With loaded field of potential Heisman Trophy-winning QBs, who will take it home?

A quarterback is going to win the Heisman Trophy in December.

It's a preseason statement that's become prescient far more often than not in recent years. Over the past 16 years, Derrick Henry (2015), DeVonta Smith (2020) and Travis Hunter (2024) are the only three non-quarterbacks to win the award. Overall, only five non-quarterbacks have won the award since the turn of the century.

And the chances of a sixth non-quarterback winning in 2026 are incredibly slim.

Of the 27 players with 80-to-1 odds or better to win the Heisman at BetMGM, only two don't play quarterback. And those two players are teammates with a quarterback who has better odds to lift the trophy.

This upcoming college football season is positioned to be the year of the quarterback. Here's a look at how an incredibly deep group of quarterbacks stacks up ahead of the third season of the 12-team College Football Playoff .

Notre Dame QB CJ Carr (+750): The second-year starter is the favorite to win the award as Notre Dame looks certain to avoid an 0-2 start in 2026. Carr completed nearly 67% of his passes in 2025 and threw 24 TDs with just six interceptions. The Irish have the best odds of any team to go undefeated during the regular season and the offense should revolve around Carr even more in 2026 with the departures of running backs Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price to the NFL and a deep group of receivers on the roster.

Texas QB Arch Manning (+800): Manning opened the 2025 season as the Heisman favorite despite his relative lack of experience. He played in 10 games in 2024 and threw just 90 passes. Even he seemed perplexed at his status.

It was clear from Week 1 and a 14-7 loss to Ohio State that Manning had room to grow as a starter, and there were certainly some other rough moments — like a road loss to Florida. But Manning grew as the season went on, and closed 2025 with a flourish against Michigan, throwing for two scores and running for two others in a Citrus Bowl win. Given the way Texas has navigated the transfer portal, Manning shouldn't be counted on to run as much as he did in 2025, but improvements as a passer — and the addition of former Auburn WR Cam Coleman — should boost his passing numbers considerably.

Oregon QB Dante Moore (11-1): Moore was a surefire top-five pick in the 2026 NFL Draft but decided to play a third season at Oregon in 2026. That decision could make him the No. 1 draft pick in 2027. Moore will need to improve on the turnover issues that plagued him at times in 2026, but he still completed nearly 72% of his passes to a receiver unit that dealt with a lot of injuries throughout the season. The availability of players like Evan Stewart and Dakorien Moore could be massive for Moore's Heisman chances. The Ducks are our pick for the national title and a leap from Moore is a big reason why.

Ohio State QB Julian Sayin (12-1): Sayin briefly challenged former Oregon QB Bo Nix's record for completion percentage in 2025 before finishing the season at exactly 77%. Sayin had 301 completions on 391 throws for over 3,600 yards and 32 TDs. He doesn't offer much as a runner, but his efficiency as a passer was why he finished fourth in the Heisman voting.

He might have finished in the top three if he hadn't thrown for an interception in each of Ohio State's final two games and the Buckeyes' offense had scored more than 10 points in the Big Ten title game. Sayin then threw two more picks in the Buckeyes' playoff loss, so four of his eight interceptions across the entire season came in Ohio State's final three games.

Sayin's overall interception rate was still just 2%. And if he again has five games where he completes over 80% of his passes like he did last season, he's going to be in the mix again.

Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss (14-1): Chambliss finished eighth in the Heisman voting in 2025 after beginning the season as the Rebels' backup. He then won a court injunction to return for another season after the NCAA had counted a season he missed for healthy reasons at Division II Ferris State against his eligibility clock.

Chambliss threw for nearly 4,000 yards across 15 games in 2025 and had 30 total touchdowns. A repeat of those numbers will keep him as part of the Heisman discussion in 2026, and don't be surprised if Chambliss takes over as a September favorite with a big game against LSU and former head coach Lane Kiffin in Week 3.

Miami QB Darian Mensah (11-1): The former Duke quarterback pledged to return to the ACC champions in 2026 before a big offer from the Hurricanes wooed him away and led to a settlement so Mensah could head south and play for the team that made it to the national title game despite missing out on the ACC championship.

Miami has done pretty well with transfer quarterbacks lately, too. Cam Ward parlayed his only season with the Hurricanes into a fourth-place finish in the Heisman voting in 2024 and the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft while Carson Beck threw for over 3,800 yards and played his best football over the second half of last season as the Hurricanes made their playoff push. If Miami is a national title contender again, it's because its offense will be even better and more like the one that Ward led in 2024.

Indiana QB Josh Hoover (15-1): Fernando Mendoza led Indiana to an undefeated national championship season and the Heisman Trophy in his only season at Indiana in 2025. That's a pretty high standard for Hoover.

