Heisman Trophy Frontrunners After College Football Week 12

With two full regular-season weeks and Championship Saturday remaining, the 2024 Heisman Trophy race heads into crunch time with four front-runners vying for a spot in college football’s exclusive club.

Quarterbacks of national championship hopefuls predictably factor into the Heisman competition, with Miami’s Cam Ward and Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel among the primary quartet. But with Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty, a non-Power Five conference star, and Colorado two-way sensation Travis Hunter, this year’s race offers more intriguing storylines than some of the quarterback-heavy classes of finalists.

The following comes with the necessary caveat that three games can feel like a lifetime in the pursuit of the Heisman. A current outsider could deliver monster performances in the coming weeks and gain ground among the fickle voting population. Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart, whose team is in College Football Playoff contention, is a name to remember.

Based on their resumes through Week 12, the Heisman favorites rank in this order:

4. Dillon Gabriel

Everywhere Gabriel’s gone—from UCF to Oklahoma and now to Oregon—he’s excelled. He’s eclipsed 3,000 yards passing for the fifth time in his career and has done so in 2024 while completing a career-high 73.8 percent of his attempts.

As quarterback of the No. 1-ranked team in the country, Gabriel’s positioning as a Heisman contender is expected. But part of the reason the Ducks are in the hunt for a national championship also works against Gabriel’s Heisman case.

Sharing the backfield with outstanding ball carrier Jordan James and operating in a balanced offense, Gabriel hasn’t had to put up eye-popping numbers for Oregon to win. His 22 passing touchdowns and six rushing scores are impressive but may not sway Heisman voters in an era when quarterbacks routinely put up 40 touchdowns.

3. Cam Ward

The qualities that might cost Gabriel Heisman votes but help make Oregon a national title contender are the very things that boost Ward’s Heisman candidacy. Miami’s in the hunt for the Playoff thanks in no small part to Ward’s individual heroics.

In three consecutive one-score wins over Virginia Tech, Cal, and Louisville, Ward passed for 343, 437, and 319 yards with 10 combined touchdowns. That remarkable stretch is the backbone of Ward’s nation-leading numbers in passing yards (3,494), yards per game (349.4), and touchdown passes (32).

Ward’s numbers were no less impressive in defeat. He racked up 348 yards and three touchdowns without an interception in a loss to Georgia Tech.

The Washington State transfer by way of Incarnate Word has come a long way from running the Wing-T in high school. His is a great story, but it isn’t the best Heisman candidacy in this year’s class.

2. Travis Hunter

There have been a handful of dual-role Heisman winners in the award’s illustrious history, but none have ever played on both sides of the ball as much—or as effectively—as Colorado wide receiver-cornerback Travis Hunter.

While impressive, neither his 911 yards on 74 catches with nine touchdowns nor his eight pass breakups and three interceptions are Heisman-worthy on their own. Combined, however, Hunter is having an unprecedented season.

Hunter also benefits from hype, an undeniable factor in any Heisman race. Various oddsmakers have the Buffs’ two-way star as the favorite through Week 12, media personalities like Shannon Sharpe have stumped for him, and Hunter used an appearance on Robert Griffin III’s podcast to tout his candidacy at fellow contender Ashton Jeanty’s expense.

Hunter’s logic was specious: he posited a hypothetical about how many yards he’d have on 95 receptions (the number of carries Jeanty had at the time). At his current pace of 12.3 yards per catch, the answer to that is a solid 1,169—almost 700 yards shy of DeVonta Smith’s 1,856 when he became the last receiver to win the Heisman in 2020.

And, applying Hunter’s ground rules based on usage, the receiver/cornerback has been on the field for 519 snaps—almost exactly double the number of carries Jeanty has logged for Boise State.

Hunter has a worthy Heisman case on its own merits, but getting into the Jeanty debates invites comparisons that objectively favor the BSU running back.

1. Ashton Jeanty

It’s taken Ashton Jeanty 10 games to surpass the complete-season rushing champions of the previous four seasons. Although this ranking is based on production through Week 12, it’s worth noting that Jeanty will almost certainly surpass the 2,000-yard mark in Week 13 with presumably two more games before Heisman weekend.

Jeanty’s pursuit of Barry Sanders’ record is likely to fall short, though that only serves to underscore just how sensational Sanders was in 1988. Among other all-time great seasons for running backs, Jeanty has already outproduced Heisman winners like Eddie George and Reggie Bush and is well on pace to surpass Ricky Williams and Rashaan Salaam.

Lest anyone disparage Jeanty’s output on the level of competition, he rushed for 192 yards and three touchdowns against the nation’s No. 1-ranked team, Oregon. In his worst game, he rushed for 128 yards. In contrast, Hunter had back-to-back games (vs. Kansas State, at Arizona) of three receptions for 26 yards and two catches for 17 yards with no pass break-ups or interceptions.

In this Heisman class—and among all running backs since Sanders set an impossibly high bar for the position 36 years ago—Ashton Jeanty stands out.