By FanDuel has Southern Cal quarterback Caleb Williams installed as the +400 ‘chalk’ to become the second player in college football history to win a second Heisman Trophy. Ohio State running back Archie Griffin won back-to-back Heismans in 1974 and ’75.
In 14 games for the Trojans this season, Williams completed 66.6 percent of his passes for 4,537 yards with a 42/5 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He also had 382 rushing yards and 10 TDs.
Lincoln Riley’s squad is losing Williams’s top target in WR Jordan Addison, but USC has two five-star recruits coming in at WR in Zachariah Branch and Makal Lemon. Branch, a product of Bishop Gorman’s powerhouse program in Las Vegas, is the nation’s fifth-best overall player and top WR at 247Sports.
The Trojans have also added a WR out of the transfer portal in Dorian Singer, a four-star transfer who spent last season at Arizona. Singer had 66 receptions for 1,105 yards and six TDs in 12 games for the Wildcats.
North Carolina QB Drake Maye has the second-shortest odds to win the Heisman at +1000 (or 10/1). The next-shortest odds belong to Washington QB Michael Penix (12/1), Oregon QB Bo Nix (12/1), FSU QB Jordan Travis (12/1), Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman (18/1), Penn St. QB Drew Allar (20/1), LSU QB Jayden Daniels (20/1), Tennessee QB Joe Milton (20/1), Clemson QB Cade Klubnik (25/1) and Texas QB Quinn Ewers (25/1).
Maye enjoyed a breakout campaign for the Tar Heels. He connected on 66.2 percent of his throws for 4,321 yards with a 38/7 TD-INT ratio. Maye also ran for 698 yards and seven TDs.
Maye is going to miss his top WR in Josh Downs, who had 94 catches for 1,029 yards and 11 TDs despite missing three games with an injury. UNC has added a pair of WRs out of the portal Nate McCollum (Ga. Tech) and Devontez Walker (Kent St.). The Tar Heels also have two four-star WRs entering their true freshman seasons in Chris Culliver (No. 202 overall player and No. 28 WR at 247Sports) and Christian Hamilton (No. 352 overall and No. 49 WR).
In 11 games in 2022, McCollum had 60 catches for 655 yards and three TDs for the Yellow Jackets. He also produced 56 rushing yards and one TD on six attempts (9.3 YPC). In 12 games at Kent St., Walker had had 58 receptions for 921 yards and 11 TDs. He also ran for 29 yards and one TD on three carries (9.7 YPC).
Penix finally stayed healthy for a full season in 2022 at Washington. In 13 games, he completed 65.3 percent of his passes for 4,641 yards with a 31/8 TD-INT ratio. Penix has a 60/23 career TD-INT ratio and 10 rushing scores.
Nix had a career-best campaign at Oregon after transferring from Auburn, where he started 34 games from 2019-21. He connected on 71.9 percent of his throws for 3,593 yards with a 29/7 TD-INT ratio. Nix also ran for 510 yards and 14 TDs while averaging 5.7 yards per carry. He also had two catches for 36 yards and one TD.
Travis led FSU to its first winning season since 2017 this past year. He completed 64.0 percent of his passes for 3,214 yards with a 24/5 TD-INT ratio. Travis added 417 rushing yards and seven TDs for a 5.1 YPC average.
Hartman arrives at Notre Dame after a stellar five-year run at Wake Forest. In 48 career games for the Demon Deacons, he’s completed 59.1 percent of his passes for 12,967 yards with a 110/41 TD-INT ratio. Hartman, who shattered all of Riley Skinner’s program records, also has 856 career rushing yards and 17 TDs.
As for players with longer odds than 25/1, there’s Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy (30/1), Georgia QB Brock Vandagriff (30/1), Michigan RB Blake Corum (30/1), UGA QB Carson Beck (40/1), Alabama QB Ty Simpson (40/1), Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel (40/1), Penn St. RB Nick Singleton (50/1), Nebraska QB Jeff Sims (50/1) and Ohio St. WR Marvin Harrison Jr. (50/1).
Six players share 60/1 odds, including Ole Miss RB Quinshon Jenkins, Arkansas QB KJ Jefferson, Ohio St. RB TreVeyon Henderson, Utah QB Cam Rising, Clemson RB Will Shipley and Alabama QB Jalen Milroe.
Other notable names on the board include South Carolina QB Spencer Rattler (80/1), Kentucky QB Devin Leary (80/1), Texas QB Arch Manning (80/1), Arkansas RB Rocket Sanders (100/1), Kansas St. QB Will Howard (120/1), Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa (120/1), NC St. QB Brennan Armstrong (150/1), LSU LB Harold Perkins (150/1), Georgia WR Dominick Lovett (150/1), Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders (150/1), Georgia TE (150/1), Duke QB Riley Leonard (200/1), UTSA QB Frank Harris (200/1), Coastal Carolina QB Grayson McCall (250/1), Tulane QB Michael Pratt (400/1) and Colorado DB Travis Hunter (400/1).
