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It’s an honor unlike any in this profession. I try to remember that every time I cast my ballot for the Heisman Trophy.
I don’t take it lightly. It consumes me throughout the regular season. That means watching players from coast to coast and not just checking out a box score or highlights. There’s a ton that should go into that process. I can’t speak for every voter. I can only speak for how I approach the Heisman.
I don’t have travel obligations during the regular season. I usually have at least 3-4 games on my YouTube TV multiview for all 3 windows on a given fall Saturday, with the goal being to watch the primary teams I talk and write about (the SEC) while also making sure I form my own opinions about Heisman candidates performing in real-time. If one of those candidates is playing a late-night game, like Cam Ward when he led Miami back against Cal, I’ll stay up until 2:30 a.m. ET and make sure I’m dialed into that, as well.
We receive the Heisman Trophy ballot the Monday before conference championship weekend. We are allowed to vote for 3 players. As long as I’m fortunate enough to have a vote, I’ll never vote until conference championship weekend concludes. That’s a data point. It also can’t be everything. Excluding candidates who miss out on conference title games is also a bit unfair in the ultimate team game. This is, for my money, the ultimate individual award that wards to the impact one has on his program.
I say this all because you might assume that all Heisman voters are the same. We’re not. We all have different jobs that shape our perspectives. I’d like to think that as someone who watches as much football as possible, without a rooting interest, my thought process with voting shouldn’t be met with skepticism. I don’t have an agenda.
So with that note, here’s some insight as to how I filled out my 2024 Heisman Trophy ballot:
I considered 4 guys who just missed the cut …
Obviously, many more guys were on my radar well before the regular season ended, but, ultimately, these 4 players just missed getting 1 of the 3 spots on my ballot:
- Dylan Sampson, Tennessee RB
- Cam Ward, Miami QB
- Tyler Warren, Penn State TE
- Dillon Gabriel, Oregon QB
Sampson was firmly in the discussion, and not just because he was in pursuit of Derrick Henry’s SEC rushing touchdowns record. If you watched Tennessee this year, you know how valuable Sampson was for Josh Heupel’s offense. He was the rare bell-cow back who finished drives for an otherwise frustrating unit. Sampson and that defense carried Tennessee to a Playoff berth. The only reason I didn’t vote for Sampson was the fumbling issues. In 4 of his last 6 games, he lost a fumble. That’s a fair knock that even Sampson would admit held him back from an even more memorable season.
Ward was my original choice for that No. 3 spot. He was phenomenal. If I was going to pick a No. 1 quarterback for the 2024 season, it would’ve been him. I joked that I wished we could see Ward play for the highest bidder in the Playoff. He’d be the No. 1 quarterback in the field. But unfortunately for Ward, he just missed the cut in part because of some of the gambles he took. The defensive issues weren’t his fault, so Miami losing 2 of its final 3 wasn’t necessarily his fault. I just thought the 3 guys I voted for did even more to lift their respective programs in unprecedented ways.
If you weren’t a fan of Warren, you weren’t a fan of football. Period. He absolutely deserved consideration as the incredibly versatile Penn State tight end who posted better regular-season numbers than peak-Brock Bowers. I loved all the ways Penn State used Warren. I’m convinced he could’ve done anything. I would’ve loved him even more if his biggest games came against contenders, and if Penn State had trusted him to get looks in some of those key moments against Ohio State instead of using him as a decoy. Warren’s only real “knock” is that he didn’t have quite the impact of the guys ahead of him.
As for Gabriel, I could make a real case that he would’ve won this award by a large margin of this were 1995. That sounds like a knock, but it’s not. The Heisman was more of a lifetime achievement award in the 20th century, and he would’ve checked a variety of boxes as the FBS career touchdowns record-holder who is in the midst of his best season yet for the only remaining FBS unbeaten. And while I love that Gabriel’s been more clutch than the stat-padder he’s been criticized of being throughout his prolific career — Stetson Bennett IV is the only QB in the past 3 years with a better QB rating vs. AP Top 25 finishers (min. 2 games) — my resistance with putting him on the ballot is the surroundings. He has a ton of help. That’s not to say he’s doesn’t deserve All-America love or any end-of-season accolades. But the 3 guys ahead of him did even more heavy lifting for their respective teams.
And again, in case I haven’t said this enough, this year was extremely difficult to settle on a specific order. I went back and forth with all 3 spots.
But ultimately, this was how and why I voted the way that I did.
My No. 3 spot — Cam Skattebo, Arizona State RB
I could give you the stats that fueled this decision. You know, like how Skattebo racked up more scrimmage yards (2,074) than any Power Conference player even though he missed a regular-season game, though he made up for it by leading Arizona State to a Big 12 Championship game in which he had 208 scrimmage yards and 3 touchdowns to clinch a Playoff berth. I could point out how Skattebo had 170 more scrimmage yards in conference play than any Power Conference player, or that among Power Conference running backs, Skattebo finished second with 506 receiving yards.
