Desmond Howard explains why Bryce Young is the only preseason favorite for the Heisman

A new college football season means new hype around several potential candidates for this season’s Heisman Trophy. Even with so many candidates across the country, College GameDay’s Desmond Howard only has one man in mind at the moment for the award.

Howard joined Get Up on ESPN Friday morning to discuss the upcoming college football year. When asked about his Heisman favorite, he kept it short and simple. Alabama quarterback and reigning Heisman Bryce Young being back is all it took for Howard to separate him as the one amongst the rest of the competition.

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“As a former winner, as a voter, and as a member of the fraternity, I take it a little more serious than a lot of the voters who are out there watching highlights. I think there should be a clean slate for everybody. I think everyone should be starting at the same starting line,” said Howard. “But, if you had to give anyone an edge, to me, the only player that deserves that distinction right now would be Bryce Young because he won it a year ago.”

Young took home the 2021 Heisman with a phenomenal sophomore season. He threw for over 4,800 yards and 47 touchdowns on a 66.9% completion rate. That production led Alabama to the SEC title and a national championship appearance. It also led Young right into his room in the Heisman house.

Desmond Howard has seen Young prove it before, which makes him the ideal choice. Young will almost certainly put up a season long campaign to be back in New York considering his merit as a former winner along with his statistics. He won last season’s award going away and would be the favorite to do so again were it not for the difficulty to win the award twice in a career. Even so, Howard doesn’t care for how the current Heisman process and, as of now, Young benefits from that in his mind.

“(Young) is the returning Heisman Trophy winner. I would give him the slight edge over the field simply because of that reason. Outside of that, everybody else should be starting at the same starting point. There shouldn’t be any front runners. We should have a clean slate and just see how they play the season out,” Howard said. “I love for players to earn the Heisman. Not to come in with all this preseason hype. And then you know what happens? Every time they do something, it’s like the first time we’ve ever seen this major highlight. And then they always couple that highlight with ‘Heisman’ candidate or ‘Heisman’ this or ‘Heisman’ that. I would like to see guys go out there and earn it. If I had to give a guy a nod to be the frontrunner, I would say Bryce Young because he’s a returning Heisman Trophy winner.”

As the Heisman winner in 1991, Desmond Howard knows what to look for. Based on the current, yet flawed, voting system, he is leaning Young at the moment. While he doesn’t want to see anyone get a head start, Young’s history with the award has him ahead. It’s on the competition to catch up and on Young to ensure they don’t.