Heisman Watch 2022: Contenders emerge in SEC East, but do they have staying power?

Georgia’s Stetson Bennett IV, Florida’s Anthony Richardson and Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker give the SEC East a host of Heisman Trophy contenders

With three straight wins and seven over the past 13 years, the SEC has put a veritable chokehold on the Heisman Trophy, but a submission locked in tighter than anything airing on AEW or WWE has been the product of just one-half of the power conference.

That’s four wins by Alabama — Mark Ingram (2009), Derrick Henry (2015), DeVonta Smith (2020) and Bryce Young (2021) — and one each from Auburn (Cam Newton in 2010), LSU (Joe Burrow in 2019), and Texas A&M (Johnny Manziel in 2012), while the East hasn’t claimed a Heisman since Tim Tebow in 2007.

But the division may not just have a contender. It might have a number of them.

Georgia’s Stetson Bennett IV carved up then-No. 11 Oregon for 368 yards passing and three total touchdowns during the opening weekend, a showcase that helped the defending national champions vault Ohio State for the No. 2 spot in both The Associated Press Top 25 and Coaches Poll.

Meanwhile, Florida went from unranked to No. 12 in the AP Top 25 with an upset of previously-No. 7 Utah on the back of Anthony Richardson. In his second career start, Richardson ran for three scores, while totaling 276 yards (168 passing and 106 rushing), and turned in one of the week’s best plays, as he escaped a sack with a spin move to fire a two-point conversion.

Add in Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker, who ran for 221 yards and a score and threw for two more touchdowns in a rout of Ball State last weekend, and there are layers to this.

Hooker’s hopes remain in wait-and-see mode, but his East brethren have officially joined the party. Bennett and Richardson both cut their odds (per BetMGM) to +1800, that after Richardson opened at +2000 and Bennett a whopping +5000.

Now two of the hottest names in the race after impressive openers, do Bennett and Richardson’s candidacies have staying power?

The Gators host No. 20 Kentucky on Saturday, and a Wildcats defense that ranked 25th last season — that unit allowed 340.7 yards per game, including 122 on the ground, which was 20th in FBS — looks to be stout once again. Florida also closes out the month with a trip to face Hooker and Tennessee, which again has all kinds of offensive firepower.

By October, Richardson could be a legit threat, or he could be out of the race completely. Bennett, though, is a different, and fascinating case.

He started to shred the dreaded “Game Manager” label with 340 yards vs. Alabama in the SEC Championship Game last season and 313 yards against Michigan in the Orange Bowl semifinal, and figures to build on his stat line vs. the Ducks in a mismatch Saturday against Samford.

Bennett could be tested vs. South Carolina, which was seventh vs. the pass last season, and hosts the Bulldogs on Sept. 17, or it could come when Georgia opens October at Missouri, a defense that was 30th in pass efficiency defense a year ago. But after what they did to Oregon, it’s easy to see the Bulldogs running roughshod through a schedule that doesn’t include another ranked team until Oct. 29 vs. the Gators and has just two more (Tennessee and Kentucky) remaining in the regular season.

The only question is whether Bennett’s stats ultimately match what we’ve come to expect from Heisman-winning quarterbacks.

Bennett’s output in the opener could be a taste of what’s to come, but the Bulldogs’ track record says he won’t get to that 4,000-yard/40-touchdown line that the last 11 Heisman-winning passers have averaged. Of course, the sixth-year senior has already defied expectations, going from walk-on to junior college to backup to champion.

There was a groundswell of support last season for Bulldogs defensive tackle Jordan Davis, and despite the historic dominance of that crew, he was resigned to a ninth-place finish in the voting. The reality is Davis wasn’t a prototypical candidate, but if the Bulldogs cruise, voters may well have a poster boy in Bennett, who checks some boxes at a power position (quarterback) with name recognition.

That’s a formula a very short list of contenders can match.

It’s been a wait for the East, which is not only searching for its first Heisman since Tebow, but also its first top-three finish since he was in Gainesville. That side of the conference has had five top-10s after Tebow’s third place in 2008, and the only player to come in higher than ninth is Florida’s Kyle Trask, who was fourth in 2020.

The West still has the defending winner in Young — who now shares the best odds with Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud at +300 — and while the opening weekend is ripe for snap judgments, the East looks like it has something to say in this Heisman race.

Heisman stock watch: Which candidates are heating up, which are falling off?

