J.T. Barrett is moving up Heisman ballots.
Athlon Sports has formed a Heisman Trophy committee. Each week, we will ask 13 members of the national college football media to rank their top candidates for the Heisman Trophy.
Each voter will rank their top five candidates, with each first-place vote getting five points and each last-place vote getting one point.
The Panel:
Stewart Mandel, FOX Sports
Dave Revsine, Big Ten Network
Adam Zucker, CBS Sports
Steven Godfrey, SBNation
Zac Ellis, Sports Illustrated
Bryan Fischer, NFL.com
Tom Dienhart, Big Ten Network
Barrett Sallee, Bleacher Report, B/R Radio
Josh Ward, MrSEC.com
Mitch Light, Athlon Sports
David Fox, Athlon Sports
Steven Lassan, Athlon Sports
Braden Gall, Athlon Sports, SiriusXM
The Results:
Player | Team | Pts | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | |
1. | Marcus Mariota | ![]() |
65 | 13 | - | - | - | - |
2. | Melvin Gordon | ![]() |
52 | - | 13 | - | - | - |
3. | J.T. Barrett | ![]() |
20 | - | - | 3 | 5 | 1 |
4. | Trevone Boykin | ![]() |
19 | - | - | 4 | 2 | 3 |
5. | Amari Cooper | ![]() |
17 | - | - | 3 | 2 | 4 |
6. | Dak Prescott | ![]() |
10 | - | - | 2 | 1 | 2 |
7. | Brett Hundley | ![]() |
6 | - | - | - | 3 | - |
8. | Tevin Coleman | ![]() |
4 | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
9t. | Shaq Thompson | ![]() |
1 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
9t. | Bryce Petty | ![]() |
1 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
Dropped out: Cody Kessler, Jameis Winston
Listen to the Week 13 recap and analysis podcast:
The Top 3:
1. Marcus Mariota, Oregon
In what is likely to be his final performance in Autzen Stadium, Marcus Mariota got a standing ovation. He accounted for four touchdowns, giving him a Pac-12-record 42 for the season, and rolling up nearly 400 yards of offense (396) in three quarters of work in the easy win over Colorado. It was his nation-leading eighth game this year with four total touchdowns and Mariota became one of just five players in NCAA history with 9,000 career passing yards and 2,000 career rushing yards.
Season Stats: 3,103 yds, 68.0%, 32 TDs, 2 INTs, 597 rush yds, 9 TDs
2. Melvin Gordon, Wisconsin
Unfortunately, Samaje Perine might have impacted the Heisman race as Melvin Gordon’s single-game rushing record stood for just seven days. However, in a road win over an always-stingy rival Iowa, Gordon was brilliant in the second half. He finished with 200 yards rushing, 64 yards receiving and two more touchdowns. He became the 17th player in NCAA history to rush for 2,000 yards and did it faster than anyone ever (241 att.). His 2,109 yards are tied with Ron Dayne for the Wisconsin and Big Ten record with Minnesota coming to town next weekend.
Season Stats: 254 att., 2,109 yds, 25 TDs, 15 rec., 147 yds, 2 TDs
3. J.T. Barrett, Ohio State
He’s a little late to the party and he wasn’t the best player on the field against Indiana (See: Jalin Marshall) but Barrett is making a strong Heisman push. The Buckeyes quarterback completed 25-of-32 passes for 302 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions to go with 20 carries and 78 yards rushing. With 33 touchdown passes and 3,507 yards of offense, Barrett has broken two significant, single-season school records. And did so while clinching the Big Ten East Division championship.
Season Stats: 2,658 yds, 64.8%, 33 TDs, 10 INTs, 849 rush yds, 9 TDs