It’s never too early to talk about next season so we will. Last season after Ashton Jeanty had an early lead in the opinion of many for the Heisman, he was overtaken by two-way star Travis Hunter. It’s highly unusual for a player to win the trophy when they aren’t primarily an offensive player but Hunter pulled it off. We don’t expect it to happen again this season. Let’s take a look at the five most likely candidates to walk out of New York in December with the trophy.
Top Five 2025 Heisman Trophy Contenders
Arch Manning
While this is Arch Manning’s first season as the starter, he’s already shown everyone in limited action why he has one of the most sought-after high school recruits in college football history.
Manning has all the tools to be great and he’s done and said all the right things while serving as the backup in Austin for the last two seasons. Not everyone with the amount of hype surrounding them would have conducted themselves like that. If the Longhorns remain in conference and national championship contention throughout the season, and we are confident they will, then Manning has a great chance to win the Heisman. He’ll get a chance early with the opener at defending champion Ohio State. A big game in that one and Manning will assume the role of early-season front-runner.
Jeremiah Smith
Speaking of the opener, stud receiver Jeremiah Smith now become a sophomore. He was only 17 when he initially suited up for the Buckeyes.
To be blunt, this guy is special. He was one of the best wide receivers in the country as a freshman and this was obvious early in his freshman season. The sky is the absolute limit for Smith. As a freshman, he caught 76 passes for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns with an average of 17.3 yards per catch. What? That’s insane.
The only real question isn’t about Smith but about who is going to throw him the ball and how quickly will they acclimate to the team. Julius Sayin is expected to be the starter but while he’s very talented and highly regarded, he is unproven at this point. For Smith to walk away with the hardware he needs to have a monster season statistically. He’s more than capable but can’t do it by himself.
Cade Klubnik
If the phrase “under the radar” was one word and you looked it up in the dictionary you would see a picture of Cade Klubnik. While he was thought of as an early-season contender for the 2024 Heisman Trophy, he quickly fell off the radar despite doing nothing to cause it to happen.
Last season Klubnik threw for 3,639 yards with 36 touchdowns and just six interceptions and for most of the season it seemed like nobody outside of Clemson, South Carolina was paying any attention to him. That won’t be the case again this year. He will need to have another big year and have the Tigers in the thick of the playoff hunt to have a chance at the Heisman.
Nicolas Singleton
Despite the loss in the playoff semifinals against Notre Dame, Nicolas Singleton showed everyone why he is special. No doubt he has been very good during his time at Penn State, but that performance put him on more people’s radar nationwide. While his rushing totals weren’t spectacular in that game he only had 15 carries. What he did was score three touchdowns and make several dazzling runs.
Quarterback Drew Allar and departed tight end Tyler Warren tended to get more attention. We can understand why Warren did but not Allar. He’s even mentioned in some people’s list of Heisman favorites but that’s not happening.
If anyone on the Nittany Lions has a chance to grab the Heisman it’s Singleton and no one else.
Nico Iamaleava
In his first game with any significant playing time, Nico Iamaleava led the Vols to a blowout bowl game win over Iowa after starter Joe Milton opted out. Last season was his first year as the full-time starter and he led Tennessee to the College Football Playoff.
While his passing stats weren’t amazing he did a good job at protecting the ball only throwing five interceptions on the season. Iamaleava is also a legitimate running threat. He only put up 358 rushing yards last season but that’s because Dylan Sampson had a monster year. Sampson is gone and more will be expected of Iamaleava in the ground attack.
While he is getting some mention as a Heisman contender, he will have to have a huge season and literally take the award from the other favorites. But he keeps getting better so we can’t rule him out.
There you have our list of the top five 2025 Heisman Trophy favorites. The sad part is we don’t get to watch any of them play until August.
Main Image: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
