First Quarter Heisman

Leonard Fournette does things like this.

Through three week’s of the college football season there have been some impressive performances, most of them coming from LSU running back Leonard Fournette. At this point in the season, and I know it’s early, but at this point it’s his Heisman to lose. The last running back to win the award was Alabama’s Mark Ingram. His team went on to win the National Championship too, Fournette’s Tigers have a chance of doing that but he is going to have to carry the entire team due to their lack of consistent quarterback play. Here are the five (still earl) Heisman leaders.

1.       Leonard Fournette, RB, LSU: Fournette is 3^rd in the country in rushing and leads the country with a blistering 210 yards per game. He’s the first LSU running back to have back-to-back 200-yard games. He also has 8 touchdowns to go along all those yards. (631 to be exact). As I stated however, Fournette doesn’t have a choice but to put up crazy numbers so look for him to continue to do so. If he can do that against the tough SEC, throw in an 8.64 YPC (yards per carry) average, and you have the Heisman Trophy front-runner.
2.        Trevone Boykin, QB, TCU: Boykin was in the hunt for the Heisman last season as the leader of the Horned Frogs. He finished last season with almost 4,000 yards through the air, 33 touchdowns to just 10 interceptions. He’s picking up this year where he left off; so far the senior has 1,470 yards with 14 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. If TCU can keep winning and have his team as one of the four teams in the College Football Playoff, Boykin will no doubt be on his way to New York.
3.    Nick Chubb, RB, Georgia: No surprise that there is more than one SEC player on this list. The Georgia back might be the second best player in the conference behind Fournette; he’s 5^th in nation in rushing (599), 11^th in touchdowns (6), and much like Fournette, Chubb also has a staggering YPC at 8.44. He has the Bulldogs ranked in the top ten heading into SEC play. Alabama comes to Athens this Saturday and a win against the Tide and another big performance from Chubb will go along way to keeping his name on Heisman lists the rest of the season.

 

There aren’t many other players who stand out this year in college football, Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliot is doing OK but not blowing people away like many thought he would; just 455 yards and 5 touchdowns for the preseason All American.

Alabama running back Derek Henry is in the same boat as Elliot, doing enough but nothing special, just 422 yards and 8 touchdowns (which is good for 4^th in the nation) for the 6’3” 242 pound bruiser.

There is a long way to go in the college football season and other players might step up, but for right now these are the guys who you should watch and marvel at.