Pick a stat. They’re all impressive.
But to love Skattebo and who he became for this out-of-nowhere Arizona State team is to watch him play. This guy inspires people with how he runs. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think that you were watching peak-Marshawn Lynch. His ability to laugh off arm tackles and embrace contact was at the backbone of why Arizona State became one of the stories of the year in college football.
Skattebo had been on my radar since I watched him truck Mississippi State for 297 scrimmage yards on 36 touches in Week 2. He was on my short list entering conference championship weekend, and then watching him do vintage Skattebo things in the Big 12 Championship — his 208 scrimmage yards and 3 touchdowns earned him Big 12 Championship MVP honors — pushed him over the edge.
It’s too bad that Skattebo didn’t earn a trip to New York because he absolutely deserved it.
My No. 2 spot — Ashton Jeanty, Boise State RB
Before you blast me and say that I’m insane not to have Jeanty at No. 1, believe me when I say I won’t argue against anyone who put Jeanty at No. 1. In several other years, Jeanty would’ve been my No. 1 choice and I wouldn’t have had any true debate internally. For crying out loud, the guy is 1 decent game from breaking Barry Sanders’ 36-year-old rushing record. His 192-yard rushing day against Oregon was only his 7th-best rushing performance of the season and it actually ended up being his season-long average. The guy is a back-breaking run waiting to happen and college football was more fun with him being phenomenal.
The only problem I have with the Jeanty-Travis Hunter debate was those saying “you’re insane if you think anyone but Jeanty should win it.”
This was about preference. Yes, Jeanty deserves a ton of credit for what he did against Oregon. But just because he did it against Oregon means that his body of work came entirely against Oregon-like defenses. If Jeanty had done his damage against Power Conference teams instead of a Mountain West schedule, he would’ve been No. 1 on my ballot. Could he have? I believe so, but winning the Heisman isn’t about assuming anything, especially when everyone can agree that it’s undoubtedly tougher to shine on Big Ten or SEC defenses compared to Mountain West defenses.
I hate even saying that because it sounds like I’m criticizing what Jeanty did this year, and that’s not my intention. Give him every award and I won’t push back. But for me, I thought what Hunter did was a hair more impressive because of the competition and the impact it had on his team.
My No. 1 spot — Travis Hunter, Colorado WR/CB
No, it wasn’t just the snaps. It was what he did with those snaps. And no, he wasn’t “mid at 2 positions.”
Hunter, who won the Heisman on Saturday night, was as good as any cornerback in the sport while also being 1 of the 5 best receivers in the sport. If you think that was just some sort of media narrative, tell me then why Hunter was 6th in receiving yards and 3rd among Power Conference players. Also, tell me why he had 3 more receiving touchdowns than any Power Conference player, or why he had at least 89 receiving yards in 9 of 12 games.
If Hunter really was “mid at receiver,” tell me why he had 8 receiving touchdowns in the second half/OT? Nobody in FBS had Hunter beat there. Never mind the fact that he was playing 2 positions full-time and he still had that kind of stamina.
But oh, I’m not allowed to mention the snaps because context isn’t valued with Hunter’s production, apparently. I’m also not allowed to mention the fact that he already played 144 snaps when he forced a game-winning fumble on the goal line in overtime to beat Baylor. After all, he was just lucky to be in the right place at the right time.
Ah, but Hunter only had 4 interceptions. That’s not impressive, some would say because he was 1 of 20 Power Conference players who did that. Others, like me, would point out the fact that he was only thrown at 38 times. Others would also menetion that he forced 8 completions, he had 7 pass breakups and 4 interceptions while allowing a 58% completion percentage.
Just in case that wasn’t enough to show Hunter’s impact, remember that he was at the heart of a vastly improved Colorado team. As in, a Colorado team that had 1 6-win season in the previous 16 years before Hunter played both ways full-time for a 9-win team.
If I still haven’t sold you on how unique this was, ask yourself this: If this wasn’t a generational season we witnessed from Hunter, why then hadn’t someone else been anywhere close to attempting this? Don’t you think teams with desperate coaches would’ve tried this with their 5-star athletes? Because again, even if you want to compare him to the closest previous examples of that, Hunter had twice as many catches, 408 more receiving yards and 9 more receiving touchdowns than Champ Bailey, and Charles Woodson averaged 1 catch and 21 receiving yards/game.
There’s no comp. At least not in the modern era of this sport.
To pretend that Hunter was just some media creation is absurd. If you couldn’t appreciate his greatness, that’s on you. As for me, I had no issue writing him in the No. 1 spot on my ballot.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
