By Apollo Lundin
The Heisman Trophy is the most prestigious award in college football, given to the country’s most outstanding player. The award has been dominated by quarterbacks recently, as over the last 25 years only five winners have not played a different position. Although all but this year’s Heisman winners have been quarterbacks over the previous four years, not all were top-ranked prospects.
Travis Hunter
WR/CB, Colorado
Hunter is a very unique player. Coming out of high school, he was the consensus number-one ranked recruit in the 2022 recruiting class out of Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, GA. Hunter committed to Florida State before flipping his commitment to Deion Sanders and FCS Jackson State on signing day. This commitment made Hunter the highest-ranked commit for Jackson State, the FCS, and an HBCU.
As a freshman at Jackson State, Hunter missed five games due to injury but tallied 18 catches for 190 yards and four touchdowns. Defensively, Hunter added 19 tackles, 15 solo tackles, eight pass deflections, two interceptions, and one touchdown.
As a sophomore, Travis Hunter followed Coach Prime to Colorado, where he tallied 721 yards and five touchdowns with 57 catches on offense, adding three interceptions, five deflections, and 23 solo tackles (31 total tackles) on defense.
In his Junior, Heisman-winning season, Hunter tallied 92 receptions for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns, adding his first career rushing touchdown and five rushing yards. Defensively, Hunter tallied 30 total tackles, including 20 solo tackles, 11 deflections, four interceptions, and a forced fumble.
NFL teams see his elite upside on both offense and defense, making him a projected top-five pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
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Jayden Daniels
QB, LSU
A four-star recruit coming out of Cajon High School in San Bernadino, CA, Jayden Daniels committed to the Arizona State Sun Devils, becoming the first freshman in Sun Devils’ history to start in the season opener. Through three seasons at ASU, Daniels tallied just over 6,000 yards, 32 touchdowns, 13 interceptions (10 coming his final year), and a 62% completion rate. Daniels added just under 1,300 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground over his ASU career before transferring to LSU for the start of the 2022 season.
In his first season at LSU, Daniels posted 2,913 passing yards, 17 touchdowns, only three interceptions, and a 68.6% completion rate. On the ground, Daniels added 11 touchdowns, 885 yards, and had a five-yard catch for a touchdown.
Jayden Daniels exploded during his Heisman-winning senior season in 2023. Daniels posted 40 touchdowns to four interceptions, 3,812 yards passing, and a 72.2% completion percentage. Daniels added 1,134 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground, including an average of 94.5 rushing yards per game.
Daniels was the second overall pick to the Washington Commanders in the 2024 NFL draft.
Caleb Williams
QB, USC
Caleb Williams was a five-star recruit coming out of Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C., ranked in the top eight in every major recruiting outlet, and the top-ranked Quarterback, committed to Lincoln Riley and Oklahoma. Williams did not start for Oklahoma until their fifth game of his freshman season. At Oklahoma, the 6’1″ quarterback tallied 1,912 yards, 21 touchdowns, a 64.5% completion rate, and threw four touchdowns. Williams added 79 yards and six touchdowns rushing before transferring to USC for his sophomore season, following Riley.
Williams’ sophomore season ended with him winning the Heisman Trophy. His Heisman-winning campaign held tallies of 4,537 passing yards, 42 touchdowns, only five interceptions, and a 66% completion rate. Williams added 382 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground, leading the team to an 11-3 record.
For USC, Caleb Williams’ junior season was disappointing, as the Trojans finished with a 7-5 record. Williams tallied 3,633 passing yards, only threw five interceptions, and threw for 30 touchdowns. Williams added 142 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground before declaring for the draft.
Caleb Williams was the first overall pick by the Chicago Bears in the 2024 NFL draft.
Bryce Young
QB, Alabama
Bryce Young was a five-star, top-ranked Quarterback prospect coming out of Mater Dei High School in California in the 2020 recruiting class, committing to Alabama. Young sat behind Mac Jones, the 15th pick in the 2020 NFL draft, his freshman year. Young still appeared in eight games, tallying 156 yards and one touchdown in limited appearances. Still, Young got a front-row seat to Alabama’s 2020 national championship.
Young exploded for his sophomore, Heisman-winning season, tallying 4,872 passing yards, 47 touchdowns, and seven interceptions with three rushing touchdowns, leading the Crimson Tide to become SEC champions and a National Championship appearance.
Bryce Young finished sixth in Heisman voting his junior season. Young tallied 3,328 yards, 32 touchdowns, and five interceptions while adding 185 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Alabama finished the 2022 season as Sugar Bowl champions, with Young declaring for the NFL draft after the season ended.
Bryce Young was the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft by the Carolina Panthers.
