5 best Heisman Trophy candidates in the Big Ten for the 2024 season

The upcoming 2024 college football season is seeing the most drastic change it has ever experienced in the past several years. Many conferences underwent serious additions and some deductions from teams looking to cash in on new TV deals. The Big Ten Conference will see its biggest change since adding Nebraska, Rutgers and Maryland to the conference just about a decade ago.

The Big Ten added USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington from the West Coast region to the stacked list of teams. These are teams that have serious National Championship title hopes. They also have serious contenders for the Heisman Trophy Award; in addition to the older teams maintaining similar award odds.

Here are the top five players that are likely to win the Heisman Trophy this upcoming season.

5. Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State WR

It shouldn’t be a surprise to see an Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver expected to produce huge numbers. Senior wide receiver Emeka Egbuka is next in line to be another first-round from Columbus.

First, he must help Ohio State get back at the national championship contention level. In the 2022 season, Ebuka caught 74 receptions for 1,151 yards and 10 touchdowns. This past season, injuries plagued his productivity as he was held to 41 receptions for 515 yards and four touchdowns in 10 games. He should be a big help to the new incoming transfer starting quarterback in Will Howard.

4 and 3. TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins, Ohio State RBs

This selection almost feels like cheating picking two players, but there are two star playmakers and one ball carrier. Senior TreVeyon Henderson is the most experienced player in the Buckeyes’ field. In three years, Henderson rushed for 2,745 yards and 32 touchdowns on 446 carries. Keep in mind that he accomplished this in only 31 games due to injuries. He continues to battle injury concerns by missing the spring with a foot injury. If he can remain healthy, he might be one of the toughest running backs in the nation to stop.

Then, there is former Ole Miss Rebel and the Buckeyes’ new explosive star in Quinshon Judkins. He has been one of the underrated players in the SEC for the past two seasons. In the last two seasons, Judkins has rushed for 2,725 yards and 31 touchdowns on 545 carries while also catching 37 receptions for 281 yards and three touchdowns. He has been a high-voltage offensive monster for Lane Kiffin’s Rebels. Now that he plays for the Buckeyes, he might get even more notice, especially if he steals reps from Henderson.

2. Dillon Gabriel, Oregon QB

Dillon Gabriel has been in the college football spotlight since starting as a true freshman in 2019 at UCF. He will be set to conclude his collegiate career at Oregon as the Ducks transition to the Big Ten. In four of his five seasons where he played at least ten games, Gabriel has thrown for over 3,150 yards, 25 or more touchdowns and completed over 59% of his passes. 

He transferred to Oklahoma in the 2022 season after suffering a season-ending injury in 2021 at UCF. Gabriel is coming the best year of his career where he completed 266-of-384 of his passes (69.3%), threw for 3,660 yards, 30 touchdowns and only six interceptions. He also accounted for a quarterback rating of 172. If Gabriel can play this high-level state of play with mistake-free choices; he will be a tough quarterback to beat in the Big Ten. 

1. Miller Moss, USC QB

Usually, it is a sin to put quarterbacks who have only started one game to be given Heisman hype. There are, however, two exceptions to the rule for junior USC Trojans quarterback Miller Moss. The first is that USC head coach Lincoln Riley has developed and coached three Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks and coached a finalist in Jalen Hurts. The second is that Moss had a great first-ever start in the 2023 Holiday Bowl when the Trojans defeated the Louisville Cardinals 42-28. Moss completed 23-of-33 of his passes (69.7%) for 372 yards, six touchdowns and an interception.

Moss threw for 681 yards, seven touchdowns and one interception in five games played last season backing up Caleb Williams. He waited patiently for three years, learning under a Heisman Trophy-winning and the 2024 NFL Draft first overall pick and one of the best modern quarterback developers in the nation. Moss will fully control the offense with last season’s two breakout freshmen receivers Duce Robinson and Zachariah Branch. Expect him to be one of the most underrated players this upcoming season if the new conference play defense doesn’t suffocate him.