—

The Following is the Preseason Heisman Watchlist I compiled back on July 8th along with a few words on each player.

BEGIN JULY 8TH, 2025

Heisman PRESEASON Watchlist:

-Jeremiah Smith WR Ohio State 10/1

• Potentially the most dominant player in College Football this season.
• Ohio St is projected 10-2
• Smith’s highlight catches and big numbers will wow fans and influence voters.

-Dante Moore QB Oregon 20/1

• Oregon is Projected 10-2
• Should the Ducks meet this goal, Moore will be an irreplaceable contributing factor

-Gunner Stockton QB Georgia 33/1

• Stockton will start the Season slow
• Georgia is projected 10-2
• By November 15th, he will be near the top of Heisman lists.

-Jeremiah Love RB Notre Dame 40/1

• Notre Dame projected 10-2
• Love’s big play ability and total yard accumulation will garner attention from Heisman voters.
• Perhaps he will be relatively low on the TD numbers

-Joey Aguilar QB Tennessee 50/1

• Tennessee is projected 11-1
• “I’m ready to give my all for Tennessee”
• Hungry, coachable QB in a weapons-filled offense with an aggressive Head Coach

-Jayden Maiava QB Southern Cal 70/1

• USC is projected 9-3
• Lincoln Riley is a masterful QB coach
• USC should score points

-Demond Williams QB Washington 75/1

• High ceiling for this Sophomore QB
• Washington projected 10-2
• Winning Week 5 against Ohio St will increase his Heisman stock

So, there is my top 7 based on the season’s projection. All of these teams except USC are in the 12-team playoff and these players will be the reason why. Gunner Stockton at 33/1 is probably my favorite for the price, while Jeremiah Smith at 10/1 is my favorite to win it. I do not think he can be covered at the college level. He will dominate as long as he stays healthy.

So, no Manning, no Nussmeier, no Klubnik which are the odds-on favorites. If one of them wins, then something went drastically different than my “unpredictable predictions,” but if one of them wins, my gut tells me it’s the Clemson QB. Only time will tell.

END 7/8/25

—

Back to the Present.

Let’s look at the current stats of these Seven Preseason Heisman Hopefuls.

• Jeremiyah Love
  • 1409 Total Yards, 17 TD’s
  • 228 Yards vs USC
• Jayden Maiava
  • 2868 Yards, 24 TD’s, 6 Picks
• Demond Williams
  • 3020 Total Yards, 21 TD’s, 5 Picks
    • 3 INT vs Michigan
• Dante Moore
  • 2190 Pass Yards, 21 Pass TD’s, 5 INT
• Jeremiah Smith
  • 902 Rec Yards, 10 TD
• Joey Aguilar
  • 25 TD’s, 10 INT, 3000+ total yards
• Gunner Stockton
  • 27 TD’s, 3 INT, 2,269 Pass Yards
    • 5 TD’s vs Texas on 11/15

—

The way I see it, Gunner, Love, Smith, and Moore are still alive for the Heisman. Joining them are QB’s Fernando Mendoza and Julian Sayin. In fact, I’d be willing to guess the Heisman comes from the following list.

SHS HEISMAN Finalists 11/18/25

• Gunner Stockton UGA
• Jeremiyah Love ND
• Jeremiah Smith OSU
• Julian Sayin OSU
• Dante Moore ORE
• Fernando Mendoza IU

My top3 on this list would be Gunner, Love, and Mendoza if the season ended today.

Smith is elite but he’s had to share the spotlight with teammates Carnell Tate and Julian Sayin. As incredible of a football player as he is the Heisman needs to go elsewhere. There are other players that have made far more individual impacts for their team like the three I just mentioned.

Any of these young men could win it though, and that’s the fun of it. Smith could go for 220 yards and have the game winning touchdown against Michigan on the last week of the season and win in it in front of the large Big Noon audience. Moore could throw 8 TD’s and no picks the next two wins and keep his hat in the ring. Anything could happen.

Juilan Sayin is doing elite things, but it’s difficult to evaluate whether it’s because of him or because of the elite talent surrounding him. It is probably both.

We will just have to keep watching.

—

Who do you think wins the Heisman if the award show was tonight?

Find the humor and keep on movin’

Whit W.