10 Non-Seniors with Best Shot at 2018 Heisman Trophy
If recent history is any indicator, the chances of a senior winning the Heisman Trophy are slim. Yes, Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield broke that trend a year ago, but 14 of the past 16 winners of college football's most prestigious individual award were freshmen, sophomores or juniors.
This year, college football is full of players with eligibility remaining who could win the award.
Last week, we previewed the seniors with the best chance to win. But several non-seniors have the talent and ability, too.
From two Group of Five programs to under-publicized Power Five schools to some usual suspects from College Football Playoff contenders, the underclassman candidates are plenty.
As the winner of the Heisman is most often a quarterback or running back, all the players here play one of those two positions. Can McKenzie Milton duplicate his stellar numbers from a season ago under Scott Frost? Can a player like Cam Akers maximize his potential and burst into superstardom?
Who will join those two non-seniors on this list?
Cam Akers, Florida State Running Back
1 of 10
2017 stats: 194 rushes, 1,025 yards (5.3 average), 7 TD; 16 catches, 116 yards, 1 TD
Why he has a shot
Though Cam Akers obviously loved Florida State's previous coaching staff enough to commit to them, he had to be thrilled when he saw Willie Taggart replacing Jimbo Fisher.
Taggart is a known developer of running backs, and Oregon's Royce Freeman came back for his senior season in Eugene just to learn under him and gained 1,475 yards while scoring 16 touchdowns in an injury-rebound year. Now Akers stands to benefit, too.
Jacques Patrick will keep Akers from getting overworked, but the former Mississippi high school standout looks primed to realize his immense potential. He was one of the most widely recruited players in the nation two cycles ago, and he showed why a season ago.
Considering he was just learning the nuances of the position after playing as an option quarterback for Clinton High School, Akers should thrive in his second year after getting on-the-job training a season ago. The ACC should watch out.
Best opportunity for a Heisman moment
Clemson brings its powerhouse program to Tallahassee on October 27, and the Seminoles will try to shift the balance of conference power back in their direction. Akers is a huge piece of that puzzle.
If he can somehow blow up for a huge game against arguably the best front seven in the country, featuring guys like Clelin Ferrell and Dexter Lawrence, the Heisman voters will take notice.
AJ Dillon, Boston College Running Back
2 of 10
2017 stats: 300 rushes, 1,589 yards (5.3 average), 14 TD
Why he has a shot
While Akers got a lot of publicity in 2017 because of his recruiting pedigree and fact he plays for a blue-blood program, the ACC's top running back was a different freshman.
One of the biggest reasons why Boston College came from nowhere to go to a bowl game was the emergence of AJ Dillon. The 6'0", 240-pound bruiser is an old-school, between-the-tackles runner who wasn't heavily recruited.
Coach Steve Addazio proved last year he isn't scared to give Dillon the ball as a workhorse. He can team with fellow rising sophomore, quarterback Anthony Brown, to make the Eagles another surprising team in 2018. Addazio obviously has a high opinion of Dillon.
"Where do I think he can be? If he stays healthy, I think he can win the Heisman Trophy here at Boston College," he told ESPN.com's David M. Hale in February.
Dillon is a talented centerpiece for Boston College, and if the Eagles can continue to take strides, people will know the runner's name soon enough.
Best opportunity for a Heisman moment
Boston College can be a very good team this year, but much depends on a three-game stretch beginning October 26, when the Eagles host Miami, travel to Virginia Tech and host Clemson.
Dillon will have the opportunity to battle the league's three best teams and three big-time defenses in the process. If he winds up with 300-350 yards and leads BC to a couple of wins, he'll begin to get the attention warranted to win the Heisman.
J.K. Dobbins, Ohio State Running Back
3 of 10
2017 stats: 194 rushes, 1,403 yards (7.2 average), 7 TD; 22 catches, 135 yards, 1 TD
Why he has a shot
Though J.K. Dobbins didn't put up the same kind of numbers as another high-profile freshman in his class (more on that guy later), he is the most explosive player on this list.
