the end of the season.
Only Quarterbacks Win Heisman’s, Right?
If you are inclined to wager on the Heisman Trophy Award winner, you would be wise to consider that quarterbacks win the majority of the time. However, it is not unheard of for another positional player to win it, as we most recently saw in 2020 when Alabama’s wide receiver, DeVonta Smith, captured the award.
Before Smith, the last non-quarterback to take home the hardware was another Alabama superstar, running back Derrick Henry. It appears every five or so years we see another positional player win college football’s most prestigious award.
Although the current streak of Heisman quarterbacks could continue this year with Bama’s Jalen Milroe (+200) and Miami’s Cam Ward (+500) in the running as the oddsmakers’ top two choices, we have seen two other non-quarterbacks emerging as contenders to this year’s throne: Colorado’s Travis Hunter (+700) and Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty (+1100).
The Remarkable Travis Hunter
Colorado’s Travis Hunter is a multidimensional talent that college football hasn’t seen in decades. Hunter is as electric a wide receiver as he is prolific at cornerback. And the man coaching him, Deion Sanders, is one of the few who could play both ways in preternatural fashion and even did it, to a certain extent, in the NFL.
The one drawback is that a Heisman Trophy winner has not come from an unranked team since 1969, when Steve Owens out of Oklahoma did it. That is a long drought, but if the Buffaloes, currently 4-1, continue to pile up the wins, Travis Hunter will have an even better chance of becoming the first player from Colorado since 1994 (running back Rashaan Salaam) to capture college football’s most coveted personal award.
Hunters’ odds at Fanatics have plummeted from +6,000 in the preseason to +360 after Colorado’s 48-21 win over UCF last week, in which Hunter had nine receptions for 89 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
Historic Feat
Max Meyer, the senior editor at Fanatics Sportsbook, talked about both players recently.
“The Heisman has mostly been a quarterback award, but what Hunter and Jeanty have accomplished so far is absolutely remarkable,” said Meyer. “I think the difference is that Hunter is doing something that we’ve never seen before by playing elite football at two different positions. Jeanty probably would need to break Barry Sanders’ seemingly unbreakable single-season rushing yards record to have a strong chance.”
Could Jeanty Break Barry’s Record?
Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty has 845 rushing yards on a stunning 10.3 yards per carry average, along with 13 rushing touchdowns after just four games. Jeanty is on pace for 2,535 rushing yards in 12 games, which puts him within spitting distance of Barry Sanders’ all-time rushing mark of 2,628 that he set at Oklahoma State in 1988.
Joey Feazel, Caesars‘ head of football operations, said, “One of the best running backs in college football that we have seen in quite a while. Despite playing for Boise State, which isn’t regularly featured on national television, Jeanty has caught the eye of some bettors with his monstrous performance every week. If Jeanty can continue to dominate the running game and put up 200-plus yards each week, it will be hard to deny him the Heisman Trophy.”
