Heisman Trophy Odds 2025: 5 Best Bets That Fit the Blueprint of a Heisman Winner

Arguably the most prestigious award in sports, this year's Heisman Trophy odds are wide open, with Texas first-year starter Arch Manning sitting atop the board as the season approaches. However, recent history says a passer as inexperienced as Manning isn't likely to win the top individual honor in college football.

So while the Longhorns are one of the college football national championship odds favorites entering the season, being on the best team in the country isn't a necessity for the Heisman winner, nor is even being in the College Football Playoff odds race.

Instead, we've identified five of the top contenders at our college football betting sites for this season that fit a similar blueprint to that of the 11 Heisman winners during the College Football Playoff era of the sport.

 🏆 Latest Heisman Trophy odds 2025

Our 2025 Heisman Trophy odds update in real time based on the odds from our best sports betting apps.

🔍 What recent history tells us about the Heisman Trophy winner

🎯 A preseason favorite quarterback

• Narrative matters with the Heisman Trophy, which is why of the 11 winners during the College Football Playoff era, nine had preseason odds of +4000 or shorter, and five had odds of +1000 or shorter
• The three Heisman winners with preseason odds longer than +4000 were Devonta Smith (+10000), Lamar Jackson (+10000), and Derrick Henry (+10000)
• Of the 11 winners, eight were quarterbacks, and only one of them had thrown fewer than 140 passes entering his Heisman season - Bryce Young (+800) had 22 pass attempts as a freshman before his Heisman season
• On average, Heisman-winning QBs during the CFP era have 558 career pass attempts before their Heisman-winning season - Manning has thrown 95 career passes
• Like with Young, sophomore breakout seasons aren't uncommon, with the Alabama star being joined by Jackson and Caleb Williams (+600) as second-year QBs to win the Heisman
• Mobility has also been a huge plus for Heisman-winning QBs during the CFP era - Marcus Mariota (+425), Jackson, Kyler Murray (+3000), and Jayden Daniels (+1000) all ran for 770-plus yards and double-digit touchdowns the year they won the Heisman

🔁  Transfers 

• Before the transfer portal became the wild wild west, transfers were already making plenty of noise in the Heisman race
• Of the last eight Heisman winners, six were transfers - the only two non-transfers to win the Heisman in the last eight years played for Nick Saban (Young and Smith)
• It's rare for a transfer to win the Heisman in their first season at a new school; of the six transfers to win during the CFP era, only Williams was in his first season with his new program
• Williams also had the benefit of playing for Lincoln Riley, who had already helped Murray and Baker Mayfield (+1000) win Heismans at Oklahoma
• Travis Hunter (+3500), Daniels, and Joe Burrow (+4000) were each in their second season with their new school when they won

✨ Not a QB? You better be transcendent 

• While it has happened three times during the College Football Playoff era, betting on a non-QB to win the Heisman is madness
• Each of the three non-QBs to win it had special circumstances around their candidacy - Hunter was the first two-way player in decades, Smith won during the season impacted by the pandemic, and Henry is an alien
• More importantly, all three had ridiculous production in weaker years for QB play
• Hunter had over 1,200 receiving yards, 16 total touchdowns, four interceptions, and 11 passes defended, with Dillon Gabriel being the QB with the most Heisman votes that season
• Smith had 117 receptions, 1,856 receiving yards, and 25 total touchdowns, with Trevor Lawrence being the QB with the most Heisman votes that season in a year he only threw 24 touchdowns
• Henry had 2,219 rushing yards and 28 rushing touchdowns, with that season being all about running backs, as Christian McCaffrey finished second in the Heisman race by setting the single-season all-purpose yards record (3,864)

🧩 The Heisman Trophy contenders who fit the description 

🐅 The preseason favorite QB: Cade Klubnik (Clemson)

📊 Best odds: +1000 via bet365 ($10 pays $100)

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Can Klubnik do what Lawrence and Deshaun Watson couldn't at Clemson and win the Heisman? He's right there with Manning and Garrett Nussmeier in terms of being an obvious preseason favorite. But unlike Manning, he has the experience behind him as he enters his third year as the starter. Unlike Nussmeier, he has so much continuity at the wide receiver position with stars Antonio Williams, Bryant Wesco Jr., and T.J. Moore.