Dobbins is a Texas product who can absolutely fly, especially for a guy in a 5'10", 208-pound frame. He has the ability to run between the tackles, and he also can take it to paydirt once he gets to the perimeter.
It doesn't hurt that Dobbins has already experienced huge games (101 yards and a score at Michigan; 174 yards in the Big Ten Championship Game win over Wisconsin) and plays for a prestigious powerhouse.
He also plays for a coach in Urban Meyer who knows how to utilize and maximize star players. If he can find the end zone more often (plucking scores from Mike Weber), he may win the Heisman.
Best opportunity for a Heisman moment
Legends are made at Ohio State and Michigan in the season finale between the two heated, hated rivals.
If Dobbins is healthy all year, he's going to post some big numbers. But it'll be important how he performs against the Wolverines and their vaunted front seven, and again the next week if the Buckeyes make it to the conference title game again. If he shreds Michigan, Dobbins should be at the ceremony.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
McKenzie Milton, Central Florida Quarterback
4 of 10
2017 stats: 265-of-395 (67.1 percent), 4,037 yards, 37 TD, 9 INT; 106 rushes, 613 yards (5.8 average), 8 TD
Why he has a shot
McKenzie Milton should have been more in the conversation a year ago. The maestro of college football's only undefeated team accounted for 45 touchdowns and was dynamic no matter the opponent.
Even when Auburn stopped him in the first half of the Peach Bowl, he responded with a resounding second half to lead Central Florida back to a massive win. But can Milton duplicate his stats with Scott Frost gone to Nebraska? Will new coach Josh Heupel know how to utilize him?
It's promising that Heupel helped Missouri quarterback Drew Lock realize his potential a season ago as the Tigers offensive coordinator. Now, he walks into another great situation with Milton, a junior who should spend the next two years in Orlando.
If Milton posts similar numbers to a season ago, and if the Knights continue to be one of the nation's biggest Group of Five stories, he'll be popular among voters.
Best opportunity for a Heisman moment
A quietly important three-game stretch early in the year has the potential to shed a lot of light on Central Florida: On September 15, UCF heads to North Carolina, and six days later, Lane Kiffin brings his upstart Florida Atlantic team to Orlando.
The following week, Pittsburgh comes to town. If Milton can somehow sweep those games and keep posting Xbox numbers, everybody could finally realize his name belongs among the nation's top players.
Shea Patterson, Michigan Quarterback
5 of 10
2017 stats: 166-of-260 (63.8 percent), 2,259 yards, 17 TD, 9 INT
Why he has a shot
Before Shea Patterson got hurt a season ago, he was on track for a huge year with Ole Miss during his sophomore season, with weapons like A.J. Brown, D.K. Metcalf and DaMarkus Lodge around him.
He'll enjoy the same type of elite receiver talent if Patterson can win his NCAA appeal to be eligible immediately for the Wolverines. Guys like Donovan Peoples-Jones and Tarik Black have high ceilings; they just need somebody to consistently get them the ball.
Enter Patterson, who has a dynamic skill set and will have more of a national spotlight on him after leaving Oxford following Hugh Freeze's ouster. He has the chance to be coach Jim Harbaugh's best signal-caller yet, and he is without question the most talented.
Patterson looks like he has everything it takes to be a great NFL prospect, but he needs to prove he can stay healthy and win at a high level.
If he does, he immediately makes the Wolverines a contender.
Best opportunity for a Heisman moment
Much like J.K. Dobbins needs to shine against Michigan's front seven, Patterson will need to thrive against Ohio State's secondary. The Buckeyes always have first-round players on the back level, and guys like Kendall Sheffield ensure that will continue.
Patterson can light up the Big Ten all year with the blossoming talent around him. If he can come up with a heroic performance and lead the Wolverines over the Buckeyes for the first time in the Harbaugh era, big things will follow, including some potential hardware.
