Heisman Watch: Week 9

Story posted October 29, 2022 in CommRadio, Sports by Jakob Schnur

As we head into Week 9 of the College Football season and many important games are coming up for ranked teams, the leaders in the Heisman race have begun to separate themselves and will continue to do so over the course of the next few weeks.

C.J. Stroud

The Ohio State quarterback that finished fourth in the Heisman voting last year has lived up to the hype this season.

The projected number one overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft currently leads the country in touchdown passes and quarterback rating with 28 and 92.6, respectively while throwing just four interceptions.

With the losses of Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson to the NFL and Jaxon Smith-Njigba to injury, Stroud has still led the Buckeyes to a top five offense as they currently sit at number two in the AP Top 25.

Hendon Hooker

Coming into the season, Hendon Hooker was considered a potential dark-horse contender for the Heisman Trophy.

Now, he might be the frontrunner.

The fifth-year senior has an 18:1 touchdown to interception ratio and the second-best quarterback rating in the country with a 91.4, but that’s not all.

Hooker has had a phenomenal season and really cemented himself as one of the best players in college football when he spoiled Bryce Young’s return to the starting lineup by taking down, at the time, the third-ranked team in the country in Alabama and propelling the Volunteers into a potential playoff spot.

Blake Corum

While Ohio State is the class of the Big Ten. and has been for many years now. Michigan is not far behind, in big part due to the play of junior running back Blake Corum.

With five games still remaining on the regular season schedule, Corum is already closing in on 1,000 yards rushing and a whopping 13 touchdowns on the ground which is good enough to be tied for the most in the country.

As Hooker showed out against the Crimson Tide, Corum made his biggest statement of the year rushing for 166 yards and two touchdowns against Big Ten rival and at the time, tenth ranked Penn State in a statement victory.

Some other notable performances for Corum came in the form of a five touchdown game against the UConn Huskies and a 243 yard and two touchdown day against Maryland in which he averaged 8.1 yards per carry.

Caleb Williams

A disappointing Week 7 loss to Utah may have derailed the Trojans’ playoff hopes, but quarterback Caleb Williams played as well as always and remains firmly in the Heisman race.

After transferring from Oklahoma to follow head coach Lincoln Riley to USC, Williams has picked up right where he left off, leading the Trojans back to the powerhouse offense they were in the early 2000s with Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush.

Williams has thrown 19 touchdown passes on the season thus far, including five in the loss to Utah, to just one interception and has USC currently sitting at a 6-1 record which is good enough for the number 10 spot in the AP Top 25.

Honorable Mentions: Bo Nix (QB, Oregon), Drake Maye (QB, North Carolina), Bryce Young (QB, Alabama), Will Anderson (EDGE, Alabama)

Jakob Schnur is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jks6463@psu.edu.