Travis Hunter? Ashton Jeanty? Cam Ward? Votes are in for ESPN’s midseason Heisman Watch
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Max Olson, ESPN Staff Writer
On this date last year, Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. looked like the Heisman Trophy front-runner after defeating Oregon. In 2022, Hendon Hooker held the lead at midseason following Tennessee’s upset of Alabama. The year before, Kenneth Walker III and Matt Corral were surging.
None of those players ended up taking home the hardware. The Heisman race is a marathon, not a sprint, and a tricky one to forecast early in the season.
Here’s how ESPN writers voted on their top Heisman candidates at midseason. In this round of voting, 11 different players received votes.
To arrive at the final rankings, 14 voters were asked to vote for their top five. First-place votes earned five points with four points assigned for second-place votes, three points for third-place votes, two points for fourth-place votes and one point for fifth-place votes.
Total points: 66 (first-place votes: 11)
In college football, few individual records have seemed more unbreakable than Barry Sanders’ single-season rushing record. The Oklahoma State superstar rewrote the record books and secured the Heisman in 1988 with a jaw-dropping 2,850 rushing yards and 44 touchdowns.
Six games in, Jeanty is well on his way to breaking it. Boise State’s unstoppable star has gained 1,248 rushing yards and scored 18 total touchdowns while averaging an absurd 9.9 yards per carry. Sanders had 1,156 rushing yards and 19 TDs on 7.5 yards per carry through his first six games in 1988.
Jeanty is the most explosive playmaker in the sport, with eight touchdown runs of 50 or more yards. Defenses spend all week scheming to stuff the box and slow him, but Jeanty leads all FBS backs in broken tackles. He has done all this despite sitting out the second half of two blowout wins for the No. 15 Broncos as they chase another Mountain West title and a College Football Playoff bid.
A running back from a non-power conference hasn’t been invited to New York as a Heisman finalist since TCU’s LaDanian Tomlinson in 2000. Jeanty is leaving little doubt he’ll be there in December.
Heisman moment: Nobody has figured out a good way to shut down Jeanty, and that includes the now-No. 2 ranked Oregon Ducks. Jeanty rushed for 192 yards and three touchdowns in Eugene on Sept. 7 and legitimately put Oregon on upset alert in a 37-34 thriller. Jeanty broke a 70-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to tie the score, then punched in his third score of the night with 10 minutes left to put the Broncos ahead 34-27. The Ducks rallied late and won on a game-winning field goal with time expiring, but Jeanty earned a lot more believers that night.
Key stat: Jeanty has gained 841 rushing yards after first contact, according to TruMedia. That’s 355 yards more than any other running back in FBS. Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson ranks second with 586. How extreme is that number through six games? In 2023, only eight FBS running backs finished the season with 850 or more rushing yards after contact. Jeanty was one of them, ranking fourth nationally with 934.
ESPN BET Heisman odds: +175
Total points: 52 (first-place votes: 3)
Nobody else in college football can do what Hunter does. Colorado’s two-way star and future first-round pick got off to a dominant start in the Buffaloes’ first season back in the Big 12, leading the conference in catches with 49 for 587 yards and six touchdowns. He opened the season with four consecutive 100-yard performances at receiver, but his play at cornerback has been just as impressive. Hunter has yet to allow a touchdown pass and has recorded three pass breakups and two interceptions.
Hunter suffered a shoulder injury on Saturday night against Kansas State and had to miss the second half of the Buffaloes’ 31-28 loss. After the game, coach Deion Sanders didn’t offer an update on the severity of the injury nor a timetable for Hunter’s return. Let’s hope it’s just a minor setback for the most dynamic player in the game.
Heisman moment: Hunter struck the Heisman pose after diving for an interception against UCF, one of several highlight plays he made in a 48-21 blowout road win on Sept. 28. Hunter also hauled in nine catches for 89 yards and a touchdown against the Knights.
Key stat: Prior to his injury, Hunter had been on the field for 92% of Colorado’s plays on offense and defense. He has totaled 322 snaps on offense and 341 on defense, according to TruMedia. No other FBS player has played more than 500 snaps this season.
ESPN BET Heisman odds: +1100
Total points: 43
Six games in, Ward is truly exceeding Miami fans’ wildest expectations. The Washington State transfer took over a team that went 7-6 in 2023 and turned it into the undefeated front-runner to win the ACC.
The 6-foot-2, 223-pound senior has always possessed elite arm talent but he has taken his game to another level this fall with 2,219 passing yards (second-most in FBS), 23 total touchdowns and five interceptions while operating the No. 1 scoring offense in the country.
Ward dominated Florida in his debut, has pulled off dramatic comeback wins over Virginia Tech and Cal and has created real CFP expectations for the Hurricanes as they’ve risen to No. 6 in the AP poll. After two seasons at the FCS level at Incarnate Word and two at Washington State, Ward came close to entering the NFL draft but had a late change of heart. He wanted to come back to school for one final season, win big and prove he’s a first-round talent. So far, so good.
