Can Leonard Fournette Lock Up 2015 Heisman Trophy vs. Alabama?

Three years ago, a young star went into Tuscaloosa in early November and made a Heisman statement that resonated across the entire country.

That man's name was Johnny Manziel. A month later, he made Heisman Trophy history by becoming the first redshirt freshman to take home college football's most prestigious individual award.

LSU running back Leonard Fournette has taken a different path but will come to the same intersection Manziel came to just three years ago.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Fournette will walk into Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday night as the unquestioned front-runner in the race for the Heisman and square off against the third-best run defense in the nation (78.50 YPG) in front of a prime-time national audience on CBS in a game other networks specifically program content around to avoid.

As Scott Rabalais of the Baton Rouge Advocate noted, it's essentially a two-man race heading into November between Fournette and TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin.

If he's successful against the Crimson Tide, etch it in stone—Fournette will be the 2015 winner of the Heisman Trophy.

"Fournette is the best college football running back since [former Oklahoma running back] Adrian Peterson," said Bill King, Heisman voter and host of The Bill King Show on WNSR 560/95.9 in Nashville, Tennessee. "A good—not even great—performance vs. Bama likely seals it."

Fournette started hot this season, topping the 1,000-yard mark in Game No. 5. That launched him into the forefront of the conversation but also presented the risk of "Fournette fatigue" setting in.

All Fournette has done, though, is hold the course. 

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

He's averaging 193.14 yards per game on the ground, has ripped off nine straight 100-yard games, his 15 touchdowns lead the country among running backs and he has reached a point where he will likely have to have multiple letdowns to not win the award.

"When you look at Fournette, he's just such a physical specimen," said Lance Taylor, Heisman voter and co-host of The Roundtable on WJOX 94.5 in Birmingham, Alabama. "He's got the perfect combination of size, strength, speed and everything. He just doesn't see like a running back that we've seen. He's one of those guys who comes along every 10 years."

However, one strong performance against the vaunted Bama defense will work wonders for Fournette's Heisman campaign.

"If he were to go on the road against what looks to be the elite defense in college football and goes for 150 yards and two or three touchdowns, I don't want to say he'd lock it down, but I guess it really just depends on how many times [offensive coordinator] Cam Cameron wants to give him the ball," Talyor told Bleacher Report.

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Not only would a strong performance impress voters, but coupled with a win, would vault LSU to the thick of the College Football Playoff race, which always helps a Heisman campaign.

It takes a lot for anybody not playing quarterback to put together a season that's worthy of Heisman consideration. After all, former Wisconsin stud Melvin Gordon rushed for 2,587 yards last year, and didn't even get half as many votes as Oregon's Marcus Mariota. Former Badger Montee Ball rushed for 33 touchdowns in 2011 and finished fourth.

To legitimately contend for the Heisman as a non-quarterback, a player needs to jump into the spotlight early, stay in the middle of it for a full three months and carry his team.

Fournette has been doing that.

"If they go out and beat Alabama on the road, I don't have any faith in Ole Miss, so it seems pretty obvious that the winner of this game is going to win the SEC West. Then probably go on to win the SEC and make the College Football Playoff." Taylor said.

If it continues on Saturday, he will break through that glass ceiling and be the Heisman Trophy winner.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics are courtesy of cfbstats.com.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.