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The 2021 college football season began with the likes of quarterbacks Spencer Rattler and D.J. Uiagalelei leading the Heisman Trophy odds. Instead, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young took home the hardware. Young became the second Bama player to win in two seasons, following Tide receiver Devonta Smith’s win in 2020.
Entering the 2022 season, there are a number of names that are frontrunners for the award. A lot of guys in the mix for the Heisman include transfers starting at new schools in 2022.
Some upperclassmen in the mix to win the award include Young, Texas RB Bijan Robinson, Wake Forest QB Sam Hartman, Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel, Oregon QB Bo Nix and Rattler, who transferred from OU to South Carolina.
But this piece will focus on the underclassmen with the best shot at winning the Heisman in 2022.
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The Buckeye quarterback had a stellar redshirt freshman season in 2021. In his first year as starting QB, Stroud threw for 4,435 yards, 44 touchdowns and just six interceptions.
Unsurprisingly, the QB was a Heisman finalist and ultimately finished fourth behind Bryce Young, Michigan’s Aidan Hutchinson and Pitt QB Kenny Pickett.
Although the Buckeyes missed out on the Big Ten title game and College Football Playoff last season, Ohio State finished 11-2.
They capped off the season with a thrilling 48-45 win over Utah in the Rose Bowl. Stroud had his best game of the season, throwing for 573 yards and a Rose Bowl-record six touchdowns.
Ohio State will return plenty of starters from 2021, especially on offense. The Buckeyes check in at 24th in returning production rankings per ESPN’s S&P+. Stroud will get his leading receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, running back TreVeyon Henderson and three of his starting offensive linemen back.
Stroud is second in early 2022 Heisman odds behind Young, and for good reason.
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Caleb Williams had an outstanding true freshman season at Oklahoma in 2021. Even more impressive is that he didn’t even become the starter until midway through the year. Williams began the season behind once-Heisman frontrunner Spencer Rattler.
Williams came off the bench for Rattler in the first half of OU’s game vs. Texas and led the Sooners to a come-from-behind 55-48 victory. It was Williams’ starting job from that game on, and he finished the year with 1,912 yards, 21 touchdowns and just four interceptions.
His best game of the season came against Texas Tech, where he threw for 402 yards and six touchdowns. Williams also set a school record for passing yards in a half (268 in the first) that game. His six touchdown passes were a single-game school record by a true freshman QB, as well.
In 2022, Williams will be playing for Lincoln Riley again, but the pair will both be at USC. Not long after Riley accepted the Trojans’ head coaching job, Williams announced his transfer to Southern Cal.
Another year in Riley’s system should help Williams post elite numbers en route to a potential Heisman-winning campaign.
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Like Caleb Williams, Quinn Ewers will look to find success at a new school in 2022. Ewers spent the 2021 season at Ohio State, where he sat behind C.J. Stroud.
Ewers arrived at Ohio State as a former 5-star QB prospect and the No. 1 overall player from the class of 2021. The QB out of Southlake, Texas, had his best season as a sophomore in 2019, throwing for 4,003 yards and 45 touchdowns with just three interceptions at Southlake Carroll.
Ewers has a good shot at winning the starting job in Austin in 2022. The Longhorns’ starter for most of last season, Casey Thompson, has since transferred to Nebraska, but Ewers won’t be the only signal-caller in the quarterback room. He will compete with redshirt sophomore Hudson Card and true freshman Maalik Murphy to be the starter.
Could Ewers be the quarterback to bring Texas back to national relevancy while bringing home the Heisman? That depends on if he wins the starting job first.
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Although C.J. Stroud gained more national recognition last season, Ohio State’s TreVeyon Handerson also had an incredible campaign. As a true freshman, Henderson finished with 1,255 yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground and added another 312 yards and four touchdowns through the air.
Henderson also broke Maurice Clarett’s OSU freshman record of 18 total touchdowns. Per Ohio State, Henderson is just the fourth true freshman running back in school history to rush for over 1,000 yards, as well.
