The Heisman Trophy is the most prestigious award you can receive as an individual in college football. And the wild nature of the season – and the imperfect voting process – create one of the most intriguing betting markets in the industry.
Favorites will fall off and underdogs will emerge as finalists – Max Duggan finished second in last year’s voting and opened the season with odds in the +10000 range.
It is a constantly shifting landscape that can create tons of value for bettors.
A quarterback has won the Heisman Trophy in nine of the last 11 years, so it’s no surprise that the top 20 in the 2024 odds are all quarterbacks. The College Football season is over, but it’s not too earlier to get a start on your future for next year.
Continue reading for the full Heisman Trophy odds, the favorites, the contenders, and a couple of sleepers to consider who could break out and pay off big.
Odds via Caesars Sportsbook, updated as of Tuesday, May 24, as of noon ET.
Heisman Trophy Odds
- Caleb Williams, QB, USC (+450)
- Michael Penix Jr. QB, Washington (+1200)
- Jordan Travis, QB, FSU (+1200)
- Bo Nix, QB, Oregon (+1400)
- Drake Maye, QB, UNC (+1400)
- Quinn Ewers, QB, Texas (+1600)
- Sam Hartman, QB, Notre Dame (+1600)
- Jayden Daniels, QB, Kansas (+1600)
- J.J. McCarthy, QB, Michigan (+1800)
- Carson Beck, QB, Georgia (+1800)
- Joe Milton, QB, Tennessee (+1800)
- Cade Klubnik, QB, Clemson (+1800)
- Marvin Harrison Jr., WR, Ohio State (+2000)
- Kyle McCord, QB, Ohio State (+2200)
- Drew Allar, QB, Penn State (+2500)
- Ty Simpson, QB, Alabama (+3000)
- Blake Corum, RB, Michigan (+3000)
- Spencer Rattler, QB, South Carolina (+3000)
- K.J. Jefferson, QB, Arkansas (+4000)
- Dillon Gabriel, QB, Oklahoma (+4000)
- Jalen Milroe, QB, Alabama (+4000)
Keep tabs on any line movement for all college football futures bets
Heisman Trophy Favorites
Caleb Williams, USC (+450)
The reigning Heisman Trophy winner is unsurprisingly the favorite to take home the award again. Williams had an incredible season and rightfully earned the Heisman Trophy after throwing for 4,537 yards and 42 touchdowns.
With Lincoln Riley at the helm and with Williams’ talent, it’s entirely possible they take care of business all season long and he cruises as the wire-to-wire winner.
He will have to deal with voting fatigue – no player since Archie Griffin has won the Heisman twice – and extraordinarily high expectations for a college quarterback.
USC is expected to compete for a spot in the College Football Playoff in Year 2 of Riley’s reign, but the Pac-12 will be more talented and deeper than last season.
Even so, if Williams stays healthy, it’d be surprising to not see him in New York as a Heisman finalist at the end of the season.
Jordan Travis, Florida State (+1200)
Is Florida State returning to its former glory?
That may be a slight exaggeration, but they’ll be among the favorites to win the ACC and have one of the best quarterbacks in the nation in Travis, who led FSU to its first 10-win season since 2016.
Travis has plenty of experience appearing in 35 games for Florida State over the last four years and will take advantage of his COVID year of eligibility after a breakout last season. Travis threw for 3,214 yards and 24 touchdowns with just five interceptions.
He has dual-threat abilities – always a major plus to a Heisman campaign – and is one of the four active players with 5,500 career passing yards and 1,700 career rushing yards. Also, he has scored seven rushing touchdowns in three straight seasons.
He’ll need to put up better counting stats this season, but if he can continue his breakout into next season and Florida State wins the ACC, he will find himself in New York at the end of the season.
Heisman Trophy Contenders
Michael Penix Jr., Washington (+1200)
Arguably nobody in the country had a breakout season like Penix Jr. had last season. After multiple knee injuries at Indiana, many thought he was done for and would probably be an OK starter in the Pac-12 at best.
Penix silenced the haters with an incredible year throwing for 4,641 yards – the second-most in the country – and led Washington to an 11-2 record and ranked 12th in the final College Football playoff rankings.
Not only is Penix – somewhat surprisingly – coming back for another year at Washington, but he’ll have his top two weapons back in Jalen McMillan and Rome Odunze back, as well.
If he can avoid regression and injuries, and take advantage of the inept Pac-12 defenses, he could finish off his turbulent career with a Heisman Trophy.
Drake Maye, UNC (+1400)
Maye ran into a key issue in his 2023 Heisman Campaign, where he finished 10th.
It was a lack of preseason hype, yes, as he was the third highest-ranked player out of North Carolina and the 9th QB in the nation out of high school. But nobody expected him to be this successful, this quickly.
Maye is now receiving plenty of attention after an incredible freshman season throwing for 4,300 yards, 38 touchdowns, and leading the Tar Heels in rushing with 698 yards. He has the makeup of recent Heisman Trophy winners – big arm, dual threat, and should have plenty of weapons to share the ball, too.
Maye is going to be a trendy pick this offseason but he’ll likely need to lead the Tar Heels to a 10-win season and compete to win an ACC Championship, in order to dethrone Williams and take home the Heisman.
Heisman Trophy Sleepers
Cade Klubnik, Clemson (+1800)
For those who followed Clemson closely last season, it seemed as if the decision to bench Uiagalelei for the highly-touted freshman in Klubnik was long overdue.
I would tend to agree with those people, especially after seeing his impressive performance in the ACC Championship when he came in to save the day – going 20-for-24 for 279 yards and a touchdown.
It was a rough bowl game for Klubnik and Clemson, but grabbing him here at +2000 has a ton of value. Especially, after Clemson fired their offensive coordinator and promptly hired TCU’s Garrett Riley, who won the Boyles Award as the top assistant coach in the country and led TCU’s offense to the College Football Playoff.
Clemson will seemingly have a revamped offense and be hungry to make the College Football Playoff after two down years – by their extraordinarily high standards — and is looking for the next great Clemson quarterback. And Klubnik is ready to fill those shoes.
Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma (+4000)
Dillion Gabriel didn’t exactly set the world on fire in his first year at Oklahoma, but the team should be better this season, and he definitely has the talent to make a run at the Heisman.
Gabriel threw for 3,168 yards and 25 touchdowns last year, adding another six on the ground. He had flashes of excellence, and if the Sooners can refocus on the offensive side of the ball and win 10-plus games this season, he’ll be in the mix come late December.
Although the Sooners will have to replace his top weapon with Marvin Mims headed to the NFL. They’ve already made strides to improve the wide receiver room, stealing Emmett Jones as the new wide receiver coach and passing game coordinator, landing Michigan transfer Andrel Anthony Jr., and returning plenty of depth including Drake Stoops.
If Gabriel can lead Oklahoma to the Big 12 Championship, and back to the College Football Playoff, we may look back at his (+4000) odds in a stunned surprise.