Devin Singletary, Florida Atlantic Running Back
6 of 10
2017 stats: 301 yards, 1,918 yards (6.4 average), 32 TD; 19 catches, 198 yards, 1 TD
Why he has a shot
Anybody who gets in the end zone 33 times should garner some recognition, and Devin "Motor" Singletary began to earn his share of headlines late in his sophomore year. With Lane Kiffin as his head coach, the media will at least have an eyebrow cocked in the direction of Boca Raton.
That extra attention can't hurt Singletary, who is the beneficiary of Kiffin's creative offensive play-calling. With Jason Driskel leaving football, the Owls don't have a proven quarterback in 2018, which means Singletary may have even more touches.
Also, with a new signal-caller, Kiffin may rely on Singletary's pass-catching ability out of the backfield.
FAU plays in such an obscure conference, it's going to be difficult to get the necessary marquee matchups to get enough of a buzz going. But if it's a particularly slim year for Power Five candidates, Singletary or Milton could benefit.
He's going to put up some huge numbers.
Best opportunity for a Heisman moment
The Owls are not scared to play quality competition, and Kiffin wants to put his team on the map.
They will get the chance to shock the world—and Singletary will get the opportunity to prove he's a legit national name—in the season opener against Oklahoma. Then 20 days later, the Owls travel to Orlando to take on Central Florida in another big battle.
If Singletary churns out big yards and gets in the end zone multiple times against the Sooners and Knights, his name may be part of the Heisman conversation all season.
Jarrett Stidham, Auburn Quarterback
7 of 10
2017 stats: 246-of-370 (66.5 percent), 3,158 yards, 18 TD, 6 INT; 4 rush TD
Why he has a shot
Auburn may have a difficult time recreating the same buzz from 2017 when the Tigers shocked the SEC with an Iron Bowl domination of Alabama before flaming out in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia.
A big part of that, of course, was running back Kerryon Johnson. But former Baylor transfer quarterback Jarrett Stidham improved as the season went on. The big-armed sophomore, at times, carried the team with his ability to scramble from the pocket and find open receivers.
That's a far cry from his early-season struggles. Later in the year, coach Gus Malzahn talked about the development.
"Remember in fall camp I was saying, 'Hey, we have to give this guy time?'" he told ESPN.com's Alex Scarborough. "We knew he was talented in the spring, but we had to give him time."
With Ryan Davis, Eli Stove, Darius Slayton, Will Hastings, Nate Craig-Myers and others back, it's possible Auburn will be a more pass-centric team this year, especially with no Johnson or Kamryn Pettway.
The Tigers always find players who can carry the ball, so the running game will come along—but for now Stidham is a proven commodity.
Best opportunity for a Heisman moment
Much like Michigan-Ohio State, legends are forged in the Iron Bowl.
Stidham has to travel to Tuscaloosa to take on the Tide this year, but by that time, his individual accolades and the opportunity to win bigger things will be right there in front of him. Beat Alabama and put up some big numbers, and Stidham will be a beloved figure on the Plains with consecutive wins over his rival.
And with so much receiving talent around him, another big performance against the Tide could catapult him into the Heisman Trophy conversation.
Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama Quarterback
8 of 10
2017 stats: 49-of-77 (63.6 percent), 636 yards, 11 touchdowns, 2 INT; 27 rushes, 133 yards, 2 TD
Why he has a shot
It may seem crazy to put Tua Tagovailoa on this Heisman Trophy list, especially after just 77 collegiate passes. His mugshot should be next to the word "hype" in the dictionary.
But the bottom line is when you help lead Alabama to a 26-23 overtime victory over Georgia in the national championship game, the headlines follow—especially when the win tied Nick Saban with Bear Bryant in championships and kept the Bama legends flowing.
Nobody adores their stars like Alabama, and the best program in college football also provides the most opportunities for big-game moments.
So, yes, even though Tagovailoa may not even be the starter at the beginning of the season (folks shouldn't count out Jalen Hurts in this race; after all, he's won the job before), he belongs in the running. He has elite arm strength, and the lefty can throw receivers open. He also can tuck it and run with the best of them.
Tagovailoa has all the tools. Yes, he's raw, but he will have the nation's top talent around him, and the wins will follow. If he posts the stats, he'll be in the conversation.
