5 best Heisman Trophy candidates in the ACC for the 2024 season

We are rapidly approaching a decade since the last ACC star won the Heisman Trophy. Although historically it has been more of a basketball league, we have seen plenty of gridiron stars get their love in New York before. While Lamar Jackson was the last winner to come out of the ACC during his sensational sophomore season at Louisville in 2016, Florida State has had three Heisman winners.

Unfortunately, the league is in a very weird spot. Jim Phillips is looking more and more like the worst commissioner in the Power Four, while schools like Clemson, Florida State and North Carolina may want to jump ship and join a new league here soon. Regardless, the expanded playoff will guarantee at least one team from this league to get into the new 12-team postseason format. That is so neat.

Even though most college football people are down on the ACC as a whole, the top quarter of the league should be fixtures inside the top 25. We could get multiple teams out of this league into the College Football Playoff. For that to happen, we are going to need to see its star performers elevate these programs to the national stage. This means that we will need a Heisman Trophy finalist from it.

Although none are projected to win it out of the ACC, here are my five best picks to get to New York.

5. Miami Hurricanes RB Damien Martinez

Despite being highly skeptical that an ACC player will win the Heisman Trophy this year, I did have a hard time sifting through a handful of candidates for the last spot in this exercise. I settled on former Oregon State running back Damien Martinez, who is now at Miami. He joins the same Miami backfield with his fellow Pacific Northwest Step Brother in former Washington State quarterback Cam Ward.

Martinez was the best potential returning player for Oregon State, but now that the Beavers lost their Power Five designation with the Pac-12 going away, he needed to find a new place to play. He may not be my pick to win the Doak Walker, but that doesn't mean he isn't a top-five running back in the college game right now. I think his partnership with Ward in the Hurricanes backfield can be amazing.

I cannot wait to see Miami go Prestige Worldwide all over the ACC this season with these transfers.

4. Clemson Tigers QB Cade Klubnik

To be totally honest, I really just needed a Clemson player here. Even though I am seeing the game pass Dabo Swinney by with every passing breath out of his body, this is still a top-15 program in the country. Since they don't do transfers, then how about Cade Klubnik actually being good for once this year? Last season was supposed to be a breakout campaign for him, but maybe it will be this season?

This is all about Clemson being there in the end in contention for a trip to Charlotte. At times during this offseason, I had the Tigers as my pick to win the ACC, but now, I'm not so sure. What I do know is if they win 11 games and get to the ACC Championship Game, it will be because Klubnik finally becomes the star we all thought he could be coming out of high school in Austin. He may be a JAG...

The talent is there, but it would be weird to see him be Clemson's first ever Heisman Trophy winner.

3. Florida State Seminoles QB D.J. Uiagalelei

Look who we have here! Guess who's back in the ACC again? D.J. Uiagalelei (checks notes) is the new starting quarterback for the Florida State Seminoles. After seeing him not be Trevor Lawrence or Deshaun Watson at Clemson for a few years, Uiagalelei looked markedly better during his one year as the starter at Oregon State. Damien Martinez and Jonathan Smith were also on that team as well...

The reason I have Uiagalelei ahead of his former Clemson teammate Cade Klubnik is the combination of where he is playing now, who he is playing for and what he has at stake in the final season of his college career. Mike Norvell is a helluva college head coach. Florida State is hungry after getting snubbed from last year's playoff. For Uiagalelei, he needs to play well to be a day-two NFL Draft pick.

In a weird way, I can see Uiagalelei have a great final college season like Kenny Pickett did over at Pitt.

2. North Carolina State Wolfpack QB Grayson McCall

We have finally arrived at one of two ACC transfer quarterbacks I think have a halfway decent chance of getting to New York this year for the Heisman Trophy ceremony. Honestly, I am kind of shocked he is still eligible, but man, do I love me some Grayson McCall. He was sensational for years with the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. The man has gone from p*****g teal to seeing red. Look out, ACC!

I may not be as high on the North Carolina State Wolfpack as my FanSided.com colleague and False Start co-host Cody Williams, but I really like their chances of getting to Charlotte. NC State made it to the Final Four and the College World Series. Now all we need is for the football team to hold up its end of the bargain and play some meaningful games in late November. McCall will be a big reason for that.

If he is ACC Player of the Year, look for McCall to be a top-four Heisman Trophy vote getter this year.

1. Miami Hurricanes QB Cam Ward

It's obvious. It has to be new Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward. He briefly entered the 2024 NFL Draft after a so-so two-year run at Washington State. The Cougars may not have won a lot of games, but man, could Ward throw that football! Had he stayed in the draft, he would have been the seventh quarterback taken after Bo Nix, long before Spencer Rattler eventually came off the board.

More so than new Miami teammate Damien Martinez, Ward will get the benefit of the doubt for Heisman consideration if the Canes go something like 9-3 or better. Turning this thing around is easier said than done. We know that Mario Cristobal can recruit, but he is about as good at x's and o's as he is at taking knees. If Miami gets to Charlotte and makes the playoff, Ward will be a finalist for it.

If any ACC player is going to win the Heisman Trophy this year, the smart money would be on Ward.