12 Heisman Contenders

The college football season has completed roughly a third of their games and it’s time to start figuring out who the Heisman contenders are.  While I would like to be fair all the other contenders, as of right now the Heisman is Geno Smiths to lose.  Smith has looked impressive in all four of West Virginia games.  His stats are ridiculous and this past weekend he seemed video game esq. Smith threw 8 touchdowns, that’s right I said 8.  He had more touchdowns than incompletions, only allowing six of his 51 passes to hit the ground.  He hasn’t thrown an interception and has shown a ton of athleticism.  Through only four games Geno Smith have thrown the ball 169 times with 20 of the passes resulting in touchdowns and only throwing 28 incompletions, those are insane numbers.

The Mountaineers head into Austin this week for another shoot out with the Longhorns.  Geno still has three ranked opponents left to showcase his passing ability.  Next, I feel like you have to look at De’Anthony Thomas.  The kid is a human highlight reel, and is multi-versatile.  He averages 9.7 yards a rush and 10.2 yards a reception, oh yea and he returns punts.  The Sophmore running back has eight touchdowns already.  But in his last game he was pretty much shutdown, held to only 54 total yards and a touchdown. Thomas will need some big games in that a tough conference in order to have a chance of catching Smith, but with his ability and that offensive machine in Eugene, he has a chance.

My third player I think in the running would still be Matt Barkley.  I know he struggled against Stanford but I am giving him the benefit of the doubt.  While I am aware that Barkley has more interceptions than touchdowns in his last two games, lets not forget what he did in his first two games.  With big games coming up in a tough conference and the Irish at the end of the season, Barkley  has the talent and opportunity to put on a show.

Lastly, I feel that you have to consider ( and not only do I think I’m nuts for writing this, I could be way off base) Manti Te’o.  Manti leads one of the nations top defenses at his linebacker position.  He has three interceptions and has looked sound in coverage and incredible against the run.  The kid has also overcome a bunch of adversity off the field and it hasn’t effected his play in the least.  Te’o and his Irish have one of the toughest schedules in the nation and with big games against Stanford, Oklahoma, and USC, he will have his chance in the spotlight to prove why he deserves to be considered for the Heisman.

Now with all that said, something drastic needs to happen in order for Geno Smith not to win the Heisman in my opinion.  He does play in the Big 12, which if you haven’t noticed doesn’t have a team that looks like they can play a lick of defense.  Geno’s stats should continue to stay impressive and his accuracy leads me to believe he shouldn’t throw many interceptions this season.  I think his biggest competition for the honor lays in Oregon with De’Anthony Thomas.  I just feel like his ability to be a game-changer in so many different aspects gives him the opportunity to make a push against Geno.  That’s just my opinion through the first 5 weeks of the season. Feel free to let me know who you think could take home this years Heisman.