Love, Mendoza, Pavia, Sayin Named 2025 Heisman Trophy Finalists
Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin were named finalists for the 91st annual Heisman Memorial Trophy tonight (Dec. 8), announced live on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown.
The 2025 Heisman Trophy winner will be announced during the Heisman Trophy Ceremony Presented by Nissan that will air Saturday (Dec. 13) at 7 p.m. ET on ABC. The Top 10 finishers will be featured on The Top 10 Heisman Trophy Finalists Show Presented by Nissan on Thursday (Dec. 11) at 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Love, a junior from St. Louis, Mo., is fourth nationally in rushing yards (1,372), fifth in yards per game (114.33) and is third with 18 rushing scores. Love, who had 27 receptions for 280 yards and three touchdowns, is also fourth nationally in all-purpose yards (1,652) and second nationally with 21 touchdowns. He scored at least one touchdown in each of his final 11 games. Love’s 21 TDs surpassed Jerome Bettis’ school record for most in a regular season (1991) while his 18 rushing scores match the program’s single-season record. He rushed for over 100 yards six times, including a Notre Dame Stadium record and season-best 228 yards in a win over rival USC. He also had 171 yards on just eight carries against Syracuse to go with a career-high three rushing scores and 157 against Purdue.
Mendoza, a redshirt junior from Miami, Fla., is the 2025 Big Ten Offensive Player and Quarterback of the Year and an All-Big Ten first-team quarterback who led Indiana to a 2025 Big Ten Championship victory over Ohio State and a No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. Mendoza, in his first year at Indiana after transferring from California, led the Hoosiers to a 13-0 record and the program’s first-ever No. 1 ranking. He completed 226-of-316 passes for 2,980 yards and a nation-leading 33 TD passes while rushing for 240 yards and another six scores. He is second nationally in total touchdowns accounted for (39) and in quarterback rating (181.39) and is sixth in completion percentage (71.5). Mendoza’s 33 TD passes are a school season record as are his five games this season with four or more scoring passes. He threw for a season-high 332 yards and four scores in a win over Michigan State. He completed better than 85% of his passes four times this year and threw at least one TD pass in each game outside of the season-opener.
Pavia, a graduate senior from Albuquerque, N.M., in his second year as a Commodore, led Vanderbilt to its first 10-win season in 2025. The 2025 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award winner completed 242-of-340 passes for a school-record 3,192 yards and 27 touchdowns (tied for eighth nationally) and a completion percentage of 71.2 (eighth nationally). Pavia, who also rushed for 826 yards and nine scores, is tied for fourth nationally in total touchdowns accounted for (36). He threw for over 300 yards four times, including a career-high 484 yards and five touchdowns against Kentucky, 377 against Auburn and 365 against Texas. He ran for over 100 yards twice, including in the season-finale win over rival Tennessee with a season-best 165 yards as well as 112 in a win over Auburn. He has rushed for 1,627 yards in his Vanderbilt career.
Sayin, a sophomore from Carlsbad, Calif., led the Buckeyes to a 12-1 record, a No. 1 ranking for most of the season, a berth in the 2025 Big Ten Championship game and a No. 2 seed in the College Football Playoff. The 2025 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Sayin leads the country in QB rating (182.05), passed for 3,329 yards and his 31 TD passes are tied for second nationally. He is also first in the nation in completion percentage (78.4, on 280-of-357 passing), which includes four games completing better than 85% of his passes. Sayin threw at least one TD pass in every game this season and had just six interceptions. He passed for over 300 yards six times and passed for four TDs in a game three times. He helped end the Buckeyes’ four-game losing streak to rival Michigan with 233 yards and three scoring passes.
All four 2025 Heisman finalists are also 2025 Walter Camp finalists while Love, Mendoza and Sayin are 2025 Maxwell Award finalists. Mendoza and Sayin are finalists for the 2025 Davey O’Brien Award. Love is a finalist for the 2025 Doak Walker Award.
Love is Notre Dame’s sixth finalist and the first since Manti Te’o in 2012. Mendoza is Indiana’s second Heisman finalist and its first since Anthony Thompson in 1989. Pavia is Vanderbilt’s first finalist. Sayin is Ohio State’s 11th finalist and its seventh since 2018, including Marvin Harrison Jr. in 2023. The Buckeyes’ 11 finalists are tied for the most in the trophy’s history with Oklahoma and Alabama.
This is the seventh year in a row there have been four Heisman finalists. The Heisman Trophy Trust announced in 2021 it will officially invite four finalists annually to New York City for the Heisman weekend. There have now been 184 players invited to New York as Heisman finalists since the practice was first instituted in 1982.
The 2025 Heisman Trophy ballots went out to 930 electors, which includes 870 members of the media, 59 living Heisman winners and one overall fan vote. All ballots were submitted electronically to the independent accountants at Deloitte.
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