Heisman Trophy watch 2022: Bryce Young holds firm, J.J. McCarthy rising

The 2022 Heisman Trophy race is still very early and so far, the quarterbacks are standing out such as last year’s winner Bryce Young. Plus a new name has emerged.

So far, the Heisman Trophy race hasn’t generated much excitement. Bryce Young wasn’t great last week in the win over Texas but he was great when he had to be.

Part of this is because college football tends to start the season sort off slow. There are some important games but most teams tend to cupcake their way through the first few weeks of the season and that tends to impact the Heisman Trophy race.

It’s hard to build really good stats if you only play three quarters of a college football game and that’s one reason why you can’t just judge players by stats.

Once again, we don’t have any non-quarterbacks on the list but Will Anderson is still a name to watch. He made a big play late against Texas but his sack numbers need to be jaw-dropping.

Deuce Vaughn has 271 rushing yards through two games and Kansas State could have a chance to be pretty good. He’ll need to shine in the biggest games of the season and the electrifying back is going to have to put up some eye-popping numbers too, just like Anderson.

While we usually rank the top five Heisman Trophy contenders, this week, we are going to include six names and yes, one of them is Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy.

T5: J.J. McCarthy (QB, Michigan), Hendon Hooker (QB, Tennessee)

It’s hard to ignore what Hooker did over the weekend as he threw for more than 300 yards and two touchdowns against Pittsburgh. It was a notable performance and could be the start of something bigger.

However, the Vols have a really tough schedule and will need to keep winning in order to keep their chances afloat.

That’s where McCarthy comes in. FanDuel has already moved McCarthy up to fourth overall in terms of 2022 Heisman Trophy favorites, but that seems a little premature.

Yet, McCarthy has completed 15-of-16 passes for 259 yards and three touchdowns in two games, while also adding 66 on the ground. Now that he’s the full-time starter, he should start to put up big numbers and if the first two games are any indication, the Michigan offense will be much more explosive.

Still, this is a projection and it also shows that this year’s Heisman Trophy field, seems to lack contenders. Bryce Young took control of the 2021 race in his first start and never looked back, so don’t act like McCarthy who just made his first career start, doesn’t have any chance at all.

I still like some others above him though.