The Heisman Trophy race has taken a few twists and turns and we rank the contenders as we get close to the midway point in the 2021 college football season.
Week 5 of the college football season was an important one in the Heisman Trophy race and following another win by Alabama, we have a clear favorite — Bryce Young.
Young wasn’t spectacular or anything last week in the Crimson Tide’s win over Ole Miss. But he was efficient with only a few incompletions and threw for over 200 yards and two touchdowns.
The bigger issue was that Matt Corral wasn’t able to notch a Heisman moment that he so desperately needed against the No. 1 team in the country.
Unless something changes drastically, the award could be Young’s to lose but we break down the top five Heisman Trophy contenders as well as what they need to do to win:
Heisman Trophy Candidate No. 5: Kenneth Walker, RB, Michigan State
I haven’t been all that optimistic about Walker winning the Heisman Trophy and I still think he’s got a lot of work to do even to be a finalist. He does have 680 yards and eight touchdowns and has been a revelation for the Michigan State Spartans.
He will also have a lot of big-time matchups in the coming weeks against Michigan, Penn State, and Ohio State, so there will be plenty of opportunities for a Heisman moment.
He’s going to need one and he can’t afford any more games like the clunker he had against Nebraska. He was held under 100 and if running backs want to win the Heisman, they need to go berserk, which is what he needs to do over the final seven games of the season.