The Week 0 games begin Saturday, so there’s no better time than now to get our last season predictions in. One of the biggest questions going into the season is who will win the most prestigious award in all of sports, the Heisman trophy. This year’s crop of talent, especially at quarterback, is one of the deepest we’ve seen in years. So, who’s headed to Manhattan? Here’s my official prediction.
The Finalists
Depending on the year, the number of finalists that make their way to New York is usually between three and five players. Most of that depends on how many are worthy of getting an invite. It feels like that won’t be a problem this year. There’s a wealth of talent, and they will be playing for a number of teams that fit all the traditional unspoken rules of what kind of player Heisman voters love the most.
What kind of player do voters tend to love? Quarterbacks, lifetime achievement award winners, players from blueblood programs, quarterbacks from undefeated teams, quarterbacks from the No. 1 ranked team, and did we mention quarterbacks? It’s not necessarily a proven scientific method, but it’s pretty close at this point. With that being said, here are the five finalists that will be in Manhattan in early December.
2. Ohio State WR, Jeremiah Smith
The Winner– Miami QB Darian Mensah
This feels like the least far fetched preseason Heisman list imaginable. There’s Jeremiah Smith as a non-quarterback who many feel is, and has been, the best player in the country regardless of position for all three of his years in Columbus, Ohio. Then there’s the four quarterbacks of what will most likely be four college football playoff contending teams. It would honestly be shocking if any of the three quarterbacks not named Manning didn’t make the college football playoff.
The winner however, won’t be the highest rated draft prospect Dante Moore. It also won’t be the quarterback from South Bend who will almost certainly be leading an 11-1 Notre Dame team into the postseason considering their schedule. The winner will be Darian Mensah from Miami.
Mensah is supremely talented, and will have an embarrassment of riches at his disposal in Coral Gables. Miami plays in the weakest conference in the country in the ACC. Mensah has already shown what he can do in that conference with much less talent around him. Last year the junior quarterback put up 40 touchdowns and nearly 4,000 yards passing at Duke. If he can do that at Duke, imagine what he can do with a $40 million roster around him. He’ll get national showcase games in October at Clemson and against Florida State, but this award will be all but sown up in early November when the Hurricanes play at Notre Dame.
The winner of the 2026 Heisman trophy will be decided that day, and it will be Darian Mensah.
