2019 Heisman Trophy Odds Tracker

• The Heisman Trophy is college football’s most prestigious individual award.
• It’s also very hard to predict who will win.
• We’re tracking the odds on the favorites, from last year’s title game right up to award week. 

Every college football season, we track the favorites for college football’s most prestigious award, the Heisman Trophy, by averaging out the futures odds available at major online sportsbooks.

Predicting who will win is a difficult exercise, especially in the preseason. In 2018, eventual winner Kyler Murray wasn’t even on the board at the outset, and he was a +2300 longshot when he first popped up in late July. Fellow finalist Dwayne Haskins started out at +3500.

Before we get to this year’s favorites, a little context.

What is the Heisman Trophy?

The Heisman Trophy is the most prestigious individual award in college football. Voted on by past winners and select members of the media, the trophy is intended to honor the most “outstanding” player in the country.

In reality, it’s more than a little bit biased, and QBs and RBs on the East Coast or South account for the bulk of winners. It’s also something of a popularity contest, with “outstanding” very closely aligning with who gets the most clicks.

Who are the Favorites to Win the Heisman Trophy?

Like all sportsbooks, Bovada has Lawrence and Tagovailoa well ahead of the pack, with Georgia’s Jake Fromm a distant third.

Who Usually Wins the Heisman Trophy?

Lately, quarterbacks.

Here’s the list of Heisman Trophy winners by position, going back to the turn of the millenium. Only three non-QBs are on the list (and they’re all RBs). If you want to win this award, you better have the ball in your hands a lot.

For those of you playing along at home, that’s 15 QBs and 3 running backs.

The last Heisman to go to a different position was Charles Woodson’s 1997 win. Before that, it was Desmond Howard in 1991, then Johnny Rodgers (who was kind of a running back) in 1972, and then Notre Dame end Leon Hart in 1949.