Wide Receivers Catching Attention In The Latest Heisman Buzz
There are fewer pure wide receivers who have won the Heisman Trophy than fingers it takes to make a one-handed grab.
But an exciting crop of pass catchers looks to change that as we close the book on September with wide receivers snatching as many plaudits as passes out of the air.
Let’s kick off the latest round of Heisman Buzz with one of our 2025 Heisman Top 10 vote-getters in Ohio State junior wide receiver Jeremiah Smith.
After opening the first two seasons of his career with a combined 163 receptions for 2,558 and 27 touchdowns, Smith is on pace for a career year with 33 grabs for a national-leading 617 yards and an NCAA-co-leading seven TDs in four games.
Smith, sixth in the 2025 Heisman balloting and the recipient of four first-place votes, is coming off a monster game in Ohio State’s 42-19 win over Illinois. He posted career highs in receptions (12), receiving yards (217) and touchdowns (four), making a clear statement in the Big Ten opener.
In The Athletic’s first straw poll of the season, Smith received 18 of 24 first-place votes among the outlet’s staff. It went on to say: “Smith’s combination of size, body control and ball skills leave him without an equal in the college game. He’s on track for his best season yet after two years in which he ranked among the best nationally. His 18.7-yard per-catch average is better than all but one receiver with more than 20 catches this year.”
Another receiver earning Heisman frontrunner status is Miami wideout Malachi Toney, who got a handful of votes in The Athletic poll and is consistently mentioned among media outlets.
Which is understandable. Toney, in helping the No. 5 Hurricanes to a 4-0 start, has 34 receptions for 564 yards and six touchdowns, averaging 16.6 yards per grab. He is on pace to better his sensational 2025 freshman campaign that featured 109 receptions for 1,211 yards and 10 scores.
Yahoo! Sports called Toney “unguardable” (a sports term spellcheck doesn’t like, but is yet true) and said “there’s also an argument that he’s the best wideout in the nation.”
Both Toney and Smith are blessed with talented QBs who could both figure in the Heisman voting. Buckeye signal caller Julian Sayin, of course, was fourth last year in the balloting. He may be a victim of high expectations as he is among the nation’s leaders in completion percentage (72.2), passing yards (1,206) and passing TDs (10) but has yet to crack the 2026 Heisman zeitgeist just yet.
First-year Miami QB Darian Mensah, on the other hand, has, though not without merit. The former Duke star is leading the nation in QB rating (228.24) and completion percentage (88.7 on 94-of-106 passing). He is the nation’s co-leader with 14 TD passes — two more than his incompletion total — and has thrown for 1,211 yards.
Bleacher Report has Mensah as its top Heisman contender after Week 4 and wrote this in its most recent Heisman assessment: “When a quarterback matches a season-worst total of four incompletions in the fourth game of the season, you know things are going well. Darian Mensah hit 23-of-27 attempts in a 52-3 rout of Central Michigan, ending the opening month with a 94-of-106 line. That would be an 88.7 completion rate, which is just absurd at this level.”
Mississippi State QB Kamario Taylor was third in Bleacher Report’s ranking, behind Mensah and Smith. Taylor’s Heisman stock is quickly rising across the media board.
Taylor, second in The Athletic’s poll, has the Bulldogs unbeaten and ranked No. 16. He has a 14-2 TD to interception ration while passing for 1,192 yards on 83-of-120 passing. Unlike many of his peers, Taylor already boasts three wins over major-conference teams, including Saturday’s 31-24 win over No. 25 Missouri.
Said Yahoo! Sports: “Kamario Taylor’s season isn’t getting enough attention. He’s been awesome, throwing for 1,192 yards, 14 touchdowns and only two interceptions … Taylor can make any throw you want and is dangerous outside the pocket. He’ll face tougher tests ahead, but he’s shown no signs that he can’t handle it.”
Fellow SEC QB Trinidad Chambliss remains in the thick of the early Heisman race, entrenched in most outlets’ top 5s. Ole Miss dropped its first game of the season Saturday, but Chambliss still threw for 298 yards and a score and rushed for two more. Last year’s eighth-place finisher in the Heisman race doesn’t appear to be going anywhere.
Chambliss’ Rebels lost to the Gators, who are led by running back Jadan Baugh. Baugh was listed fourth in Bleacher Report’s Heisman ranking this week and fifth by The Athletic. He had a big game against Ole Miss, rushing for 142 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries.
Baugh has 600 rushing yards in four games, second nationally with 150 yards per game to go with an NCAA best 11 rushing scores, including six in two wins over SEC opponents.
Chambliss and Baugh were featured in last week’s Heisman Hopeful’s Podcast along with Cal safety Kingston Lopa. The Bears lost last week but Lopa finished with a co-team-leading 11 tackles, including seven solo stops.
The Heisman Hopefuls Podcast streams every Thursday during the college football season and is hosted by Chris Huston. The pod is available on all streaming networks, including Spotify and Apple Music, and full videos of the show are available on YouTube, with clips on TikTok and Instagram.
• • • As a weekly reminder, college football fans can now vote on a daily basis at hopefuls.heisman.com and have their vote count at the end of the season. The fan vote uses a season-long weighted model, developed in partnership with the Carnegie Mellon Sports Analytics Center, that gives greater weight to votes cast later in the year as the body of work grows and conference races intensify.
