7 Preseason Heisman Candidates out of the Race for College Football's Top Trophy

As we begin the third week of the 2015 college football season, the Heisman Trophy race remains wide open. With previous Heisman winners Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston in the NFL, there is no clear front-runner as the season unfolds.

You can’t win the Heisman in the first two weeks of the season, but you can certainly lose it. A large field of potential candidates has been slightly winnowed in the first two weeks, as one might expect, with players falling by the wayside due to poor play or other factors beyond their control, like playing time or injuries.

Here are seven players who have already seen their Heisman Trophy campaigns come to an end before reaching the middle of September. 

Ohio State QB J.T. Barrett

Jay LaPrete/Associated Press

J.T. Barrett won't win many Heisman Trophy votes as Ohio State's backup.

One year ago, J.T. Barrett took advantage of Braxton Miller’s shoulder surgery and played his way into the Heisman Trophy discussion with impressive, poised leadership of Ohio State’s offense. He threw for 2,834 yards with 34 touchdowns against 10 interceptions and added 938 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground.  He had 9-1 odds in late August.

However, his 2015 Heisman candidacy took a severe hit when he suffered a broken ankle in the regular-season finale against Michigan. The ankle would heal fine, but his injury opened the door for Cardale Jones. He was even better in leading the Buckeyes to a national title, and while the two waged a spirited battle for the starting role all summer, Jones edged out Barrett.

Barrett will get some playing time behind Jones this fall, but it won’t be nearly enough to convince voters he’s college football’s best player. That might have to wait until next fall if Jones, a junior, declares for the NFL draft.

Pitt RB James Conner

Gene Puskar/Associated Press

James Conner's 2015 season ended almost before it began due to a knee injury.

When the season began, James Conner was only a 50-1 Heisman favorite, but he had the skills to break through and challenge to be Pitt’s first Heisman winner since Tony Dorsett in 1976. Last fall, Conner, who stands 6’2”, 250 pounds, emerged as one of the nation’s best tailbacks. He was a workhorse, carrying 298 times for 1,765 yards and 26 touchdowns with a trio of 200-yard games.

New Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi loves to run the ball, and everything was setting up well for Conner until he tore his MCL in the season opener against Youngstown State. Conner’s season, and his Heisman hopes, are over. We’ll have to wait until next year.

BYU QB Taysom Hill

Nati Harnik/Associated Press

Taysom Hill is one of the unluckiest players in recent college football history.

It must be tough being Taysom Hill. When healthy, BYU’s quarterback has flashed impressive dual-threat skills and shown that he is one of the most dynamic players in college football. It’s the “when healthy” part, however, that keeps Hill out of the Heisman Trophy conversation.

Last fall, he was impressive before suffering a season-ending broken ankle against Utah State. After rehabbing the leg, Hill was a 33-1 candidate to win the Heisman before the season began. However, the injury bug bit again in the opener at Nebraska. Hill left with a Lisfranc foot fracture, ending his season.

Freshman Tanner Mangum has been outstanding in his place, throwing  a pair of late, long touchdown passes to lift the Cougars past Nebraska and Boise State, but we can’t help but wonder what might have been had Hill stayed healthy.

Auburn QB Jeremy Johnson

Associated Press

Comparing Jeremy Johnson to Cam Newton seems a bit rash after two games.

An impressive spring performance created what might have been an unreasonable amount of hype around new Auburn starting quarterback Jeremy Johnson. His frame and skills drew comparisons to another Auburn Heisman winner—No. 1 overall NFL draft pick Cam Newton—and Johnson was a 10-1 Heisman pick in early July, which was, remarkably, third-best.

Two games into the season, those comparisons look silly. Auburn is 2-0 after escaping FCS foe Jacksonville State in overtime, but Johnson has been shaky at best. He has thrown for 373 yards with three touchdowns against five interceptions, several of which were very poor decisions.

Johnson needs to run better to take pressure off his passing game. Per Michael Niziolek of the Columbus (Georgia) Ledger-Enquirer, Auburn coach Gus Malzahn believes he can do that:

"

The first two games, especially last game, the defensive ends were getting up field, and most of the read game was a give. That was kind of their deal to keep everything in the middle, but there will be times that other teams will take the back instead of him. He can run the football, and he definitely will before the year is out.

"

Heisman? Hardly. Johnson needs to worry about hanging onto his job if he doesn’t improve, and this week’s test against LSU won’t be easy.

Mississippi State QB Dak Prescott

Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press

Dak Prescott is the best player on a depleted Mississippi State roster this fall.

Last fall, Dak Prescott burst onto the national radar while leading Mississippi State’s improbable rise to national prominence. The Bulldogs won 10 games and spent five weeks as the nation’s No. 1 team, and Prescott, a junior quarterback, was the centerpiece.

Prescott used dual-threat skills to impress Heisman voters, throwing for 3,449 yards with 27 touchdowns against 11 interceptions while rushing for 986 yards and 14 touchdowns. He returned for his senior season, but the Bulldogs retained just seven starters and have clearly taken a step back from 2014.

Through two games, Prescott has thrown for 572 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions and added 53 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Those numbers aren’t Heisman-worthy, and he won’t receive the kind of attention a Heisman candidate needs while Mississippi State struggles to break through the middle of the SEC West pack.

Arizona LB Scooby Wright III

Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

A knee injury torpedoed Scooby Wright's Heisman hopes.

Michigan cornerback/wide receiver Charles Woodson is the only defensive player to ever win the Heisman Trophy, but each year, pundits find a defensive player to watch, just in case. This summer, that guy was Arizona linebacker Scooby Wright III, and with good reason. Last fall, he was college football’s most prolific defender. He piled up 163 tackles (No. 1 nationally), 14 sacks (No. 3) and 29 tackles for loss (No. 1) while finishing ninth in the Heisman Trophy voting.

He won every major defensive award he could, taking home the Chuck Bednarik Award, the Lombardi Award and the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, as well as the Jack Lambert Award and the Pac-12’s Defensive Player of the Year.

So of course he’d be the top 2015 candidate. Unfortunately, Wright's campaign didn’t last long. He left the Wildcats’ opener against Texas San Antonio with what was diagnosed as a torn meniscus, and he’ll miss a month of the season following surgery. Arizona can still benefit from his presence in the Pac-12 race, but his Heisman run is over.

Notre Dame QB Malik Zaire

Andrew Shurtleff/Associated Press

Malik Zaire's promising season ended with a broken ankle at Virginia.

As the season began, everything was setting up perfectly for Malik Zaire. He was Notre Dame’s unquestioned starting quarterback following a spring battle with incumbent Everett Golson, who subsequently transferred to Florida State.

And the Fighting Irish were a Top 15 team who returned 17 starters from last year’s eight-win team and were poised for significant improvement. Zaire validated the hype in the season opener against Texas, completing 19 of 22 passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-3 rout of the Longhorns. But last week at Virginia, he suffered a season-ending broken ankle, ceding the offense to redshirt freshman DeShone Kizer.

Notre Dame might roll on without him, but Zaire’s hopes of a Heisman Trophy run are finished for 2015.

Preseason Heisman odds are courtesy of Odds Shark.