College Football

NCAA Football News and Notes: 2021 Heisman Trophy Odds

We are still about six months from College Football kicking off again, but it's never too early to take a look at the current betting odds for who will be taking home the 2021 Heisman Trophy in December.

Just a reminder to those of you who are new to the betting world and would like to take a stab at a few of these guys at your favorite betting site, I will be using the American form of the betting line, which includes the + sign rather than a fractional betting amount.

For example, Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Spencer Rattler currently leads Heisman betting odds at +300. So, if you are going to bet Spencer Rattler to win the Heisman in 2021, for every $100 you bet on him, you will return an additional $300 if he wins. The fractional way would be to say he has 3/1 odds to win the Heisman.

In this article, we will look at the top guys favored to win the Heisman Trophy and then a peek at one of my favorite "off the board" picks for the award.

Spencer Rattler (Oklahoma) +300

Oklahoma is known for quarterbacks winning the Heisman Trophy this century. They have had four quarterbacks take home the award since Jason White started the trend in 2003.

Followed up by Sam Bradford in 2008 and then back-to-back Heisman awards for OU QB's with Baker Mayfield in 2017 and Kyler Murray in 2018.

Oklahoma leads all schools in Heisman Trophies won since 2000 with four. All four of them quarterbacks. If USC is known as "Quarterback U," then Oklahoma should be known as "Heisman Quarterback U."

There is a reason Spencer Rattler is the favorite to win the award in 2021. He is a dual-threat monster in an offense that can score points at will.

As a freshman in 2020, Rattler went 9-2 while throwing for 3,031 yards and 28 touchdowns to only seven interceptions. He ran for another 160 yards and six more touchdowns.

He will likely use his legs more as he matures and gets more comfortable in the offense next season as a Sophomore. Then again, if defenses can't cover his wide receivers, he will just throw before he even has to run.

D.J. Uiagalelei (Clemson) +500

It will always be a bit of a head-scratcher that Trevor Lawrence never won a Heisman Trophy during his time at Clemson. The likely No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft will be handing over the keys to the Clemson offense to Sophomore D.J. Uiagalelei.

Uiagalelei did a masterful job filling in for Lawrence when Lawrence contracted COVID-19 in October of 2020. Leading them to a come-from-behind victory against Boston College in which Clemson trailed by 18 points in the first half. He tossed for 342 yards and two touchdowns.

He then followed that performance up with another eye-popping 439 yards and two touchdowns in a double-overtime loss to Notre Dame.

It will be quite a race to see who can put up the more video game-like numbers each week between Rattler and Uiagalelei.

Breece Hall (Iowa State) +4000

If you're looking for a longshot pick, and you're saying the NCAA leading rusher from 2020 is returning for his Junior year, and I can get him at +4000? Sign me up.

Hall is a monster with Derrick Henry-type tendencies. The Iowa State offense returns the majority of their starters, and Hall will continue to rack up monster numbers in the Big XII.

I love putting a little money on Hall to win the Heisman in 2021 as a bit of a hedge against the favorites that are all quarterbacks.

College Football