College Football 2024 Heisman Trophy Watchlist After Week 14

December 4, 2024

Justin's NCAA college football top Heisman Trophy contenders after Week 14 of the 2024 season. Top candidates include Travis Hunter and Ashton Jeanty.

Week 14 of the college football season is in the rearview mirror. In fact, the whole regular season is over. It's basically time to award the Heisman Trophy.

No individual trophy in sports means as much as the Heisman Trophy, which recognizes the best player in all of college football. It's as prestigious of a trophy as there is, and that's why each week I'll be taking stock of the top 10 contenders for the trophy.

Below are the top 10 Heisman contenders after Week 14 of the college football season. These are the 10 players who I view as having the best shot to win the trophy based on their performances this season.

10. LaNorris Sellers - QB, South Carolina

With the regular season over and the Heisman race essentially down to two people, the final five-ish spots in these rankings this week are about vibes. Sure, I could put Jaxson Dart here, as his huge numbers mean he's likely to siphon all a few votes, but I'd rather start with South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers.

Congrats to South Carolina, winning at Clemson. SCar destroyed my Sooners and my Commodores on the road. Defense is ferocious. LaNorris Sellers is a maturing talent. Last 6 weeks I haven't seen a better college football team than South Carolina.

— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) November 30, 2024

Sellers led South Carolina to a big win over Clemson to close the regular season, rushing for 166 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the 17-14 win. That victory extended the Gamecocks win streak to six games.

Season Stats: 64.9% completion rate, 2,274 passing yards, 17 touchdowns, seven interceptions, seven rushing touchdowns

9. Kurtis Rourke - QB, Indiana

Indiana's Kurtis Rourke might have the worst single game of anyone on this list, as he was just 8-for-18 for 68 yards in Indiana's Nov. 23 loss to Ohio State. That blemish is a huge one, but it's also the only really bad showing from this Hoosiers team, which won all its other games in 2024.

Rourke ended the regular season in a big way, throwing for 349 yards and six touchdowns in a blowout win over Purdue, with Indiana taking the Boilermakers down 66-0.

Season Stats: 70.4% completion percentage, 2,827 passing yards, 27 passing touchdowns, four interceptions, two rushing touchdowns

8. Jalen Milroe - QB, Alabama

Jalen Milroe has had one of the weirdest seasons from a major quarterback. In this week's Iron Bowl victory over Auburn, Milroe found the end zone three times on the ground, bringing his rushing touchdown total this year all the way up to 20.

But he failed to throw a touchdown pass. It's the fourth time in the last five games that he didn't throw for one, but the Crimson Tide are 3-1 in those four games, so it's mostly working out for Milroe.

Season Stats: 65.9% completion rate, 2,652 passing yards, 15 passing touchdowns, 10 interceptions, 20 rushing touchdowns

7. Cam Skattebo - RB, Arizona State

The Big 12 Championship features an unexpected team playing for a spot in the playoffs as Arizona State brings its 10-2 overall record to the field against Iowa State.

Cam Skattebo scored again and signed an autograph

This guy ROCKS pic.twitter.com/npSxXeM8EF

— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) November 23, 2024

A huge part of the Sun Devils' success has been running back Cam Skattebo, who has scored six touchdowns over the past two games, including three of them on Nov. 23 in a must-win game against BYU. He's not the best running back in the nation, but he might be the best one in a power conference.

Season Stats: 247 carries for 1,398 yards and 17 touchdowns, 35 receptions for 468 yards and two touchdowns

6. Quinn Ewers - QB, Texas

Look, these first five spots don't really matter at this point, so while Quinn Ewers missing some time with injury probably takes him out of the running for the real award and a top-five spot, he deserves recognition for what he did for the Longhorns.

Texas went 9-1 with Ewers under center, and he's about to get a chance to avenge the team's lone loss to Georgia as the sides rematch on Saturday to play for an SEC title.

Season Stats: 67.3% completion rate, 2,307 passing yards, 24 passing touchdowns, seven interceptions, one rushing touchdown

5. Shedeur Sanders - QB, Colorado

If Travis Hunter didn't exist, Shedeur Sanders might be No. 2 on this list. The Colorado quarterback leads the entire FBS in completion percentage and through two seasons holds the all-time FBS career record for completion percentage at 71.8%,

He also leads the Big 12 in yards and touchdowns, throwing five touchdown passes against Oklahoma State to close out the regular season. Sanders has established himself as one of the top two quarterbacks heading into April's NFL Draft.

Season Stats: 74.2% completion rate, 3,926 passing yards, 35 passing touchdowns, eight interceptions, four rushing touchdowns

4. Cam Ward - QB, Miami

Last week's loss to Syracuse might spell the end for Miami's playoff hopes despite the team losing just two games all year. But it's hard to blame Cam Ward for the loss, as he was 25-for-36 for 349 yards and two touchdowns. The problem was that the Hurricanes gave up 42 points and it's really tough to win when that happens.

We let it happen! We had the whole world in our hands. On a positive note... We all experienced one the GREATEST QB's in college football Cam Ward and the Number 1 receiver in Miami history X this year. Mario, Thank you for the 10 wins. Progress. Much Love, Cane Fans.

— michael yo (@michaelyo) December 4, 2024

Ward's strong season still deserves your attention, though. After starting his career at FCS program Incarnate Word, Ward is now about to finish in the top five of the Heisman voting after leading the FBS with 36 touchdown passes.

Season Stats: 67.4% completion rate, 4,123 passing yards, 36 passing touchdowns, seven interceptions, four rushing touchdowns, one receiving touchdown

3. Dillon Gabriel - QB, Oregon

Normally, you'd think that the quarterback for the only undefeated team would be the clear frontrunner for the Heisman, especially when that quarterback leads the Big Ten in completion percentage and passing yards.

Not so for Oregon's Dillon Gabriel, who has the misfortune of playing in a year where two unexpected players have separated from the rest of the field. Still, he deserves to be the top vote-getter among quarterbacks after his performance this year.

Season Stats: 73.5% completion rate, 3,275 passing yards, 24 touchdowns, six interceptions, seven rushing touchdowns

2. Ashton Jeanty - RB, Boise State

Ashton Jeanty rushed for 226 yards and a touchdown against Oregon State last week, moving him into fifth place on the all-time single-season list. Assuming the Broncos beat UNLV in the Mountain West title game, he'll have at least two more shots to go for the record, which he's currently 340 yards back of.

If Boise State has two more meaningful games, I think Jeanty gets there. If the Broncos lose to UNLV and are knocked out of the playoff picture, then I think the quest is over, as it would be smart for Jeanty to skip a non-playoff bowl game as he preps for the NFL.

Season Stats: 312 carries for 2,288 yards and 28 touchdowns, 18 catches for 102 yards and one touchdown

1. Travis Hunter - WR/CB, Colorado

It's like Oklahoma State wanted Travis Hunter to win the Heisman or something.

Travis Hunter this season:

- 88.3 receiving grade (5th among FBS WRs)

- 90.9 coverage grade (2nd among FBS CBs)

It ain’t just the snap count, folks.

— Max Chadwick (@CFBMaxChadwick) December 2, 2024

Against the Cowboys last week, Hunter went off, catching 10 passes for 116 yards and three touchdowns on the offensive end and picking off a pass on defense. He now has five receiving scores over the last two games. Hunter is peaking at just the right time.

Unless Jeanty does supernatural things about UNLV this week, Hunter's going to run away with the Heisman.

Season Stats: 92 catches for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns, one rushing touchdown, 31 tackles, one tackle for loss, four interceptions

More College Football Analysis