Rounding Up The Latest News On A Growing List Of Heisman Hopefuls
The last days of summer melted away this past weekend, the calendar ushering in Fall as relentlessly as an SEC tailgate smokes meat.
Week 4 also melted into the record books following a Saturday of standout performances, another large group of candidates again demanding attention in an exciting early Heisman race.
Ask a dozen media outlets on their thoughts on this year’s Heisman favorites entering the final weekend of September and you’ll get a dozen different takes. (Spoiler alert, we mention almost 20 different players in this roundup).
As Yahoo! Sports put it in a Tuesday headline: “None of the preseason favorites are serious contenders through the first 4 weeks of 2025.”
Today, let’s start with Missouri’s Ahmad Hardy, who led the No. 23 Tigers to a 29-20 win over South Carolina, moving to 4-0. Hardy led surging Missouri with 138 yards and a score on 22 carries. His average of 150 yards per game is second nationally.
The Athletic had this to say on Hardy’s surprising start to the season: “The 5-foot-10, 210-pound sledgehammer has been the catalyst for one of the SEC’s best offenses thus far. He’s also making an early case as a surprise Heisman Trophy candidate in a jumbled race.”
Or read how Missouri Head Coach Eli Drinkwitz put it: “I didn’t think he was going to be this good — let’s be honest. The dude is running through people like he’s a dump truck. He’s a Clydesdale amongst a bunch of fillies. It’s unbelievable.”
Hours before Hardy had his fourth-straight 100-yard game, 2007 Heisman winner and SEC Network analyst Tim Tebow said of Hardy: “(He’s) maybe one of the best players in the country that nobody is talking about.”
Well, a few more certainly are.
But this is a wide open Heisman race with players across the country garnering attention.
Hardy is 14th on on3.com‘s latest staff Heisman poll. Oklahoma’s John Mateer was first among the seven veteran college football reporters that voted, followed in the top 5 by Florida State quarterback Tommy Castellanos, Texas A&M running back Marcell Reed, Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia and Miami QB Carson Beck. Players 6 through 10 included Miami DL Rueben Bain, Oregon QB Dante Moore, Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza, USC QB Jayden Maiva and a tie with Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar and Mississippi QB Trinidad Chambliss.
Said On3 of Mateer: “Mateer has been atop the Heisman Trophy poll for the last few weeks, and for good reason. He’s been absolutely unstoppable and is the clear No. 1 reason Oklahoma has emerged as a potential playoff team.”
Mateer led No. 11 Oklahoma to a gritty 24-17 win over No. 22 Auburn to move to 4-0. The first-year Sooner passed for 271 yards and a score and has now thrown for at least one TD and scored at least once on the ground in each game.
Mateer joined Mendoza and Moore in Bleacher Report’s latest Heisman Trophy rankings in their front-runner status.
Mendoza is coming off a five-TD-pass performance — with just two incompletions in 23 attempts — last week as he led No. 19 to a 63-10 shellacking of No. 9 Illinois, moving the Hoosiers to 4-0. He leads the country with 14 scoring passes and is second in completion percentage (76.8) — he has yet to throw an interception in 99 attempts — and in passer rating (208.79).
247sports.com listed Mendoza — the former California Golden Bear QB — as this year’s top-performing transfer so far while CBS Sports asked the question in their weekly roundup: “Could an Indiana quarterback win the Heisman Trophy? He’s going to give voters plenty to think about.”
Moore threw four TDs on Saturday to go with 305 yards passing and another 53 on the ground, leading the No. 6 Ducks to a 41-7 win over Oregon State. Moore is in the top five nationally for completion percentage and passer rating. He and the Ducks take on No. 3 Penn State this week.
Bleacher Report’s three-player second tier includes Georgia QB Gunner Stockton, Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and Aguilar. The first two were off this weekend, but they go up against Alabama and Washington, respectively, this week. As for Aguilar, the 24-year-old former Appalachian State star has thrown for 1,124 yards and 12 scores with just three interceptions.
BR’s third tier includes Beck, Reed and TCU QB Josh Hoover. Beck had a modest weekend in No. 4 Miami’s win over Florida while Reed and Texas A&M were off ahead of a bout with Auburn. As for Hoover, the Horned Frog QB leads the country with 333.3 yards passing per game with 11 TDs and two interceptions, completing 68.0 of his passes.
Bleacher Report’s fourth tier included USC’s Maiava as well as Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin and Alabama QB Ty Simpson. Typically, a signal-caller having a big year from any of those schools will be in the Heisman discussion. Time will tell how this trio progresses but keep an eye on Maiava, who leads the country in passer rating (208.79) thanks to nine TDs without an interception and a 70.8 completion percentage.
In fact, College Football Report has Maiava third overall in its current rankings behind Mendoza and Mateer with Beck fourth and Stockton fifth.
Sports Illustrated lists Mateer, Moore and Stockton 1-2-3 in its latest Heisman rankings with Washington running back Jonah Coleman fourth and Beck fifth. Coleman leads the nation in total TDs with 10 in just three games. Also in SI’s Heisman mentions were FSU’s Castellanos, Texas A&M wideout Mario Craver, Georgia Tech QB Haynes King, Hardy and Mendoza.
Let’s finish with the unlikely Heisman candidacy of second-year Vanderbilt QB Pavia. He threw for 2,293 yards and 20 touchdowns against just four interceptions last year, leading the Commodores to their first bowl win and winning season since 2013.
Pavia has led Vandy to a 4-0 start in 2025 —all by double digits and thrown for 890 yards and eight scores while running for 215 and one more TD. A date with Utah State this week is followed by games against Top 25 teams Alabama, LSU, Missouri and Texas, so we’ll see how far Pavia can keep his and Vanderbilt’s momentum going.
