The first 2026 Heisman Trophy odds are out, and there is no way that the two Buckeyes are this low.
Somehow, someway, the two Ohio State Heisman Trophy hopefuls are not first and second in the odds for the 2026 award.
Two things can be true at once. First, these odds are way, way too early to be released, and the two Ohio State candidates are way, way too low. Yes, third is too low for either star wide receiver Jeremiah Smith or quarterback Julian Sayin.
Smith is largely regarded as the best pure football player in College Football. He is a legitimately unguardable player and is a game-changer week after week. The rising junior has gone over 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns in both his first two seasons in Columbus. Smith is responsible for the biggest play in Ohio State history and is coming for nothing less than the National Championship next year.
His signal caller, Julian Sayin, put together arguably the best season out of any quarterback in America last year. He completed nearly 80 percent of his passes for over 3,610 yards and 32 touchdowns last season. Each of those stats was top-10 at the position while Ohio State spent the first half of the year protecting him with easy game plans that didn't unlock his full potential.
Both of these Buckeye players will have a very realistic chance to hoist the trophy as the best player in America next year, so that begs the question: How do they have the third and fourth-shortest odds to win the award?
Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr leads the way at +800 while Texas gunslinger Arch Manning has +850 odds at the award.
While I don't think that these two players don't have a chance at the award, it just doesn't make sense that they are ahead of Sayin and Smith.
Manning definitely came on late in the year as he was able to get settled in at the same time that Carr did the same thing for the Irish, but it was against some inferior competition.
After Sayin, there is a run of eight straight quarterbacks that include Indiana's Josh Hoover, Oregon's Dante Moore, and Oklahoma's John Mateer. The only non-quarterback to join Smith on this list is Miami's Malachi Toney, who has the 13th shortest odds at +2,700.
If you're into this type of thing, now is the best value that you will get on Smith and Sayin. The two Buckeyes have +1,110 odds to win the award ($10 wins $110), which will only get shorter as time marches on.
Ohio State has another piece of motivation heading into next year right at its fingertips.
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