Is Sam Leavitt a Top Heisman Contender?

Arizona State football is back on the map.

The Sun Devils are entering the 2025 season as a strong bet to make the College Football Playoffs and that could inherently bring individual players into the forefront of prestigious awards.

The top three Heisman Trophy candidates at this point in time:

3. Sam Leavitt

Leavitt seems to get lost in the fray when it comes to the top-tier Heisman contender sphere.

The redshirt sophomore consistently slots in in the second tier of candidates despite returning most of his offense and improving at a rapid pace over the second half of the 2024 season.

More from college football analyst David Pollack:

"By far the best odds on the board, to me it's Sam Leavitt. Give me Sam Leavitt. I think it's +2500 (odds for Leavitt to win the Heisman) - I'm not putting him below three as best quarterbacks in college football. You play the most important position, I think they are going to be in the College Football Playoff... they're going to be a highly ranked team for this season. They're going to put up silly numbers. He's going to run it, he's going to throw it."

Expect Leavitt to be firmly in contention for the award if Arizona State wins the Big 12 again.

2. Arch Manning

Manning is entering year one as starting quarterback for Texas after flashing the high-level playmaking ability that made him the number one overall recruit in the 2023 class.

He threw for 939 yards and nine touchdowns in three starts while Quinn Ewers was injured - largely experiencing more success compared to downs.

Manning has all the talent to live up to the family name.

1. Jeremiah Smith

Smith may be an outside-the-box selection, as only two non quarterbacks have won the award since 2010.

However, the sophomore hauled in over 1,300 yards and 15 touchdowns as a freshman with Will Howard at quarterback in a national championship season for Ohio State.

Expect Smith to take an even bigger step forward in 2025 with talented five star Julian Sayin set to take over at QB.

Read more on if the Sun Devils can become a national powerhouse in future years here, and if 2025 is setting up to be as fruitful as the previous season here.

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