Preseason 2026 Heisman predictions: Breakout Ole Miss quarterback leads charge heading into the season

The 2025 breakout star's journey from D-II Ferris State to Ole Miss is well-documented, and he could have one more sensational chapter to write.

The Rebels won a program-record 13 games a season ago, and Chambliss led the SEC with 3,937 passing yards while completing 66.1 percent of his passes with 22 touchdowns and three interceptions and rushing for 527 yards. He set a high bar, but after his dazzling D-1 debut, we're expecting even bigger things for the encore.

Finalists: BYU Cougars running back LJ Martin • Miami Hurricanes quarterback Darian Mensah • Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Jeremiah Smith

Martin, the 2025 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, elected against turning pro for a chance to run it back at BYU, where he rushed for a conference-high 1,305 yards last season. The rising senior has excellent vision and patience as demonstrated on the following 33-yard touchdown scamper against Cincinnati, a game he finished with 222 rushing yards.

He's also tough to bring down, with Pro Football Focus data showed he ranked first in conference with 56 missed tackles forced and 893 yards after contact. FCS Portland State learned that the hard way in the 2025 opener on a huge 49-yard gain that ended with Martin dragging multiple defenders inside the 10-yard line.

A CBS Week 3 prime-time game at Colorado State will give him broad exposure, and a mid-October home title against USA Today Coaches' Poll preseason No. 5 Notre Dame will provide a chance for a major Heisman moment.

Mensah, the ACC's leading passer at Duke in 2025, enters the season as one of the country's top quarterbacks and is looking to join Cam Ward as Miami's second Heisman finalist in three seasons. Smith, 311 yards shy of becoming Ohio State's all-time leading receiver, burst on the scene with 1,315 receiving yards as a freshman and followed that with 87 receptions for 1,243 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2025, setting the stage for his highly anticipated junior year.

Dark horse: Texas Longhorns edge-rusher Colin Simmons

Texas has several stars capable of becoming Heisman finalists, most notably quarterback Arch Manning. But for a dark-horse pick, we're highlighting Simmons, recently added to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy preseason watch list, an award given annually to the country's best college football defensive player.

The rising true junior recorded 21 sacks over his first two seasons, including an SEC-high 12 in 2025. Simmons is ridiculously fast off the line of scrimmage, wrecking the following play against Vanderbilt by meeting quarterback Diego Pavia in the backfield right after he faked a handoff.

Kentucky quarterback Cutter Boley had just completed his drop-back and was beginning to survey the Texas secondary when Simmons blew up the play from behind, resulting in a fumble.

Simmons similarly wreaked havoc against Arkansas, closing the book on a 52-37 rout with a sack-fumble returned 52 yards for a Texas touchdown.

He isn't just a pash-rushing specialist, either, also bringing value against the run. In an upset loss at Florida, Simmons provided one of the few glimmers of light on an excellent three-down sequence when he recorded two tackles for loss and another stop at the line of scrimmage on consecutive run plays.

It takes a special class of defender to earn Heisman acknowledgment, and Simmons has what it takes to join Ndamukong Suh, Tyrann Mathieu, Manti Teo, Jabrill Peppers, Chase Young and Aidan Hutchinson as the only exclusive defenders this century to be named a finalist.