He won it last year, as Louisville Cardinals dual-threat quarterback Lamar Jackson was the best player in college football easily through Halloween. While he and the Louisville program, in general, waned once the weather change, Jackson still took home more hardware than any player in the country. Jackson won the Walter Camp Award, the Maxwell Award and the Heisman Trophy in his sensational sophomore year.
For as explosive as he was on the field in 2016, Jackson has been really quiet off the field after winning the Heisman. That’s probably a good thing, as he has some serious work to do to elevate his precision passing and get Louisville into the College Football Playoff. While he threw for 3,453 yards, 30 touchdowns and only nine interceptions, Jackson only completed 56.2 percent of his passes.
Fortunately, accuracy issues didn’t really matter during his 2016 campaign. Jackson was the closest thing college football has seen since Michael Vick, as he rushed for 1,571 yards on 260 carries for 21 touchdowns. We can expect that Jackson’s game will pivot just slightly as a true junior to be a more refined passer. However, his dual-threat playmaking ability is otherworldly for the Cardinals.
One could argue that this is his award to lose. He did win it last year and his talent on the football is undeniable. Playing in the best version of the ACC to date only helps legitimize his ridiculous numbers. However, are we sure Jackson’s team will be good enough for him to repeat across the college football awards circuit? At least he has the opportunity to repeat.