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With the 2024 college football season winding down, the race for the Heisman Trophy seems to be kicking into high gear.
The main candidates for this year’s award look to be Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, Colorado superstar Travis Hunter and Miami star quarterback Cam Ward.
While Jeanty had a leg up on the pack after beginning the season on a record-setting pace, it’s now Hunter who has taken the lead in a new straw poll from The Athletic.
“Hunter had the weekend off and still managed to take a leap in The Athletic’s Heisman Trophy straw poll — right past Jeanty, seizing first place for the first time in four weeks,” Joe Rexrode writes.
Hunter took 12 of a possible 27 first-place votes and led the poll with 57 points. But Jeanty is not far behind. He nabbed 11 first-place votes and came in with 51 points. Ward is just behind with 41 points, but only three first-place votes. One participant voted for Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel to win.”
Travis Hunter And Ashton Jeanty Are Going Tic For Tac In Heisman Race
Hunter, who stars as both wide receiver and cornerback fro the Buffaloes, has campaigned pretty hard for the award.
“Nobody’s done what I’ve done and put up the numbers I have on both sides of the ball,” he said. “I’ve got a whole stat sheet on both sides of the ball, and I’m playing the whole game. You never see me tired…
“I mean, y’all see Ashton Jeanty. It’s not like we haven’t seen a running back that’s good. We haven’t seen a player that plays both ways and I’m going to keep saying that.”
Jeanty, meanwhile, issued a measured response to his comments.
“Kudos to Travis. He’s balling for real. He’s doing some stuff we ain’t ever seen nobody do. Personally, I don’t take no offense to it. He’s just speaking his opinion, everybody’s got an opinion,” he said. “For me, what I’ve been doing hasn’t been done in 36, 37 years. That’s something special. If I keep that up and break a record that’s been around for 36 years, I feel like you can’t really compete with that.”
Perhaps the most surprising element of the poll in Ward in third. He currently quarterbacks the highest-ranked team of the three players and has been downright incredible.
Ward, a senior, has completed 67.1 percent of his passes for 3,146 yards, 29 touchdowns and just six interceptions. He’s run for three scores for an undefeated Hurricanes team.
Hunter may be the favorite, with Jeanty hot on his tail, but this feels like a Heisman Trophy race that is far from over heading into the last month of the season.