It's six-months until the college football season starts, but it's never too early to debate who might be the top player in the game.
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Bovada is here to help us, and the odds are a little surprising.
Let's start with the surprise. Lamar Jackson, last year's Heisman winner, is 13/2 and falling. Yes, Jackson is currently No. 2, but he's not close to the top (yet, anyway). You would think Jackson, who led the Louisville Cardinals to a 9-4 record and threw for 3,543 yards and 30 TDs, would get a little more love. Another season like that should get him stronger consideration.
Two Alabama players are on the rise - the dynamic duo of running back Bo Scarbrough (9/1) and quarterback Jalen Hurts (10/1). Scarbrough, the 6-foot-2, 228 pound powerhouse, averaged 6.5 yards per carry and scored 11 touchdowns; Hurts threw for more than 2,700 yards as a freshman and should improve. And, Alabama is projected to go the college football players again and compete for a national championship, and that will help their viability.
But it's the early No. 1 that's a surprise. At 4/1, USC quarterback Sam Darnold is the heavy favorite. As a freshman, Darnold burst on to the scene completing 67 percent of his passes for 3,086 yards 31 touchdoffwns. Several mock drafts already project him as the first QB taken in the 2018 NFL draft, and he could go as high as No. 1.
You still have to play the game. But it will certainly be an interesting road to the Heisman.
