Heisman watch: Trevor Lawrence opens door for Justin Fields, Mac Jones; welcome Graham Mertz

Heisman watch entering Week 9 as Justin Fields made a triumphant debut for Ohio State in the 2020 season while Mac Jones continued his domination tour of the SEC. 

With the Big Ten making its debut in Week 8, the Heisman watch was always going to attract more players. That, of course, begins with Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, a finalist for the award a season ago, looking to take home the hardware this season. And in his debut for the 2020 campaign, he put down a solid foundation to build a Heisman résume with.

Outside of Fields, however, the Big Ten didn’t deliver in terms of players who will be showing up in the Heisman watch list. Michigan dominated Minnesota in primetime but, while that put a damper on any Tanner Morgan or Rashod Bateman hype, no one on the Wolverines roster truly separated themselves as the star of the offense. The same could be said for Penn State and Indiana as the Hoosiers pulled off a monumental upset.

There was one big surprise out of the Big Ten in that capacity, though, with Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz. Though he wasn’t even slated to be the Badgers starter until the past couple of weeks, he submitted a dominant first showing as he led his team to a big victory over Illinois.

Beyond the premiering Big Ten, perhaps the biggest news for the Heisman race is unfortunate as Alabama star wide receiver Jaylen Waddle suffered a season-ending ankle injury on the first play of the Crimson Tide’s win over Tennessee. For a player who was dominating each time out in a prolific offense, that’s something you never want to see. But even then, the Crimson Tide are still well represented in terms of top-tier players.

So with Week 8 of the 2020 college football season in the book, let’s dive into the Heisman watch once again as we break down the top 10 candidates for the award now that there are many new faces in the mix.