2024 Heisman early frontrunners, candidates and darkhorses for next season

Entering this season’s College Football Playoff, Jalen Milroe has helped the Crimson Tide win 11-straight games since a Week 2 loss against Texas made Nick Saban question where to go at the position. Milroe retained his job two weeks later and hasn’t looked back, throwing 19 touchdown passes while rushing for 10 additional scores over his last 10 starts. The dual-threat figures to be the top returning player offensively for a team that should be inside the top 3 to open as one of the favorites to win a national championship.

Quinn Ewers is reportedly leaning toward a return to the Longhorns next season rather than jump for the 2024 NFL Draft, which gives Texas three difference-makers at the position alongside Maalik Murphy and Arch Manning. That’s a crowded quarterback room heading into the offseason, unless there’s portal movement there in the coming weeks. This was Ewers’ best season as a collegian after throwing for 3,161 yards and 21 touchdowns entering the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1. His 452-yard, four-touchdown effort in the Big 12 Championship Game was a career-best.

One of the Big 12’s most electrifying athletes announced last month that he “isn’t going anywhere” as the forward-facing star with the Jayhawks ahead of the 2024 season. Daniels has missed most of the 2023 campaign with a back injury after starring as a junior last fall with 25 total touchdowns in leading Kansas to bowl eligibility. How Kansas fares in the early going next season without offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki — who left for Penn State’s vacancy on offense this month — will determine Daniels’ early candidacy.

There’s “growing optimism” at Georgia that Carson Beck will return for another season between the hedges following the Orange Bowl later this month. Beck has completed 72.4% of his passes for 3,738 yards and 22 touchdowns with six interceptions in 13 games this season. He added 127 yards and four scores on the ground. He sits No. 3 on Georgia’s single-season passing list and can pass Aaron Murray (3,893, 2012) for No. 2 against Florida State.

J.J. McCarthy will enter his third season as Michigan’s starter in 2024 unless he decides to opt for the NFL after the College Football Playoff. He’s completing passes at a career-best 74.2% clip this season and has thrown 19 touchdown passes with only four interceptions. Given the Wolverines’ dominance in the Big Ten over the last three years, McCarthy should appear on the early list of top-end quarterbacks vying for the award in 2024. He’ll have to show a spike in production to have a real shot, however.

There was hope in late November that Ollie Gordon would be a Heisman finalist this fall as the nation’s leading rusher, but it didn’t happen after he was slowed by an injury in the Big 12 Championship against Texas. Regardless, the sophomore’s jaw-dropping production — 1,614 yards, 20 touchdowns — came out of nowhere for an Oklahoma State team that relied on Gordon handling the heavy-lifting over the second half of the campaign. He’s the most well-known running back nationally and will be one to watch at the position in 2024.

Drew Allar threw 23 touchdown passes with only one interception at Penn State this season, his first as the Nittany Lions’ starting quarterback. So-so outings in losses to Ohio State and Michigan will have to be corrected to warrant top-of-the-line Heisman praise next fall, but this Penn State offense should improve with a new play-caller in charge who loves creativity. Allar has the tools and skillset to be a Heisman finalist in 2024 if the Nittany Lions are among the contenders in Playoff expansion.

Jaxson Dart is coming back for his senior season at Ole Miss, fantastic news for Lane Kiffin and the Rebels coming off a 10-win season ahead of a New Year’s Six bowl appearance. Dart improved substantially as a passer this fall with 20 touchdowns and five interceptions while managing a career-best 65.4% completion rate. Dart held off Oklahoma State transfer Spencer Sanders for QB1 in fall camp and never looked back in his second season as the Rebels’ starter. In the expanded SEC next fall, Dart will be one of the league’s top returning players at the position.

Given LSU’s production at the quarterback position this season under elite offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock and rising star quarterbacks coach Joe Sloan, you can expect Garrett Nussmeier to flex impressive numbers next fall. The Tigers are going to need pass-catchers to emerge following the expected exits of Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr., but LSU has done a great job of producing elite-level talent at the position in recent years. Nussmeier has waited his turn behind Jayden Daniels and has impressed in spots throughout his career.

One of the highest-rated quarterbacks in the transfer portal this cycle, Cameron Ward is still debating on entering the 2024 NFL Draft or returning for another season in the college ranks at a program of his choosing. Should Ohio State or a title-contending program be his next stop, Ward will undoubtedly dominate the preseason conversation as a potential one-season star at the position. Ward threw 48 touchdown passes and eclipsed 6,000 yards through the air in two seasons at Washington State.