Gators Facing Several Heisman Candidates in 2025

While the Florida Gators will have their own Heisman hopeful in DJ Lagway, they’ll be tasked with facing multiple candidates for the award in 2025.  The Gators will take the field with six of the 17 Heisman candidates, based on BetMGM’s odds.

Sitting atop the charts is Texas’ Arch Manning. He has spent two years with the Longhorns and now enters his redshirt sophomore year as the expected starter in Austin. Manning took a strong step forward as a redshirt freshman last year, throwing for 939 yards and nine touchdowns while rushing the ball 25 times for 108 yards and four touchdowns. The Longhorns travel to the Swamp this year in Week Five.

Entering the year with the second-best odds is LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier. He started all 13 games last season for the Tigers and totaled 4,052 passing yards and 29 passing touchdowns. He did struggle a little with turnovers, having thrown 12 interceptions. The last time the Gators faced him, he completed just 27 of his 47 passes for 260 yards and a touchdown. Florida will travel to Baton Rouge in Week Three. 

Then, sandwiched in between the LSU and Texas contests will be Miami. Leading the Hurricanes is former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck. Beck transferred to the Hurricanes this offseason after spending five seasons with the Bulldogs. During that time, he threw for 7,912 yards and 58 touchdowns. 

He did rack up 309 yards and two passing touchdowns last season against Florida but didn’t look his best in the game. He only completed 62.5% of his passes (25/40) and threw three interceptions. 

The others on BetMGM’s Heisman odds list are Georgia’s Gunner Stockton, Ole Miss’ Austin Simmons and Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed. 

Stockton ended the season as the starting quarterback for the Bulldogs after Beck went down with an injured shoulder. In the final two games of the season, he was 32-for-48 with 305 passing yards, one touchdown and an interception.

Simmons, a one-time Florida commit, is still relatively inexperienced. While he played in nine games last season, he only attempted 32 total passes for the Rebels and completed just 19 of them for 282 yards and two touchdowns. 

Reed had a career year as a redshirt freshman last year. He played in 11 games and showed off great dual-threat abilities. He passed for 1,864 yards and 15 passing touchdowns while also rushing the ball for 592 yards and seven scores. 

The Aggies' quarterback was also named SEC Freshman of the Week after his performance against the Gators in Week Three. Reed was 11-for-17 for 178 yards in the air and two touchdowns. He rushed the ball for 83 yards and added a touchdown on the ground as well. 

Florida will get Texas A&M in Week Six, Georgia in Week Eight and Ole Miss in Week 10.

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