BUY: Braelon Allen, Wisconsin

Allen picked up right where he left off last season, when he averaged 126.7 yards per game over the last four games, as the Badgers sophomore rolled to 148 yards and two touchdowns on 14 touches vs. Illinois State. Of course, last year he didn’t have a touchdown run like he had in the season opener, because nobody in Badgers history ever has.

He set a school record with a 96-yard run, eclipsing a 93-yarder from James White in 2013. After that efficient day of work — Allen’s 10.57 yards per carry were the best of any back who had more than 135 yards in Week 1 — he now gets a crack at a Washington State defense that gave up 161 yards per game last year on the ground (79th), with New Mexico State (112th in 2021) to follow. Look for Allen to be on a roll going into the Badgers’ biggest game of the season when they travel to Columbus to face No. 3 Ohio State on Sept. 24.

SELL: Quinn Ewers & Bijan Robinson, Texas

Steve Sarkisian as the latest member of the Nick Saban coaching tree to go up against his former boss is the storyline that will get top billing as the Longhorns host top-ranked Alabama. The star power on the field is right there, though, and while Texas enters the weekend with two Heisman contenders in quarterback Quinn Ewers and running back Bijan Robinson, will it have any after this weekend?

The Crimson Tide defense has allowed one running back to break the century mark once in the last 25 games — LSU’s Tyrion Davis-Price, who had 104 last Nov. 6 — and three 300-yard passing games over the last 18. Ewers and Robinson could have eye-opening stat lines by season’s end, but this matchup doesn’t figure to help matters.

BUY: Caleb Williams, USC

New uniform, familiar production. The Oklahoma transfer put on a show operating in the offense Lincoln Riley imported from Norman, throwing for 249 yards and two touchdowns while running for 68 more yards. Within that were two scoring strikes to Biletnikoff Award winner Jordan Addison — touchdowns of five and three yards — a combination that figures to be among the most prolific in the country.

Williams is due for another big day with the Trojans heading to Palo Alto to face Stanford, which was 113th in total defense last season, including 127th vs. the rush. William’s dual-threat capabilities will be at the forefront as he opens a Pac-12 slate that doesn’t truly heat up until an Oct. 15 trip to Utah.

SELL: DJ Uiagalelei, Clemson

Uiagalelei’s 2021 was rough, and he didn’t get off to the greatest of starts in trying to stave off freshman Cade Klubnik. Uiagalelei was 19 of 32 for 209 and a touchdown in the Tigers’ win over Georgia Tech. He also ran for one score and fumbled and remains Clemson’s starter. But it was an uneven performance, and while Klubnik came in for the final drive, which included completions of 20 and 18 yards and ended with a 3-yard touchdown to Will Taylor.

The Tigers have been down this road before with talented freshmen, as Deshaun Watson took over for a veteran in 2014 and Trevor Lawrence did the same in 2018. That change isn’t likely to happen over the next two weeks, with Clemson facing Furman and Louisiana Tech, but with No. 23 Wake Forest and No. 18 NC State to follow, any further shakiness out of Uiagalelei could push a decision to move to Klubnik.

BUY: Spencer Sanders, Oklahoma State

Put your name next to Patrick Mahomes and we have to pay attention. Sanders did that, throwing for 300 yards and three touchdowns and running for two more scores in a half last Saturday, becoming the second Big 12 player to do so, and the first since Mahomes in 2016. Sanders threw for a career-high 406 yards and had 463 total yards in a rout of Central Michigan. The senior had four passes of our of 40-plus yards in that performance, equaling his total from last season.

He’ll face an Arizona State defense that gave up just 120 yards in its opener vs. Northern Arizona, but this isn’t the same unit that was 13th in total defense last season. Gone are the likes of All-American linebacker Eric Gentry and All-Pac-12 tackle Jermayne Lole from a group that has more questions than answers with just four starters back. This stands as a chance for Sanders to build of that monster opener.

SELL: Cameron Rising, Utah

The Pac-12 hasn’t put a team in the College Football Playoff since Washington in 2016, and one of the conference’s best hopes saw those chances sink to the bottom of The Swamp.

The Utes fell 29-26 to Florida, as Rising threw for 216 yards, a touchdown and an interception that came with 17 seconds remaining, and now Utah’s senior passer has to hope he can find a way to make up ground with a schedule that has just one remaining ranked opponent in No. 10 USC, which he’ll see Oct. 15. It’s a long shot, which Rising already was at +6600 to open the season, and now at +8000 odds, it’s unlikely he remains a factor any longer.

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