Kirk Herbstreit, Joey Galloway break down top candidates, sleepers for Heisman Trophy

Through a month of the season, very little is still known about how things are going to end up in college football. That includes in the race as far as candidates who could win the Heisman Trophy for 2025.

On ‘Nonstop’ on Monday, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit and Joey Galloway answered a question about who they saw currently as favorites for the award, as they went on to name seven players in total during the segment. However, Herbstreit said, and Galloway agreed, that there haven’t been many options so far because there haven’t been many games worthy of Heisman moments to them yet.

“One thing I’ve learned about the Heisman, especially in recent years? You can win the Heisman with a great performance on the last week of the season. It’s almost like everybody is okay, and then somebody goes for 320 yards in their last game, and they win a conference championship and it springs them to a Heisman…I don’t really have a guy,” said Herbstreit. “At this point, you win a Heisman when you play great in big games that everybody is talking about, and I just don’t know if we’ve had those moments yet.”

With that, here were the players named by Herbstreit and Galloway as part of their conversation about the Heisman Trophy:

Candidates

Oklahoma QB John Mateer

Two weeks ago, Mateer likely would have been the favorite when it came to the Heisman Trophy, and he may still stay in the conversation over at OU. With a hand injury, though, that already has cost him one game and which is currently looking like will keep him out of another, and a big one at that with Red River being on Saturday, his hopes are much less than they previously were.

“I would’ve said the frontrunner was John Mateer,” Herbstreit mentioned.

Oregon QB Dante Moore

The other quarterback that Herbstreit noted again was Moore, which he originally said back ahead of the Ducks’ double overtime win in Happy Valley. Now, if he continues his pace – at 74.6% completion, 242 passing yard per game, 14 touchdowns, and one interception – and Oregon wins some more big games like this weekend against Indiana or against a team like an Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship, he could be the latest quarterback for the program to be in NYC.

“Like, Dante Moore – when they asked me on GameDay the other day, who’s the Heisman frontrunner? This is before the Penn State game. I just – I mean, that’s how wide open it is. I threw out Dante Moore,” said Herbstreit. “But, I still don’t feel like – I mean, he’s a great player and he could go on to win it.”

Ohio State QB Julian Sayin

The first name for Galloway was then Sayin, who’s coming off his best game yet as the Buckeyes’ quarterback with 85.2% completion for 326 passing yards and three touchdowns in a 42-3 blowout of Minnesota. If he continues that progression with even more experience, and Ohio State keeps winning like they have, he could very well be at the Heisman ceremony by season’s end.

“I think Julian Sayin is going to creep right into the conversation,” said Galloway.

Miami QB Carson Beck

Galloway, though, was more emphatic about the chances of Beck, who’s completing 73.4% of his passes for 242.6 yards per game with 11 touchdowns and three interceptions during an undefeated start at The ‘U. So, with all of their most difficult games already behind the Hurricanes, he could, assuming his play continues this way, coast his way into Heisman contention out of the ACC.

“If I’m really thinking about it right now, and I say who’s the top guy? Not because of everything that is done up until now, but, if I look ahead? Carson Beck is going to have an opportunity to stay clean,” said Galloway. “He’s going to have an opportunity, going through the ACC, to stay clean, so that he doesn’t have to go against these amazing defenses week in and week out. The weapons he has outside? They’re physical. Good on defense. I think he’s a guy that’s going to continue to creep up and be in a great situation in the end.”

Sleepers

Missouri RB Ahmad Hardy

As we all know, the Heisman Trophy is skewed at this point towards quarterbacks. That said, Herbstreit and Galloway named three sleepers at other positions, like Hardy, the nation’s leading rusher who is at 730 yards, averaging 146 yards per game and 7.1 yards per carry, and has scored nine touchdowns on the ground this fall for Mizzou.

“You know, to me, sometimes we get kind of locked in on the quarterback position, you know. We don’t always look at, you know, other guys and other receivers or running backs. I feel like that’s become an unfair part of this with the Heisman ballots, you know, and voting,” Herbstreit said. “I feel like Ahmad Hardy at Missouri, right? He’s a guy right now averaging about seven yards a carry. I feel like he’s a big part of their identity at Missouri. If you’re looking at just who’s the best player, you could make a case for him.”

Miami DL Rueben Bain Jr.

Herbstreit then suggested a second option from the Hurricanes in Bain Jr., who has wreaked havoc this season defensively with 26 total tackles, a pair of sacks, and a forced fumble, interception, and deflection apiece. That’s on the basis of Herbstreit thinking he may be the best player in the sport, although a full-time defensive player hasn’t won since 1997.

“You know, Rueben Bain at Miami? Like, if you’re just looking at just being who’s the best player in the sport, you could make a really strong case for Rueben Bain,” Herbstreit said.

Ohio State S Caleb Downs

On a similar line of thinking, Galloway then offered up Downs, who has 19 tackles and an interception for the top defense in the country, being number on in scoring allowed and number three in total defense, in Columbus. He would face the same issue with recent history, though, as far as defensive players in the running.

“If we’re doing that then you could throw Caleb Downs in the mix,” added Galloway.