Best opportunity for a Heisman moment
Auburn is likely to cause the stiffest challenge, and Tagovailoa would need to shine against the Tigers for sure, but it's another group of Tigers who could help him generate buzz even earlier than the Iron Bowl.
The Crimson Tide travel to Death Valley on November 3 to face Greedy Williams and an extremely talented LSU secondary. Yes, the Tigers must replace some talent, but they always have elite players on the back level and always want to beat Saban and the Tide.
Alabama has had their number the past few years, and if Tagovailoa continues that with a memorable performance, everybody will be talking about the sophomore down the stretch.
Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin Running Back
9 of 10
2017 stats: 299 rushes, 1,977 yards (6.6 average), 13 TD
Why he has a shot
Much like the team for which he plays, nobody was talking about Wisconsin freshman running back Jonathan Taylor for much of last season. Then, they looked up three-quarters of the way through, and he had spent his entire first year in Camp Randall shredding defenses.
The Badgers spent all that time with a spotless record.
Though they wound up losing to Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game, they proved they weren't a fluke by thumping Miami in what was virtually a Hurricanes' home game in the Orange Bowl. That whole time, Taylor thrived. He nearly totaled 2,000 rushing yards.
And he broke Adrian Peterson's freshman rushing record. If he can provide an encore, there's no way he'll slide under the radar. Teams have him circled on their calendar, and if he approaches 2,000 yards again, he could win the Heisman, and the Badgers could be in the conference picture yet again.
Best opportunity for a Heisman moment
The Badgers escape Ohio State in the regular season yet again, but they'll have to play Penn State and Michigan in what will be a much healthier in-season Big Ten slate. As strong as those two lines of scrimmage will be, Taylor needs huge games in both showdowns.
Though Wisconsin is far from a one-man show and can win the game with quarterback Alex Hornibrook and its defense, Taylor will generate big personal headlines with stat-padding games against the Wolverines (on October 13) and the Nittany Lions (on November 10).
Khalil Tate, Arizona Quarterback
10 of 10
2017 stats: 111-of-179 (62 percent), 1,591 yards, 14 TD, 9 INT; 153 rushes, 1,411 yards (9.2 yards) 12 TD
Why he has a shot
This is finally Khalil Tate's team. He has posted some huge numbers throughout parts of the past two seasons, and he really began to realize his immense potential last year.
Under the tutelage of new head coach Kevin Sumlin and offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone, Tate should become a much better passer. If he can couple that with his uncanny knack for creating huge plays with his feet, Tate will be the nation's most dynamic player. Yes, that includes Stanford senior Bryce Love, too.
Zona Zealots' Eric Townsend wrote the addition of Mazzone will benefit Tate:
"In 2010, while at ASU, Mazzone helped coach Steven Threet, who ranked 49th in the NCAA in passing efficiency in his first season in Tempe. The Sun Devils' passing offense that season ranked in the Top 40. The following year, Mazzone coached Brock Osweiler to a 37th ranked passing efficiency. From 2012-15, Mazzone had the opportunity to coach both Brett Hundley and Josh Rosen at UCLA, coaching the Bruins to a 26th, 17th, 13th, and 54th passing efficiency ranking respectively in his time in Pasadena."
Though Rich Rodriguez had some issues with the Wildcats, he left Sumlin with plenty of talent. Tate may have more raw talent than any other player in college football. If he can find a way to harness it and polish those abilities, he's going to be the most fun show in the game.
Best opportunity for a Heisman moment
An early-season showdown against Ed Oliver and Houston will be a great launching pad for the hype, but Tate needs a huge game against USC at home on September 29 to really get the Heisman train going.
If Tate can manage 400-450 all-purpose yards, three-plus touchdowns and win that game over the Trojans, not only could it spark his Heisman campaign, it could put the Wildcats in a position to represent the division in the Pac-12 title game.
Unless otherwise noted, stats are courtesy of Sports Reference and CFBStats.com, and recruiting data is courtesy of 247Sports' composite rankings.
Brad Shepard covers college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter at @Brad_Shepard.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
