It is never too early to start looking at the college football season. Future bets are always a fun way to have anxiety the whole season and regret making the bets. Nothing says sweating out the whole summer like picking the player with +3700 odds to win the Heisman even though their team is projected to go 8-4 this season. Nonetheless, we are going to look at some players with odds worse than +2000 to win the Heisman for this upcoming season. All of the odds are provided by FanDuel.
Drew Allar, Penn State Quarterback (Odds: +2500) – The Heisman is a quarterback driven award and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. One of the quarterbacks enter the season with the most hype is Drew Allar. He is a former five star quarterback and is the odds on favorite to win the starting job at Penn State. Penn State fans could potentially argue Nick Singleton or Kayton Allen could be better picks here but the duo is likely to split carries and yardage and touchdowns from each other. Allar has the most raw talent at the quarterback position since Christian Hackenberg. Penn State’s receiving core is a mystery with boom or bust potential. Allar will need them to step up if he is going to have a shot at the award or obtaining larger team aspirations this season. He may not win the award in 2023 but will likely be considered a favorite heading into 2024.
Marvin Harrison Jr, Ohio State Wide Receiver (Odds: +3000) – A wide receiving winning the Heisman is nearly impossible but Devonta Smith proved it is still possible. Harrison is the next great Ohio State receiver and has the blood of one of the NFL’s all-time greats. Harrison finished as the runner up for the Biletnikoff Award and is the current odds on favorite. The Buckeyes are breaking in a new quarterback this year with the favorite being Harrison’s high school quarterback. Kyle McCord and Harrison enrolled at Ohio State together after winning a state championship their senior season. McCord will likely lean heavily on Harrison resulting in increased usage for this season. Smith registered 1,835 yards and 24 touchdowns in his Heisman season in 13 games so Harrison knows the benchmark.
Will Shipley, Clemson Running Back (Odds: +6500) – A running back has not won the award since 2015 when Derrick Henry rushed for over 2,200 yards and 28 touchdowns. Will Shipley has shown explosive playmaking ability over the past two seasons at Clemson. He will be the number one playmaker for the Tigers as they start a new quarterback this season. The biggest issue for Shipley has been his health. He has suffered numerous injuries over the past two seasons limiting his playmaking ability. Staying healthy is always a concern for running backs due to the beating they take over the course of a season. Even in limited capacity, Shipley still finished with over 1,500 total yards and 15 touchdowns last season. He will need to top 2,000 total yards and 20 touchdowns in order to give himself a reasonable shot at the award.
Tanner Mordecai, Wisconsin Quarterback (Odds: +12,000) – “Walk-On Redshirts, you guys are so dumb. Wisconsin is a power run team. There is no way a Wisconsin quarterback wins this award.” Now hold on. Take a look at how Wisconsin has revamped in the past year since Luke Fickell took over a few months ago. Wisconsin hired Phil Longo as their offensive coordinator from North Carolina who had one of the best passing attacks in the country last year. Mordecai has been one of the more underrated quarterbacks of the past two seasons throwing 72 touchdowns and only 22 interceptions while leading SMU. He is going to have the opportunity to shine in the Big Ten with games against Washington State, Iowa, Ohio State and Purdue. Teams will also need to focus their efforts on Braelon Allen opening up the passing attack for Mordecai.
Harold Perkins, LSU Linebacker (Odds: +15,000) – Oh, you want a defensive player to bet on? By all means, waste your money but let’s talk about it. Charles Woodson is the only defensive player to win a Heisman in the last 50 years. Players such as Aidan Hutchinson, Chase Young, Manti Te’o and Ndamukong Suh have all been close but none have come away with the hardware. A day will come when another defensive player wins the Heisman. They will need to be dominant and a gamechanger on the defensive side of the ball. Perkins had a stellar freshman season and was arguably the best player on the LSU team. He registered 72 tackles, 13.0 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, four forced fumbles and one interception. Perkins will be one of the best players in the country but can he put up the tangible stats in order to obtain the votes needed to win the award?
The Walk-On Redshirts 