After Kurtis Rourke led Indiana to the College Football Playoff in 2024, the Hoosiers look set to make it a third time with a third different transfer quarterback. The three-year starter at TCU has thrown for nearly 10,000 career yards and 71 touchdowns while averaging over 8 yards an attempt. Like Mendoza, Indiana receivers Omar Cooper Jr. and Elijah Sarratt are also off to the NFL, but Charlie Becker is back after his breakout late in the season and Michigan State transfer Nick Marsh should get a high number of targets right away.

LSU QB Sam Leavitt (20-1): Leavitt is looking to bounce back from an injury-wrecked 2025 that was on track to be much worse than his breakout 2024 season. The Michigan State transfer led Arizona State to a Big 12 title and the College Football Playoff two seasons ago as he threw for over 2,800 yards and rushed for 443 more with 29 total touchdowns. Across seven games in 2025, Leavitt completed less than 61% of his passes and averaged just 6.8 yards an attempt.

If Leavitt is going to be a Heisman contender in 2026, it's because LSU is immediately a national title contender under Kiffin. And Leavitt is putting up numbers similar to Chambliss and Jaxson Dart.

Georgia QB Gunner Stockton (20-1): Stockton finished seventh in the voting a season ago as he completed nearly 70% of his passes and threw for 24 TDs while rushing for 10 more. Stockton had very good numbers — but it was also easy to see how he got a Heisman bump for being the starting quarterback of the SEC champions.

If Stockton is going to move in from the periphery of the Heisman discussion, he'll probably have to throw for more than 3,000 yards and have 40 total touchdowns while Georgia makes it to the SEC championship game yet again.

USC QB Jayden Maiava (20-1): If you think this is the year for USC to be a true contender in the Big Ten, Maiava is a great bet. After all, Lincoln Riley's teams lost just nine regular-season games from 2017 through 2022 as Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Caleb Williams each won the Heisman and Jalen Hurts finished second. In his first season at USC in 2025, Maiava threw for over 3,700 yards and had 30 total touchdowns. He shined in the Trojans' Week Zero win with nearly 300 passing yards and three total touchdowns before being taken out for the final quarter in an easy win over San Jose State.

Oklahoma QB John Mateer (25-1): Mateer was the early-season favorite for the Heisman before a thumb injury derailed his season. It's perfectly reasonable to expect his numbers in 2026 to be much more like they were in September than they were after the injury. After all, Mateer threw for 29 TDs and rushed for 15 more in 2024 at Washington State. Wins at Michigan and Georgia in September could make Mateer the favorite when October rolls around once again.

Texas A&M QB Marcel Reed (30-1): Reed was never a Heisman favorite in 2025 but was certainly heading toward a top-10 finish before a rough end to the season. With former offensive coordinator Collin Klein now the head coach at Kansas State, Reed has the chance to really shine if the Aggies can avoid having their SEC title game hopes derailed in the final weeks of the regular season again.

Alabama QB Keelon Russell (25-1): Russell has appeared in just two college football games but is among the favorites after he was named Alabama's starting quarterback ahead of the Crimson Tide's opener against East Carolina. The former five-star recruit could put up stats similar to Jalen Milroe if Alabama is among the SEC's elite again.

Texas Tech QB Will Hammond (40-1): Hammond's odds are relatively low even though Texas Tech did its best to find an upgrade at quarterback in Brendan Sorsby while Hammond is also recovering from a torn ACL suffered during the 2025 season. That's because Texas Tech is the undisputed favorite for the Big 12 title and has what looks to be an incredibly easy schedule. The Red Raiders added former Florida State and Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos last week as insurance.

Michigan QB Bryce Underwood (40-1): Russell was the No. 2 recruit in the high school class of 2025. Underwood was No. 1. The Michigan native showed just how far he has to go as a passer in 2025, but he has the talent to get there. And he's also better positioned for success in 2026 under new head coach Kyle Whittingham and offensive coordinator Jason Beck. With that same coaching staff, Utah QBs Devon Dampier and Byrd Ficklin combined for 47 TDs in 2025.

Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith (14-1): It's entirely conceivable that Smith could end up ahead of Sayin in the Heisman odds, especially if he somehow becomes even more dominant in 2026. Despite missing a game against Rutgers and being limited late in the season with a strained quad, Smith still had 87 catches for 1,243 yards and 12 scores in 2025. One-hundred catches is definitely on the table in 2026.

Miami WR Malachi Toney (40-1): Toney opened his college career with six catches for 82 yards and a TD in Miami's Week 1 win over Notre Dame. That established him as the best freshman offensive player in college football as he led Miami with 109 catches for 1,211 yards and 10 TDs. With Cooper Barkate, Duke's leading receiver in 2025, playing alongside him, defenses can't exclusively focus on Toney in 2026.