SEC Football: Which Dark-Horse 2016 Heisman Candidates Have Realistic Chances?
By now, you've read all about the 2016 Heisman Trophy favorites in the SEC.
LSU running back Leonard Fournette is one of the best players in the country, Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly is fresh off the third-most prolific season in terms of total offense in SEC history, Georgia running back Nick Chubb should be back with a vengeance after his knee injury and Tennessee's dynamic backfield duo of quarterback Joshua Dobbs and running back Jalen Hurd will be in the middle of the discussion.
What about the dark horses?
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There are star players in the conference who aren't being talked about that, if their teams get into division-title discussions, could surprise people and make legitimate runs at the trophy, a lot like former Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott did in 2014.
Who are those players?
Texas A&M WR Christian Kirk
Christian Kirk was a freshman All-American last year at Texas A&M, despite the program's offensive struggles, a midseason quarterback change and a philosophy that can best be described as "scattered."
With another full season in the system, the former early enrollee has the chance to be become the focal point of a new-look offense under offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone that could feature him in a variety of ways.
As Chip Patterson of CBSSports.com noted on Twitter when Mazzone was hired, Kirk will get plenty of looks:
He will also be prominently featured deep thanks to his top-notch route running and ability to high-point the football, as well as a rusher on jet sweeps and reverses. Kirk only had 11 rushes for 54 yards a year ago, but if he doesn't top the 30-carry mark in 2016, something will have gone terribly wrong in College Station.
Texas A&M has a quarterback battle with Oklahoma transfer Trevor Knight battling Jake Hubenak for the top spot on the depth chart, and an offensive line and running game that should be better under Mazzone but is still a work in progress heading into the season.
Kirk is the only known commodity on the offense, should get plenty of work on special teams after scoring two touchdowns on punt returns a year ago and plays for team that should have a darn good defense led by star defensive end Myles Garrett.
Georgia QB Jacob Eason
Wait, what?
A true freshman quarterback in the Heisman mix?
Well, this is a story about dark horses. Somebody's going to break through that glass ceiling at some point, it most likely will be a quarterback since the Heisman is historically a quarterback-driven award and Eason should be the starting quarterback for a high-profile program from Day 1, as noted by Gridiron Now:
Eason will have to clear the typical freshman hurdles and make a few mistakes, but what if those mistakes come at times when it doesn't impact the outcome of games? What if he learns much-needed lessons after games are already in the bag? What if Eason leads his team to the SEC Championship Game in a down division in Year 1, and keeps the Bulldogs at least on the periphery of the College Football Playoff race?
That would be enough to get him mentioned in Heisman Trophy circles, especially if he evolves into a difference-maker as the year progresses.
Remember last September when UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen was the talk of the college football world? He hit a minor lull late in the month, but then ripped off a program-record 245 passes without a pick before throwing two in the regular-season finale against USC.
Something similar from Eason—which is unlikely but still not out of the realm of possibility—would likely get his team to Atlanta and give him a chance at earning a trip to New York City in mid-December.
Auburn RB Jovon Robinson
Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn has produced 13 1,000-yard rushers in 10 seasons as a college head or assistant coach. Two of those have traveled to New York as Heisman Trophy finalists (Cam Newton in 2010 and Tre Mason in 2013), with Newton taking home the award during Auburn's national championship year.
Jovon Robinson is next in line to become a star on the Plains, as noted when I discussed some running back options for the Heisman Trophy last month.
He rushed for 639 yards and three touchdowns as a junior in 2015, including 126 and one score in Auburn's Birmingham Bowl win over Memphis in which he was named MVP. With fellow running back Peyton Barber off to the NFL, it's Robinson's show for the 2016 Tigers, and that show should include a little help from an offense that also features more of a running threat from the quarterback.
"I think my performance over the last half of the season is a testament to my work ethic during the spring, during the summer and during the winter," Robinson said after the bowl game, according to Charles Goldberg of AuburnTigers.com. "I had a slight injury that kind of hindered me a little bit. I feel like I had the support of my teammates and pushed through the adversity."
At 6'0", 230 pounds, Robinson has the size to be a bruiser between the tackles and the speed to be a burner when he gets into space. He will be a star for the Tigers in 2016, especially if junior college transfer quarterback John Franklin III wins the starting quarterback job, becomes an edge threat and Malzahn's offense mirrors the 2013 edition that helped send Mason to the Big Apple.
Alabama QB Blake Barnett
No, Alabama hasn't named a starting quarterback for the 2016 season. No, that probably won't happen until late August at the earliest.
It doesn't matter.
Redshirt freshman Blake Barnett will win that job after learning the ropes on the scout team in 2015, as 247Sports' Charlie Potter noted, and he will blossom into a star in Tuscaloosa.
Barnett was actually reclassified as a pro-style passer from a dual threat during the 2015 recruiting cycle, and he is the perfect blend of former Crimson Tide quarterbacks Jake Coker and Blake Sims. He has the arm strength to stretch the field deep, can push it sideline-to-sideline and can take off and run on designed runs, options and scrambles just as Sims did in 2014.
If he does win the job, Barnett will have an elite coordinator calling the plays in Lane Kiffin—who has proved over the last two seasons that he can figure out the quarterback position on the fly and make his signal-callers stars within the Crimson Tide offense. Barnett will have a superstar receiver in Calvin Ridley, game-breaking tight end O.J. Howard and a talented wide receiving corps to rely on when Kiffin decides to stretch the field deep.
He's the best quarterback prospect head coach Nick Saban has ever had on his Alabama roster, and will be a star eventually. It could happen in 2016, especially if the Crimson Tide figure some things out along the offensive line.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics are courtesy of CFBStats.com, and recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports.
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.
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