Paul Finebaum defends inclusion of Caleb Williams as Heisman contender

Caleb Williams has given a huge spark to Oklahoma’s offense since taking over at quarterback. Williams is already in discussion as a potential Heisman candidate. While he hasn’t started since the past couple of weeks, Williams has inserted himself into the discussion behind extremely strong play. ESPN’s Paul Finebaum believes that Williams should be a contender for the Heisman, and he defended that idea on Sunday.

“Caleb Williams is so impressive,” Finebaum said. “I put him on a Heisman list today and I got a lot of flack. Come on. The Heisman, I don’t really care what you did the first two or three weeks. Your team is undefeated and you are really the reason they are undefeated. That’s pretty significant. I’m impressed. Oklahoma has some really big games ahead.”

Finebaum revealed his list of the top four contenders for the Heisman on Sunday morning, and Williams came in at the fourth spot.

“I start with someone who wasn’t starting two weeks ago because the person in the number one position was the Heisman favorite, but Spencer Rattler is now on the bench and Caleb Williams is possibly leading Oklahoma to a playoff berth,” Finebaum said. “They make every game look excruciatingly difficult but he is doing so well.  Keep your eye on him.”

Others are split on Williams’ potential Heisman candidacy

On College GameDay on Saturday morning, the crew was split on whether or not Williams has a real shot at the Heisman. Rece Davis said that Williams would not be his pick at this point. And Lee Corso said that he didn’t think Williams can win the Heisman.

“I don’t think Williams can win the Heisman trophy,” Corso said. “I’ll tell you why. He was a backup for six weeks. I don’t think it’s possible he gets more votes than Young and Corral. But listen, if he continues to play well, he will be a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate next year.”

Kirk Herbstreit, though, believes that Williams has a shot in the Heisman discussion. Herbstreit noted that nobody has really stood out and taken control of the Heisman race, which could be good for Williams.

“I would say that eight weeks in, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a year where nobody seems to want the Heisman,” Herbstreit said. “There aren’t any Heisman moments. We can bring up Matt Corral who is a very gifted quarterback or Bryce Young who is quarterbacking Alabama, we can bring all those quarterbacks up. But to me, the guy who’s giving you those Heisman moments is Caleb Williams.

“He’s got Baylor on the road, Iowa State, at Oklahoma State and potentially the Big 12 Championship. So, he’s going to have a stage where nobody has stepped out to win the Heisman. And he’s already looked like a Heisman winner as far as the spectacular plays. He’s going to keep trending in a very positive direction.”

Oklahoma is now 8-0 on the season and 5-0 in the Big 12 after beating Kansas on Saturday. The Sooners are No. 4 in the latest AP top 25 poll.