Heisman watch 2020: DeVonta Smith is the best player in college football
Checking in on Heisman watch after Week 14 as DeVonta Smith is the best player in college football but is still behind Kyle Trask and Mac Jones in the Heisman race.
For better or worse, the Heisman Trophy has become a quarterback award. It’s the most important position on the field and the stats in modern college football tend to be gaudy, so it stands to reason why only two non-quarterbacks have won the award since 2000, both of whom were running backs. But if we’re truly looking for the best player in college football this season, it’s not a quarterback.
It’s Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver, DeVonta Smith. The senior has been one of the best at his position for quite some time but he’s gone to another level in the 2020 season. His dominant performance against LSU in Week 14 was just another piece of that puzzle and, as such, he’s been climbing up the Heisman watch rankings since.
If the Heisman race came down to who the best player in the country was, it would go to Smith. But in the reality in which we live with this award and college football, the wide receiver is almost always going to fall short of a quarterback. And our latest Heisman watch rankings for the top 10 players in the race reflect exactly that.
Heisman watch candidate No. 10: Jaret Patterson, RB, Buffalo
Fresh off of nearly setting the FBS single-game rushing yards record as he notched 409 while tying the record for rushing touchdowns (8), everyone was excited to see what was next for Jaret Patterson in Week 14. Unfortunately, the MACtion took a hiatus this week for the Buffalo Bulls as their scheduled matchup against Ohio was canceled.
Even still, Patterson’s patently absurd production through the four games that the Bulls have played this season warrants him being in the top 10 of this race. On 107 carries, Patterson has a monstrous 920 yards with 16 touchdowns. He’s been over 300 yards in a single game twice already and has simply been unstoppable. Here’s to hoping he can get on the field again to keep showing off his talent.
Heisman watch candidate No. 9: Spencer Rattler, QB, Oklahoma
Spencer Rattler and the Oklahoma Sooners have been making a late push to try and get into the College Football Playoff, albeit likely too little too late. However, they needed to rack up style points as they faced Baylor on Saturday night, which meant that the redshirt freshman quarterback needed to ball out at the level he had been lately, if not at a higher level.
Unfortunately, Rattler fell a bit short of that. In the 27-14 win, Rattler and the Sooners just weren’t all that impressive. The young quarterback completed 20-of-28 passes but for only 193 yards and two touchdowns with an interception and nothing to speak of on the ground. The future is incredibly bright for the signal-caller but his outside chances at even being a finalist for the award this season likely went out the window on Saturday.