As the pages on the calendar continue to turn, the race for the Heisman Trophy is on! And we got a little spice thrown into the pot thanks to Colorado star Travis Hunter’s appearance on a former Heisman winner’s podcast recently.
Mike Golic Jr. and Mike Golic Sr. weighed in on Hunter’s comments and put Ashton Jeanty’s outrageous stats into perspective as he may rewrite the college football history books during Thursday’s edition of GoJo and Golic.
Colorado’s do-it-all two-way player Hunter recently made some waves on Robert Griffin III’s podcast, Outta Pocket with RG3, discussing the current race for the prestigious award. Hunter, who has the third shortest odds on DraftKings Sportsbook to win the trophy at +550, told RG3, “I don’t know who’s there. I mean, y’all see Ashton Jeanty, but it’s not like we haven’t seen a running back that’s good. We haven’t seen a player that plays both ways, and I’m going to keep saying that. He had 95 carries for 1,000 yards; if I had 95 catches, how many yards do you think I’d have?”
Jeanty is the current Heisman favorite at +210 at DraftKings Sportsbook.
Hunter’s comments are a bit misleading, particularly when he says we haven’t seen another player play both ways in college, as former Heisman trophy winner Charles Woodson from the University of Michigan would probably like a word.
GoJo says at a base level, he doesn’t have a problem with a player, especially in this day and age, advocating for himself to be involved in the Heisman chase. However, he thinks Hunter’s framework for his argument is flawed and emphasizes that there are some obvious position differences when he brings up the 95 carries versus 95 catches. More importantly, what GoJo takes issue with is that it seems as if Travis is dimming Jeanty’s light to boost himself. He’s not saying Travis is a bad guy, but the way he went about this is flawed and doesn’t do the best job in supporting a very valid Heisman case. Senior, although some would consider him old school in his stance, says he does not like it when players self-promote and downgrade others. Further, to him Travis’ comments seem to be a bit too much, given that his play is highlighted, and his Colorado team is showcased or talked about as much as the top teams in the country because of Coach Prime, Deion Sanders. He doesn’t want to hear those comments from someone we hear about ALL THE TIME.
GoJo acknowledges that he agrees with Senior that Hunter does not have to dim someone else’s light to make yours brighter. Further, he expresses that objectively, Hunter is having a Heisman-worthy season, given he leads Colorado in receptions, yards, and touchdown receptions and has not allowed a touchdown on the defensive side, while hauling in two interceptions. However, he mentions a key factor of “the rule of cool,” a phrase characterized by Bomani Jones regarding running backs and how appealing it is to watch a running back bounce off tackles and make people miss, adding to the hype surrounding Jeanty.
To put in context the type of impact Boise State‘s Jeanty is having, GoJo mentions that last year, eight running backs finished the season with 850 yards after contact, and Jeanty RIGHT NOW has 841 yards after contact. Senior adds an interesting stat — no running back outside of the power conferences has been invited to New York’s Heisman ceremony since then-TCU star LaDainian Tomlinson back in 2000.
Furthermore, he says a lot of this argument about a non-quarterback player potentially winning the Heisman is because no quarterback has taken the reigns in this race. Dillon Gabriel came into the season as the favorite but has taken a step back because of Oregon’s start to the season. He has returned to the top of the rankings with the second shortest odds at +320 at DraftKings Sportsbook after his performance against Ohio State.
Jeanty’s performance as the season progresses will get a boost, as GoJo expresses that a Group of 5 team will get a chance to make the playoff this year. He adds that Boise State has upcoming games with UNLV and Oregon State that will give Jeanty opportunities to have Heisman moments. On the other hand, Colorado has games against .500 teams such as Arizona and Utah that may not have as much juice. Furthermore, GoJo concedes that the guy they should be worried about when we talk about Heisman moments is Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, who leads the Longhorns this Saturday night in Austin against Georgia.
Seeing how the Heisman race unfolds in the coming weeks will be exciting. With standout performances across the country, the competition is heating up. Only time will tell who claims college football’s most prestigious honor.
Watch or listen to the full show below and tune into GoJo and Golic weekday mornings from 8-10 a.m. ET on DraftKings Network! See more about how to watch DraftKings Network here.
SHOW BREAKDOWN
Hour 1: Sabrina Ionescu’s Built For This, Travis Hunter Heisman Trophy Comments & Broncos at Saints TNF Preview
Hour 2: CFB’s Surprise Top 25 Teams, Wemby vs. NBA Stars & NCAA’s New 12-Man Penalty Rule + Shane O’Brien on Alex Ovechkin and the Oilers’ Slow Start
VIDEO
Watch GoJo and Golic every weekday on Samsung TV Plus, Roku, Xumo Play, Google TV and DraftKingsNetwork.com from 8 to 10 a.m. ET. The show is also available via audio on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow Mike Golic Sr. on X at @golic and Mike Golic Jr. on X at @mikegolicjr.
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All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook, lines and odds subject to change.