Heisman moment: If you stayed up late enough to watch it, you witnessed greatness from Ward during Miami’s resilient 39-38 comeback win at Cal on Oct. 5. Ward faced a 25-point deficit midway through the third quarter but just kept playing. He threw for 437 yards and expertly led four consecutive touchdown drives, connecting with tight end Elijah Arroyo for the game-winning score with 26 seconds left.
Key stat: Ward is averaging 12.2 yards per attempt on third downs according to TruMedia, best among all FBS starting quarterbacks. The Hurricanes are No. 1 nationally in third-down conversions (60.3%) thanks to their veteran QB. Ward has played 64 snaps on third downs and has accounted for 559 total yards and seven touchdowns.
ESPN BET Heisman odds: +600
Total points: 32
The Ducks sought a veteran quarterback with big-game experience to succeed Bo Nix as they aimed to take their next big step as a program in Year 3 under Dan Lanning. They were right to bet on Gabriel, a 49-game starter at Oklahoma and UCF who is predictably proving to be a terrific fit as a leader and playmaker.
Gabriel made the move to Eugene knowing his final college season would be defined by how he performed in high-pressure situations on a squad with national championship ambitions. He aced his toughest test yet with incredible poise Saturday night, putting up 373 total yards with three touchdowns and no turnovers in the Ducks’ 32-31 upset of No. 2 Ohio State, the program’s second-ever win over an AP top-2 opponent.
Six games in, Gabriel has accounted for 1,893 total yards with 17 touchdowns and three interceptions while completing a career-high 76% of his passes. A 12-0 run through Oregon’s regular-season schedule looks entirely possible now, which would certainly keep Gabriel in the Heisman race the rest of the way.
Heisman moment: Gabriel’s performance against Ohio State was arguably the best of his career. He beat one of the top defenses in the country again and again with remarkable accuracy on downfield shots, going 6-of-7 for 220 yards with a touchdown and no turnovers on throws of 15-plus yards against the Buckeyes.
Key stat: Gabriel needs only 2,563 more passing yards and 18 more passing touchdowns to surpass Houston’s Case Keenum as the NCAA all-time leading passer.
ESPN BET Heisman odds: +375
Total points: 4
Finding a new starting quarterback in the transfer portal was high on coach Curt Cignetti’s to-do list upon taking the Indiana job. He found a proven winner to build around in Rourke, a 33-game starter at Ohio who’d thrown for more than 7,500 yards and earned MAC Offensive Player of the Year in 2022. And together, they just keep winning.
The sixth-year senior has been superb during the Hoosiers’ stunning 6-0 start and rise to No. 16 in the AP poll, passing for 1,752 yards with 16 total touchdowns and two interceptions on a Big Ten-best 11 yards per attempt. Rourke has put up a 91.9 QBR — best among Power 4 starters — while masterfully operating a rebuilt offense that’s scoring 47.5 points per game. His experience and efficiency have injected a ton of confidence into a team that went 3-9 a year ago.
Heisman moment: Indiana has yet to trail in any game, so Rourke hasn’t faced too many pressure moments. With Nebraska up next and games against Michigan and Ohio State on their November schedule, those opportunities are coming soon. When Northwestern did make it a 3-point game against the Hoosiers early in the fourth quarter, Rourke shut down the Wildcats’ upset bid with consecutive touchdown drives, finishing with 380 passing yards and three TDs in a 41-24 win.
Key stat: Indiana has outscored its six opponents by a combined margin of 196 points. Only Texas (221 points) and Ole Miss (216) have been better by that standard. In their nine losses last season, the Hoosiers were outscored by a combined margin of 135 points.
ESPN BET Heisman odds: +6000
Also receiving votes: Army QB Bryson Daily (3 points), Alabama WR Ryan Williams (3), Navy QB Blake Horvath (2), Alabama QB Jalen Milroe (2), Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith (2), Pitt RB Desmond Reid (1)
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Jorge Castillo
NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton, one of the first known adopters of the torpedo bat, declined Tuesday to say whether he believes using it last season caused the tendon ailments in both elbows that forced him to begin this season on the injured list.
Last month, Stanton alluded to “bat adjustments” he made last season as a possible reason for the epicondylitis, commonly known as tennis elbow, he’s dealing with.
“You’re not going to get the story you’re looking for,” Stanton said. “So, if that’s what you guys want, that ain’t going to happen.”
Stanton said he will continue using the torpedo bat when he returns from injury. The 35-year-old New York Yankees slugger, who has undergone multiple rounds of platelet-rich plasma injections to treat his elbows, shared during spring training that season-ending surgery on both elbows was a possibility. But he has progressed enough to recently begin hitting off a Trajekt — a pitching robot that simulates any pitcher’s windup, arm angle and arsenal. However, he still wouldn’t define his return as “close.”
He said he will first have to go on a minor league rehab assignment at an unknown date for an unknown period. It won’t start in the next week, he added.
“This is very unique,” Stanton said. “I definitely haven’t missed a full spring before. So, it just depends on my timing, really, how fast I get to feel comfortable in the box versus live pitching.”
