NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. — The conference champions are in the books now we have the Heisman coming up. This Heisman race will be closer than you think as we have our four finalists attempting to hear their name to be on the next Heisman Trophy.
Starting with Bryce Young, as he has been the most consistent performer all year. The bounce back performance he had against Georgia in the SEC Championship certainly gained him some votes even after the shaky performance against in-state rival Auburn.
43 touchdown passes compared to four Interceptions makes Young the favorite, and to add another Alabama player to the mix as recently as Devanta Smith from 2020. Alabama is poised for another national championship run and having a polished quarterback like Young makes it easier for Alabama to win two more games.
With the SEC being the major conference of college football, I expect him to win it.
Aiden Hutchinson looks to follow in the footsteps of Charles Woodson and Desmond Howard as notable Heisman winners from Michigan.
What makes Hutchinson unique is that he’s the star defensive player of the bunch going against three quarterbacks. He has something that Tom Brady couldn’t even do at Michigan, and that’s being in the running for the Heisman. Hutchinson turned in some clutch performances against Michigan and Iowa in back-to-back weeks to give Michigan a shot at the College Football Playoff.
With his stellar performances Jim Harbaugh has the monkey off his back for at least a year or two more. Michigan always seems to develop talent as most of the 4- or 5-star recruits prefer to go elsewhere.
Could the nomination of Hutchinson turn some future commits to go to Michigan instead of Ohio State?
We’ll see, don’t be surprised if you see more votes than normal for someone like Aiden Hutchinson, although it may not be enough, he’s worth a look especially going against some of those offensive lines in 2021 getting to the QB 13 ½ times.
CJ Stroud played exceptionally well following Justin Fields as another Ohio State Quarterback to excel in Big 10 play. From the first game in Minnesota to the final game in the Big House, Stroud came up with 38 Touchdowns vs. five interceptions.
The biggest thing that hurt Stroud was the loss to Michigan. If Stroud would have beaten both Michigan and Iowa in the Big 10 Championship, then perhaps we’re having a different conversation on how we rank CJ Stroud.
Expect Stroud to be a finalist in 2022, barring no major injuries.
The Pittsburgh Panthers are ACC Conference Champions for the first time since joining the conference in 2013. You can thank Kenny Pickett for that. The ACC wasn’t the strongest conference, but throwing 42 touchdowns took many of us by surprise especially with his previous high being on 13.
You can’t fault the effort Pickett left on the field in losses to both Miami and Western Michigan.
However, don’t expect Pickett to follow Tony Dorsett coming out of Pittsburgh for the upcoming Heisman this year.
The Heisman Predicted Order of Finish
Bryce Young, QB, Alabama
Aiden Hutchinson, DE, Michigan
CJ Stroud, QB, Ohio State
Kenny Pickett, QB, Pittsburgh