Each week this college football season, For The Win will take a look at the 2026 Heisman Trophy race and break down the contenders. Check back every Tuesday as the best college football players in the country jockey for position with both oddsmakers and bettors. All odds via BetMGM.
Week 0 is in the books, but the main event in college football begins with Week 1 this weekend.
A new season is upon us, and that means we will have a new Heisman Trophy winner for 2026. Last year, Fernando Mendoza came out of nowhere to win the award while leading the Indiana Hoosiers to a 16-0 season and their first national championship.
Mendoza began the 2025 campaign just +5500 in Heisman odds. Will we see another longshot emerge to win the Trophy this fall? Or
will it be one of the preseason favorites?
The 2026 season will bring the answers, and as we embark on another campaign, here's where things stand in the preseason Heisman odds
T24. Rocco Becht, Kevin Jennings, Aaron Philo, Lincoln Kienholz (+8000)
This first tier includes three transfer quarterbacks and SMU's Kevin Jennings, who returns for his third season as the Mustangs' starter and will look to take a step after an up-and-down 2025. Of the transfers, Becht — who followed Matt Campbell to Penn State — is the most experienced after his multiple years as a starter at Iowa State. Philo followed Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner to Florida after backing up Haynes King, while Kienholz, a former backup at Ohio State, becomes the latest transfer quarterback to join Jeff Brohm at Louisville.
T19. Byrum Brown, Demond Williams Jr., Bear Bachmeier, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, Drew Mestamaker (+6600)
Brown and Mestamaker find themselves in similar spots this season, moving up to the power conference ranks from the Group of Five after following their coaches from South Florida to Auburn and North Texas to Oklahoma State, respectively. Williams flirted with the transfer portal during the offseason but opted to return to Washington, where he projects as one of the top returning quarterbacks in the Big Ten. Bachmeier (BYU) and Sagapolutele (Cal) started as true freshmen last year, with the latter particularly entering 2026 with significant hype.
T16. Bryce Underwood, LaNorris Sellers, Will Hammond (+5000)
Sellers was a trendy Heisman pick entering last season, but his production regressed from his freshman season both passing and throwing the ball. He'll look to get back on track this season, while Bryce Underwood is hoping to emerge after a challenging true freshman season in which the former No. 1 recruit started all 13 games but threw for just 11 touchdowns to nine interceptions. Hammond wasn't even expected to start this season, but after the Brendan Sorsby saga at Texas Tech, he'll step into that role in 2026. He started two games last fall but is coming off a season-ending torn ACL.
T14. Marcel Reed, Malachi Toney (+4000)
Toney was an immediate star as a true freshman at Miami last season, leading the nation with 109 catches and the ACC with 1,211 yards and 10 touchdowns. He'll have some more competition for targets this fall, but he could have a better quarterback (more on that later). Reed, meanwhile, enters his third season as the starter at Texas A&M. He struggled with turnovers in 2025, but he also accounted for 31 total touchdowns.
T9. Jayden Maiava, Sam Leavitt, Gunner Stockton, John Mateer, Keelon Russell (+2500)
An interesting tier that features a pair of veteran returning starters in Stockton (Georgia) and Maiava (USC). John Mateer is also a returning starter, though his hot start in 2025 was spoiled by a hand injury that seemingly limited his play down the stretch at Oklahoma. Sam Leavitt will lead the first-year Lane Kiffin offense at LSU after transferring in from Arizona State, while Russell — a former five-star recruit — beat out veteran Austin Mack to win the starting job at Alabama.
T6. Josh Hoover, Jeremiah Smith, Trinidad Chambliss (+1600)
Chambliss is arguably the top returning quarterback in the entire sport after emerging out of nowhere following Austin Simmons' injury last fall. The former Division II quarterback paced the SEC with 3,937 yards and 30 total touchdowns to just three interceptions. However, he'll be playing in a new offensive system this fall with Kiffin and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. leaving for LSU. Smith, regarded as the nation's best receiver, saw a slight decrease in production last year but has still accounted for more than 2,500 receiving yards and 27 touchdowns in two years. Hoover will hope he can follow in Mendoza's footsteps at Indiana after a highly productive but turnover-prone three years as TCU's starter.
5. Julian Sayin (+1400)
Sayin was a Heisman finalist in 2025, and he's the highest returning vote-getter for the award in 2026. He threw for 32 touchdowns and eight interceptions as a redshirt freshman, and he'll look to take an even bigger leap this fall with one of the best safety blankets in the nation in Smith.
T3. Dante Moore, Darian Mensah (+1100)
Moore likely could have been an early draft pick, but he's instead back at Oregon for one more ride as the Ducks seek a national championship. Mensah, meanwhile, replaces Carson Beck at Miami after a highly productive season at Duke in which he threw for 34 touchdowns to just six interceptions.
2. Arch Manning (+850)
Manning entered his first year as a starter in 2025 as the Heisman favorite. That was clearly a bit premature, as Manning had his fair share of struggles during the first half of the season. He improved down the stretch, though, and he enters 2026 in a similar position. He's a primary reason Texas is viewed as a major national title contender.
1. CJ Carr (+700)
A bit of a quiet preseason Heisman favorite, Carr has sat at the top of the odds for most of the offseason. He enters his second year as Notre Dame's starter after an efficient season in which he threw for 24 touchdowns to six interceptions while averaging 9.4 yards per attempt. The fact that 11-1 looks like it could be the worst-case scenario for the Fighting Irish this season could certainly help his case come December.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: 2026 Heisman Trophy odds tracker, Week 1: Notre Dame QB enters season in top spot
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