Best Long-Shot Bets to Win the Heisman Trophy (2022)
Bryce Young returns to Alabama looking to join Ohio State’s Archie Griffin as the only two-time Heisman Trophy winners. Young’s +380 odds are slightly behind C.J. Stroud’s +220 odds, and the two of them, along with Caleb Williams at +700, are the only three players in the country with Heisman odds shorter than +1600.
However, history tells us that eventual Heisman Trophy winners come from further down the odds list more often than one would think. For example, Young cashed +800 preseason odds with his victory last year. Devonta Smith before him did not even have odds posted until Week 7 of last year, and those were still massive +5000 odds. And going back one and two years prior, Joe Burrow and Kyler Murray were eventual Heisman Trophy winners overcoming preseason odds of +4000 and +3000, respectively.
Is there a lottery ticket waiting to be cashed among this year’s crop of college football players vying for the Heisman, like in 2016 when Lamar Jackson was +10000 in the preseason?
Here are our best long-shot bets to win the 2022 Heisman Trophy. (Odds courtesy of DraftKings)
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Jaxon Smith-Njigba- WR Ohio State (+2500)
Jaxon Smith-Njigba has the Heisman favorite as his quarterback, which could either massively help or hurt his own Heisman chances. However, if he has more performances as he did in last year’s Rose Bowl, there would easily be a scenario where he steals the limelight from the guy throwing him the ball.
C.J. Stroud set a school record with 573 yards and a record-tying six touchdowns during the 2022 Rose Bowl, both of which were Rose Bowl records. Fifteen of his completions went to Smith-Njigba, who had 347 receiving yards and three touchdowns. We single in on this performance because this was our first look at Ohio State’s offense without first-round wide receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, who each opted out of the bowl game. It suffices to say, the Buckeyes offense looks in good hands without them.
Smith-Njigba will no longer have to compete with Olave and Wilson’s 1,994 yards and 25 touchdowns and will clearly be the focal point of Ohio State’s passing attack. If Ohio State’s offense once again finishes in the top seven in the country in yards per game, as it has each of the last six seasons, and Smith-Njigba gets the lion’s share of the looks in the passing game, he could become the first Big Ten player to win the Heisman since Troy Smith in 2006.
Quinn Ewers- QB Texas (+3500)
A quarterback that enrolled at Ohio State grew tired of being buried on the depth chart and transferred to a storied college football program where he becomes the immediate starter? Sounds familiar, right? If Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers invigorates his team as much as Joe Burrow did after his transfer to LSU, Ewers would be the perfect definition of an under-the-radar quarterback to win a Heisman.
With Lincoln Riley departing Oklahoma for USC, the Big 12 feels as wide open as it has been in quite some time. Steve Sarkisian is an offensive-minded head coach and has arguably the best running back in the country in Bijan Robinson to hand the ball to. However, Robinson being the focal point of many defenses they will face could be Ewers’ gain, as more stacked boxes open up opportunities on the outside for his playmakers.
Ewers is a former five-star recruit with all the arm talent in the world, according to many recruiting profiles. He directs a Texas team that was tied for an FBS-high four losses in games they were leading at halftime last year. If those losses turn to wins and the Longhorns cash in on their first Big 12 title since 2009, Ewers will generate a lot of Heisman buzz.
Cameron Rising- QB Utah (+6000)
Cameron Rising quarterbacks a Utah team with sky-high expectations in 2022. The Utes are ranked No. 7 in the preseason AP poll, the school’s highest preseason ranking ever. Utah is coming off a Pac-12 championship and near Rose Bowl victory, but its 48-45 loss in Pasadena had nothing to do with Rising’s play. Rising totaled 306 yards and three touchdowns and provides a dual-threat ability (he ran for 499 yards and six touchdowns last year) that will give a jolt to his statistics that true drop-back passers will not have.
Utah is +240 to repeat as Pac-12 champions, and if it can end the conference’s five-year playoff drought and be the league’s representative in the College Football Playoff as an undefeated or one-loss team, Rising would surely have a lot to do with that success. In addition, the conference will have more eyes on it this year, with three teams ranked in the top 14 of the AP Poll, which means Rising will have plenty of big-game opportunities in the national spotlight.
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Mike Spector is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeSpector01.