Rare repeat in the cards?
NEW YORK — Alabama’s Bryce Young and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud have been friends since middle school, competing in basketball and football while growing up in Southern California.
Young can already claim one victory against Stroud, winning the Heisman on Saturday night over his fellow finalist.
The two quarterbacks will return to college in 2022 and resume the competition from afar.
Young is the fifth sophomore to win the Heisman and sixth player in his second year of college. Stroud is a second-year player and first-year starter, like Young, but a redshirt freshman by eligibility.
In 2022, Young will try to become just the second player to win two Heismans. Ohio State running back Archie Griffin is the only two-time winner of college football’s top player award, taking it home in 1974 and ’75.
History suggest the odds are against Young repeating. Or maybe college football is due for another two-time Heisman winner.
Expect Stroud to be a contender, too.
Assuming talented juniors such as Kenneth Walker III of Michigan State and Breece Hall of Iowa State move on to the NFL, who else will go into 2022 with Heiman hype?
Caleb Williams (Oklahoma QB):
Williams will be a fascinating case study. The former five-star prospect signed up to play with Lincoln Riley, who’s now at USC. With the new NCAA transfer rules, the first question is: Does he stay? And if so, can Oklahoma continue to be a Heisman factory without Riley, who coached winners Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray?
Jaxson Dart (USC QB):
Riley’s new QB was thrust into a starting role as a freshman this season and showed promise on a team that wasn’t very good. The Trojans would need a big turnaround in 2022 to propel Dart into the Heisman conversation. Could happen.
Braelon Allen (Wisconsin RB):
These are tough times for running backs to win the Heisman. Young became the 18th QB winner this century, compared with three RBs. Wisconsin runners usually get the combination of opportunity and team success to make it into the conversation, and Allen looks like the next great Badgers back. After barely seeing the field in Wisconsin’s first four games, he ended up running 1,106 yards and with 7.06 yards per carry.
Sean Tucker (Syracuse RB):
Tucker is worth mentioning because he carried a limited Orange offense this season, with 1,751 yards from scrimmage and 14 TDs.
Will Anderson Jr. (Alabama LB):
A case could have been made for Anderson to win this year’s Heisman after putting up 15.5 sacks and 31.5 tackles for loss. He finished fifth.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Ohio State WR):
Receivers winning the Heisman have been even more rare than RBs because their QBs usually get the credit. And Smith-Njigba is playing with a Heisman finalist in Stroud.