There’s no question that Demond Williams Jr.‘s performance on Friday night was one of the greatest statistical outputs of the 2025 season. He became just the 16th quarterback to ever throw for 400+ yards
and run for 100+ yards in the same game. He also became just the 2nd quarterback of the decade to put up 400+ passing yards and 140+ non-sack rushing yards in the same game next to only Lamar Jackson. You might remember that Jackson won the Heisman in 2016 and finished in the top 3 again the next season.
Still, I’ll admit that I had already flushed any thought of Demond Williams Jr. being in contention for the Heisman from my brain after the loss to Ohio State. Suddenly adding on 500+ yards and 4 TDs to the stat totals after one game though vaults him back into the conversation. Washington announcer Castricone brought this to my attention with a thread on Twitter yesterday in which he noted that it’s almost impossible for the same player to be at or near the top of FBS in completion percentage, yards per pass attempt, and 20+ yard runs.
I’m not going to get into the specifics of those three individual stats but suffice it to say that it made me curious to see where Demond actually stacks up. Washington is halfway through its regular season but the back half looks more imposing than the front with games left at Michigan as well as home contests against Illinois and Oregon (all of whom are pretty clearly top 30 at this point in the season).
That means I wanted to do a proper comparison by only looking at where Demond’s stats stack up against previous Heisman contenders through their first 6 games as well. Sometimes you’ll see a Heisman season where someone had 4,000+ yards and 40 TDs but you forget that it factors in a conference title game plus multiple games in the playoff so that their actual regular season stats were more like 3,000 yards and 30 TDs.
Let’s start by assessing where Demond sits right this second. Here are his stats through 6 games in some of the major categories that voters will likely pay attention to while making their decisions.
Record: 5-1; 1,628 pass yards, 14 total TDs, 1 INT, 10.3 YPA, 382 rush yds, 5.2 YPC (including sacks)
Those certainly seem pretty good but it’s tough to know just by looking at them, how those stats compare to eventual Heisman contenders. I took any quarterback who finished in the top 3 of the Heisman voting since 2016 (Lamar’s win) and their stats at the 6 game mark to see where Demond ranked.
The glaring issue is unfortunately the touchdown totals. No eventual top 3 finisher in the Heisman over the last decade had fewer than 17 total TDs after 6 games. Demond sits at 14 right now which is going to happen when your star running back is leading the country in rushing TDs. That’s the right call for an offense which has had red zone struggles in the past and features a hybrid battering ram/bowling ball at running back. But it’s undeniable that if you took 3 of those rushing TDs and turned them into either QB keepers or short passing touchdowns then it would bolster Demond’s case.
The other numbers are fully within range. Out of the 23 total QBs when you include Demond, he sits at 6th in completion percentage, 18th in passing yards, tied for 2nd in fewest interceptions, 10th in yards per attempt, 5th in rushing yards, and 8th in yards per carry. If you chose to just combine passing/rushing yards the way I did for touchdowns then he would be 11th in total yardage. Look past the touchdown totals and it’s fair to say that Demond is having what would be pretty close to a median Heisman-contention season.
That is happening despite Demond playing in an era that is less friendly for putting up gaudy statistics. Teams are scoring fewer points and have had fewer possessions (very correlated) than they have at any point in the last 15 years. I’m not going to go through and try to do an era-adjustment the way baseball stats like ERA+ or OPS+ do but it’s fair to say that when you compare Demond to his peers then the bar is probably a little lower than presented above.
Fortunately, there’s a very scientific way of figuring out where Demond sits in this year’s Heisman chase. It involves looking at the stats of the other quarterbacks for this year. Shocking, I know.
Right now Demond Williams Jr. is 14th in the Heisman voting odds at FanDuel. Let’s go ahead then and look at the stats of the 14 QBs with the best odds and see how they compare to some of those historically great seasons that we saw above.
I put Williams at the top but everyone else is listed by where their odds are right now. There are two asterisks next to Carson Beck and Haynes King who have only played 5 games but are both undefeated in a very iffy ACC. Among this group of 14, Demond is tied for 8th in total TDs, 2nd in completion percentage, 1st in total yards, tied for 1st in fewest interceptions, and tied for 2nd in yards per attempt. Once again, if you look at everything but the touchdown totals then he is extremely competitive if not in line to be the favorite.
The touchdowns are a problem but the biggest concern for Demond (both in this Heisman la-la land and in reality) is the win-loss record. Jayden Daniels infamously won the Heisman going 9-3 at LSU over Michael Penix Jr.’s undefeated trip to the College Football Playoff. It is possible to win a Heisman with a 9-3 record but you have to have truly overwhelming stats (and play in the SEC for a blue blood) to get it done. Washington almost certainly has to go 10-2 at a minimum for Demond to have a realistic shot and maybe even go 11-1 if his stats are close to the next best contenders. That’s an extremely tough ask in addition to needing him to keep his statistical production about the same.
Only three current QBs have put up numbers after three games that are better than the worst Heisman contender of the last decade in every single category: Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, Alabama’s Ty Simpson, and USC’s Jayden Maiava. I would consider those to be the best bets right this second unless Carson Beck comes out and throws for 400+ yards with 5 TDs in his 6th game of the year once they come back from a bye week.
It’s entirely unfair to view this season through a Heisman lens. Washington needs to focus on winning games and it will take everything they’ve got to come out with at least a split over the next two weeks against Michigan and Illinois. If that means Jonah Coleman/Adam Mohammed score on every Husky touchdown on the ground to further lower Demond’s touchdown rank then so be it. There won’t be any disappointment if Washington finishes 9-3 and Williams is 10th-15th in Heisman voting. But at the midseason mark it’s worth at least noting that there’s a chance the stars align down the stretch for a truly special season for the Huskies and their quarterback.
