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Greetings from “Can’t Wait For Saturday,” your morning morsel of college football, courtesy of longtime Illini beat writer, AP Top 25 voter and Heisman state rep Bob Asmussen. He’ll give you his views each day on the game he loves.
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The always informative/entertaining Stewart Mandel of The Athletic handled a question in his Mailbag that deserves commentary.
He seems to have smart fans and one of them asked for his four Heisman finalists.
Mandel stared his answer by pointing out the folly of a prediction now, mentioning all the recent finalists who came from far deep on the list of potential contenders, including the guy who got my vote in 2024: Boise State tailback Ashton Jeanty.
After that reminder, Mandel came up with a logical, reasonable list.
He starts, as I would, with Ohio State superstar receiver Jeremiah Smith.
The cool thing, unless the rules change, is that Smith has two more years with the Buckeyes. So, he could potentially match Buckeyes legend Archie Griffin as a two-time winner. Sorry, cart before the horse.
Mandel also went with Texas quarterback Arch Manning, Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik and Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer.
Remember, Ohio State and Texas open at Columbus, so there will be some clarity in the Smith-Manning race before Labor Day.
My list at the moment, would scratch Klubnik and Mateer — both fine prospects — and replace them with Notre Dame tailback Jeremiyah Love and Penn State running back Nick Singleton. Love is a better candidate by a smidge because Singleton is going to be sharing the ball with Kaytron Allen.
Of course, there is always a chance someone new could jump into the race. Like, say,…
Source link : https://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/cant-wait-for-saturday-imho-it-is-never-too-early-to-write-about-heisman-contenders/article_8873b3d9-e5fc-4572-bcf3-bf11cd938605.html
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Publish date : 2025-07-05 14:47:00
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