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January 20, 2016The 2015 Ohio State football season may have concluded just a few weeks ago with a win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day, but on Tuesday Bovada already released their 2016 Heisman Trophy odds. There is a familiar name in the top five for the Buckeyes: Quarterback J.T. Barrett has the fourth-best odds (10-to-1) to win the 2016 Heisman.
With the seniors graduated and nine early enrollees into the NFL Draft, the Bucks will have plenty of questions and inexperience on both sides of the ball. At least one thing is certain: they will have Barrett behind center. As one of the few experienced players returning on offense, the already-voted captain will be a go-to guy for OSU in 2016.
While splitting time with Cardale Jones in 2015 (before taking over full-time halfway through the season), the 6-foot-2, 225-pound gunslinger completed 93-of-147 passes for 992 yards, 11 touchdowns, and four interceptions. He also ran for 682 yards and 11 touchdowns on 115 carries in 11 games. In 2014, his redshirt freshman year, the Texas native completed 203-of-314 passes for 2,834 yards, 34 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions, adding 938 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns on 171 carries.
This time last year, the Heisman favorites were Ezekiel Elliott, Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott, LSU running back Leonard Fournette, TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin, USC quarterback Cody Kessler, Georgia running back Nick Chubb, and UCLA running back Paul Perkins. Of those seven favorites, not a single one finished the season as a Heisman finalist (none was even in the top five). Only three of them finished in the top ten: Fournette (sixth), Elliott (eighth), and Boykin (10th).
For what it’s worth, 2015 Heisman finalist Deshaun Watson had the 20th-best odds (33-to-2) in these same odds last January, while fellow finalist Christian McCaffrey wasn’t even on the list. Heisman winner Derrick Henry had the eighth-best odds (14-to-1).
Some of last year’s favorites are back in the picture for 2016. The entire list:
- QB Deshaun Watson, Clemson: 9-to-2
- RB Leonard Fournette, LSU: 5-to-1
- RB Christian McCaffrey, Stanford: 5-to-1
- QB J.T. Barrett, Ohio State: 10-to-1
- QB Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma: 10-to-1
- RB Nick Chubb, Georgia: 12-to-1
- RB Dalvin Cook, Florida State: 12-to-1
- RB Royce Freeman, Oregon: 12-to-1
- QB Chad Kelly, Ole Miss: 12-to-1
- RB Samaje Perine, Oklahoma: 12-to-1
- WR Calvin Ridley, Alabama: 12-to-1
- QB Joshua Dobbs: 16-to-1
- QB Brad Kaaya, Miami: 25-to-1
1 Comment
They really should just hand the Heisman to McCaffrey now, if for no other reason than “time served,” or “mea culpa” for that Henry nonsense.