While the craze of the torpedo bat (also known as the bowling pin bat) has swept the baseball world since it was revealed Saturday — while the Yankees were blasting nine home runs against the Milwaukee Brewers — that a few members of the Yankees were using one, the modified bat already had quietly spread throughout the majors in 2024. Both Stanton and former Yankees catcher Jose Trevino, now with the Cincinnati Reds, were among players who used the bats last season after being introduced to the concept by Aaron Leanhardt, an MIT-educated physicist and former minor league hitting coordinator for the organization.
Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt and Austin Wells were among the Yankees who used torpedo bats during their season-opening sweep of the Brewers.
Stanton explained he has changed bats before. He said he has usually adjusted the length. Sometimes, he opts for lighter bats at the end of the long season. In the past, when knuckleballers were more common in the majors, he’d opt for heavier lumber.
Last year, he said he simply chose his usual bat but with a different barrel after experimenting with a few models.
“I mean, it makes a lot of sense,” Stanton said. “But it’s, like, why hasn’t anyone thought of it in 100-plus years? So, it’s explained simply and then you try it and as long as it’s comfortable in your hands [it works]. We’re creatures of habit, so the bat’s got to feel kind of like a glove or an extension of your arm.”
Stanton went on to lead the majors with an average bat velocity of 81.2 mph — nearly 3 mph ahead of the competition. He had a rebound, but not spectacular, regular season in which he batted .233 with 27 home runs and a .773 OPS before clubbing seven home runs in 14 playoff games.
“It’s not like [it was] unreal all of a sudden for me,” Stanton said.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone described the torpedo bats “as the evolution of equipment” comparable to getting fitted for new golf clubs. He said the organization is not pushing players to use them and insisted the science is more complicated than just picking a bat with a different barrel.
“There’s a lot more to it than, ‘I’ll take the torpedo bat on the shelf over there — 34 [inches], 32 [ounces],'” Boone said. “Our guys are way more invested in it than that. And really personalized, really work with our players in creating this stuff. But it’s equipment evolving.”
As players around the majors order torpedo bats in droves after the Yankees’ barrage over the weekend — they clubbed a record-tying 13 homers in two games against the Brewers — Boone alluded to the notion that, though everyone is aware of the concept, not every organization can optimize its usage.
“You’re trying to just, where you can on the margins, move the needle a little bit,” Boone said. “And that’s really all you’re going to do. I don’t think this is some revelation to where we’re going to be; it’s not related to the weekend that we had, for example. Like, I don’t think it’s that. Maybe in some cases, for some players, it may help them incrementally. That’s how I view it.”
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Eli Lederman
USC secured the commitment of former Oregon defensive tackle pledge Tomuhini Topui on Tuesday, a source told ESPN, handing the Trojans their latest recruiting victory in the 2026 cycle over the Big Ten rival Ducks.
Topui, ESPN’s No. 3 defensive tackle and No. 72 overall recruit in the 2026 class, spent five and half months committed to Oregon before pulling his pledge from the program on March 27. Topui attended USC’s initial spring camp practice that afternoon, and seven days later the 6-foot-4, 295-pound defender gave the Trojans his pledge to become the sixth ESPN 300 defender in the program’s 2026 class.
Topui’s commitment gives USC its 10th ESPN 300 pledge this cycle — more than any other program nationally — and pulls a fourth top-100 recruit into the impressive defensive class the Trojans are building this spring. Alongside Topui, USC’s defensive class includes in-state cornerbacks R.J. Sermons (No. 26 in ESPN Junior 300) and Brandon Lockhart (No. 77); four-star outside linebacker Xavier Griffin (No. 27) out of Gainesville, Georgia; and two more defensive line pledges between Jaimeon Winfield (No. 143) and Simote Katoanga (No. 174).
The Trojans are working to reestablish their local recruiting presence in the 2026 class under newly hired general manager Chad Bowden. Topui not only gives the Trojans their 11th in-state commit in the cycle, but his pledge represents a potentially important step toward revamping the program’s pipeline to perennial local powerhouse Mater Dei High School, too.
Topui will enter his senior season this fall at Mater Dei, the program that has produced a long line of USC stars including Matt Leinart, Matt Barkley and Amon-Ra St. Brown. However, if Topui ultimately signs with the program later this year, he’ll mark the Trojans’ first Mater Dei signee since the 2022 cycle, when USC pulled three top-300 prospects — Domani Jackson, Raleek Brown and C.J. Williams — from the high school program based in Santa Ana, California.
Topui’s flip to the Trojans also adds another layer to a recruiting rivalry rekindling between USC and Oregon in the 2026 cycle.
Tuesday’s commitment comes less than two months after coach Lincoln Riley and the Trojans flipped four-star Oregon quarterback pledge Jonas Williams, ESPN’s No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in 2026. USC is expected to continue targeting several Ducks commits this spring, including four-star offensive tackle Kodi Greene, another top prospect out of Mater Dei.
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