2021 Heisman Trophy watch: Top 5 contenders heading into Week 12

As the college football season hits the final weeks, we break down the top five Heisman Trophy contenders heading into Week 12. 

When it comes to the Heisman Trophy race, few weeks are going to be more important than Week 12 of the college football season.

That’s because two of the top three contenders, who each have a viable chance of winning the award, will square off Saturday in Columbus as C.J. Stroud and the Ohio State Buckeyes host Kenneth Walker III and the Michigan State Spartans.

It’s a showdown of top-seven teams in the College Football Playoff rankings and bonafide Heisman Trophy contenders.

Those two aren’t the only guys in the mix though as the race is starting to tighten. For the most part, this has been a top-five list, but Walker, Stroud, Bryce Young, and Matt Corral have started to separate themselves.

So as we look at Week 12, here are our top five Heisman contenders with a tie at the fifth spot heading into the rest of November.

Heisman Trophy Candidate No. 5: Sam Hartman/QB/Wake Forest — Kenny Pickett/QB/Pitt — Aidan Hutchinson/DE/Michigan

Aidan Hutchinson burst onto the scene with a dominant three-sack performance against Penn State and if you said he was the best overall player in college football right now, you might not get a huge argument.

But he would have to do something special over the final two weeks to even earn an invite to New York, which would include beating Ohio State and having 3-4 sacks. He’s certainly capable but he’s still a fringe contender.

The same can be said for Hartman and Pickett. They are on a collision course for the ACC title game. Both quarterbacks have put up great numbers but no one cares about the ACC this year, at least not enough to make them serious Heisman Trophy contenders.