Klubnik is coming off a season in which he threw 36 touchdowns, ran for seven more, and finished fifth in the country in big-time throws (28). Of the big three preseason favorites, Klubnik is the best bet, just like Clemson is the best college football championship odds bet at this point.

🐊 The sophomore breakout QB: DJ Lagway (Florida)

📊 Best odds: +2000 via BetRivers ($10 pays $200)

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It already seems like DJ Lagway is everyone's favorite Heisman candidate to bet outside of the top five favorites. The former five-star recruit had some bright moments as a freshman - against Samford, Kentucky, and Florida State, specifically - and is poised to truly break out as a sophomore. He has one of the most impressive arms in the country and showcased it last year by having the highest big-time throw rate (8.8%) among Power 4 QBs (minimum 200 dropbacks). The question here is whether or not the Gators will win enough games to be nationally relevant.

🐔 The mobile QB: LaNorris Sellers (South Carolina)

📊 Best odds: +2000 via BetRivers ($10 pays $200)

Manning and Nussmeier lead the 2026 NFL Draft odds, but LaNorris Sellers should be right there with them. The South Carolina star was one of the most improved players in the country down the stretch last season as a redshirt freshman. Now he enters the year as one of the most dangerous playmakers in college football, and like a College Football 26 favorite for the gamers out there. The 6-foot-3, 240-pound Sellers has a rare blend of explosiveness and power for a QB, running for 674 yards, seven scores, and forcing the sixth-most missed tackles among QBs (47) last season. He's also got the passing chops to win the award.

🦆 The transfer QB: Dante Moore (Oregon)

📊 Best odds: +2500 via BetRivers ($10 pays $250)

Only five transfers have preseason Heisman odds of +4000 or shorter - Carson Beck at Miami (+3700), Sam Leavitt at Arizona State (+3000), John Mateer at Oklahoma (+2500), Dante Moore at Oregon, and Julian Sayin at Ohio State (+1800). However, two of them (Beck and Mateer) just joined their new team this offseason while Sayin has just 12 career pass attempts to his name. That leaves Leavitt and Moore as the best transfer options. So why the Duck over the Devil?

Well, Moore takes over an Oregon team that's sent two straight transfer QBs to the Heisman ceremony in Gabriel and Bo Nix. Having sat a year behind Gabriel to learn offensive coordinator Will Stein's offense, Moore is poised to live up to his five-star pedigree in Eugene. There were flashes with him two years ago at UCLA when he managed to have the 10th-highest big-time throw rate in the Power 4 as a freshman (6.4%). This Ducks team has national title aspirations, so Moore will get plenty of attention this season.

🌰 The transcendent non-QB: Jeremiah Smith (Ohio State)

📊 Best odds: +1300 via FanDuel ($10 pays $130)

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There's only one non-quarterback who really seems like he has any chance of winning the award, and to absolutely nobody's surprise, that player is Jeremiah Smith. He was the best player on Ohio State's national championship-winning team last year as a true freshman and has all the talent in the world to put up similar numbers to what Devonta Smith did when he won the Heisman at Alabama. The Buckeyes' star was third in the country in receiving yards (1,311), second in receiving touchdowns (15), and 10th in yards per route run (3.15) at just 18 years old. But his candidacy will be tied to Sayin and how quickly the new Ohio State starter acclimates to the spotlight.

🏈 College football odds pages

 💵 Best college football betting sites

Looking to bet on the Heisman Trophy? Check out our best college football betting sites and the best sportsbook promos for the college football season:

• FanDuel Promo Code | Read our FanDuel Review
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