We're one month into the college football season, and the Heisman Trophy race is really starting to take shape. As the candidates emerge, it's starting to look like we could get our second non-quarterback winner in three years.
Up in Columbus, Ohio State superstar Jeremiah Smith is essentially an NFL player torching college athletes. What Smith does to opposing defensive backs is unfair, and he's well on his way to making history with a monstrous season.
Speaking of monstrous, The Swamp is home to an absolute terror on the ground. Every time Jadan Baugh touches the football, there's a good chance it results in six points for Florida, and he's currently on pace to finish with 33 rushing touchdowns.
Smith and Baugh have been tremendous through the first four weeks, but there are quarterbacks lurking in the Heisman race. Darian Mensah is the most accurate man on the planet, and Keelon Russell already looks the part of a superstar at Alabama.
There's still a long way to go, but here are the early returns on the 2026 Heisman Trophy race.
Stock up
Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State
Smith is playing a different sport than most of the players around him. Even in a loss to Texas, Smith still managed to reel in eight receptions for 164 yards and a touchdown. This past week, Smith had a truly preposterous game with 12 receptions, 217 yards and four touchdowns. He now leads all FBS players in receiving yards (617) and receiving touchdowns (seven).
Jadan Baugh, RB, Florida
Give the ball to Baugh, and good things happen pretty frequently. Baugh leads the country with 11 touchdowns on 83 attempts, meaning he's found the end zone on 13.3% of his carries. Coming off a 142-yard and three-touchdown performance against No. 4 Ole Miss, Baugh already has a superstar performance in a marquee game.
Darian Mensah, QB, Miami
Finally, we have arrived at the quarterback position, where Mensah simply cannot miss. The Miami quarterback has two more touchdown passes (14) than incompletions (12), so it shouldn't come as a shock that he leads all FBS quarterbacks with an 88.7 completion percentage.
Keelon Russell, QB, Alabama
Russell is up to 11 total touchdowns after a nuclear performance against South Carolina, and he has lived up to the hype in Tuscaloosa. Frankly, the Crimson Tide running game is still far from perfect, but it doesn't really matter because Russell can paper over some of those flaws himself.
Kamario Taylor, QB, Mississippi State
Taylor's 14 passing touchdowns are tied with Mensah for the most in college football, and he might be the best story in the sport. Taylor has single-handedly elevated the ceiling for Mississippi State this fall. It just so happens that Russell and Taylor play one another this weekend, so drop whatever you're doing and find the nearest TV once that game kicks off. The winner of Saturday's game should vault into the next tier.
Malachi Toney, WR, Miami
Toney leads the ACC in catches (34), yards (564) and touchdowns (six). To this point, the only thing holding Toney back has been the quality of competition -- or lack thereof -- on Miami's schedule. Toney will need a monster performance against Notre Dame later this fall in order to give himself a real shot at New York.
Holding steady
Trinidad Chambliss, QB, Ole Miss
Yes, Chambliss has already suffered a loss, but he can't fill a gap or take a good angle in run defense. If he can, Ole Miss may want to give him a look on that side of the ball, too. Chambliss leads the SEC with 1,222 passing yards, and he's already up to 12 total touchdowns. He may need to be Superman for the Rebels to reach the playoff, but I'm not ready to rule out that possibility.
Julian Sayin, QB, Ohio State
As will be the case all year, Sayin's Heisman Trophy chances will be capped because he plays on the same team as Smith, but that shouldn't take anything away from the Ohio State quarterback's performance. Sayin picked up where he left off last season with his pinpoint accuracy; his 10-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio is absurd, and he's averaging 301.5 yards per game.
CJ Carr, QB, Notre Dame
Thus far, Carr is on pace for a similar season to the one he posted in 2025. The Notre Dame quarterback has been incredibly efficient, and he's taken exceptional care of the football. The issue for Carr is that the Fighting Irish won't need him to put the pedal to the metal in most games, so those matchups against BYU and Miami will be critical for him.
Stock down
Sam Leavitt, QB, LSU
Here we begin a run of quarterbacks who haven't really wowed on a week-to-week basis. After clobbering Clemson in Week 1, Leavitt threw three interceptions against Louisiana Tech and got off to a slow start in his team's loss to Ole Miss. Leavitt was also banged up in last week's win over Texas A&M, so that will be worth monitoring in the coming weeks.
Arch Manning, QB, Texas
Manning does have something of a signature moment -- leading Texas' fourth-quarter rally against Ohio State. Still, Manning's play has been a little uneven at other points throughout the season. He's completing just 63.5% of his passes and has seven touchdowns to three interceptions, and there are questions about his status as a first-round NFL Draft prospect.
Josh Hoover, QB, Indiana
Filling the shoes of 2025 Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, Hoover faced high expectations coming into the season. That's probably why he's the biggest faller to this point. On the surface, Hoover's numbers have been great. He's completed 70.0% of his passes for 850 yards, 11 touchdowns and no interceptions, but that doesn't tell the full story. Despite a collection of elite weapons around him, Hoover has looked pedestrian on too many occasions, and the schedule won't get any easier.