He averaged 6.82 yards per carry, tied for 13th nationally. Most of Henderson’s production from last season came on long runs. Here’s more from Land-Grant Holy Land:
“If you look at Henderson’s game-by-game production in 2021, you’ll see that a lot of his yardage, and much of his fantastic 6.8 yards-per-carry average, came from long runs – big plays. The 54-yard run against Tulsa, 44 against Rutgers, 68 against Penn State, 57 against Purdue. It’s Henderson’s big-play capability that makes him great.“
Should Henderson win the Heisman, he would become the first Ohio State running back to take home the award since Eddie George in 1995.
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New Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal already has a talented quarterback in place for 2022. Sophomore QB Tyler Van Dyke, who helped lead Miami to a 7-5 mark last season, will be back in 2022. The QB is a former 4-star prospect from the class of 2020 and was the No. 7 pro-style QB recruit, per 247Sports.
Van Dyke began the season behind redshirt senior D’Eriq King but was thrust into the starting role after King had season-ending shoulder surgery in early October.
The Canes’ QB didn’t shrivel in the spotlight, throwing for 2,931 yards, 25 touchdowns and just six interceptions in 10 games last season. He helped Miami finish 5-1 in the Canes’ past six games of the season and was named the ACC’s Rookie of the Year for his efforts.
Van Dyke has some talented pieces returning around him in 2022, including lead running back Jaylan Knighton. Miami also added Ole Miss transfer Henry Parrish Jr. to the backfield this offseason.
If Van Dyke can put Miami in the ACC Coastal title hunt in 2022 while putting up even better numbers, being a Heisman finalist isn’t too far-fetched.
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Like Quinn Ewers and Caleb Williams, Jaxson Dart will be wearing new threads in 2022. Dart played his true freshman season at USC, where he threw for 1,353 yards, nine touchdowns and five interceptions in six games for the Trojans while splitting starting duties with Kedon Slovis.
247Sports ranked Dart as a 4-star QB prospect from the class of 2021 and the No. 10 ranked quarterback.
Dart is the biggest name Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin landed this offseason, though Kiffin has made it clear that the QB position will have an open competition. Dart will compete with Ole Miss’ backup from last season, Luke Altmyer, as well as Kinkead Dent.
Should Dart take the starting role and win the Heisman, he would become the first player in Ole Miss history to do so.
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Wisconsin finished with the 22nd-ranked rushing offense in the country last season, thanks in large part to true freshman Braelon Allen. Allen arrived in Madison as a former 4-star prospect listed by 247Sports as a linebacker.
In seven games as a junior in high school, Allen recorded 1,039 rushing yards and 23 total touchdowns, including another 135 yards receiving. The running back was actually supposed to be in Wisconsin’s class of 2022 but reclassified and joined the Badgers in 2021 after graduating early.
Wisconsin fans are fortunate he did. As a true freshman, Allen rushed for 1,268 yards and 12 touchdowns, ranking 13th nationally in rushing yards per game. He also set a new freshman school record with seven consecutive games with over 100 yards on the ground—it’s especially impressive considering the program’s history of producing prolific tailbacks.
Allen’s spectacular season won him the Big Ten Offensive Freshman of the Year Award, and after putting up strong numbers as a true freshman, there’s no question he’s a Heisman candidate for 2022.
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Notre Dame will have a new quarterback in 2022, and Tyler Buchner will be competing for the starting job.
The sophomore appeared in 10 games last season as a backup to Jack Coan, recording 298 passing yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Buchner also added another 336 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
The Irish QB is a former 4-star prospect out of La Jolla, California, and was the no. 5-ranked prospect in the state in the 2021 recruiting class.
Buchner didn’t play football his senior year of high school due to COVID-19, so getting game experience in 2021 was key.
“What I see is a dude who can throw the ball,” ND head coach Marcus Freeman said of Buchner in Dec. 2021 via Rivals’ Patrick Engels. “He has a great release. He can put the ball in places I’ve not seen many do. We know he can escape. He has the ability to extend plays with his legs.”
Buchner will look to win the starting job next season over fellow backup Drew Pyne and true freshman Steve Angeli. If he can lead the Irish to a playoff bid in 2022, there’s a strong chance he’ll be in the mix for the Heisman, too.
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