College football’s 2025 season ended in storybook fashion for Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, who led the Hoosiers to a perfect 16-0 record, a national championship, and the Heisman Trophy before being selected first overall in the 2026 NFL Draft. With that chapter closed, attention shifts to who will claim the sport’s most famous individual prize in December 2026.
DraftKings Sportsbook has already released early odds for the 2026 Heisman Trophy, with two quarterbacks tied at the top. Here’s a look at the field as of early May.
2026 Heisman Trophy Winner – Early Odds
- CJ Carr (Notre Dame): +750
- Arch Manning (Texas): +750
- Julian Sayin (Ohio State): +1000
- Dante Moore (Oregon): +1000
- Trinidad Chambliss (Ole Miss): +1100
- Josh Hoover (TCU): +1200
- Darian Mensah (Miami, FL): +1200
- Jeremiah Smith (Ohio State): +1300
- Gunner Stockton (Georgia): +1800
- Sam Leavitt (Arizona State): +2000
- Marcel Reed (Texas A&M): +2500
- Jayden Maiava (USC): +2500
- John Mateer (Oklahoma): +2800
The Favorites
Notre Dame’s CJ Carr and Texas’s Arch Manning are the co-favorites at +750 each. Manning is no stranger to Heisman hype—he opened as the favorite for the 2025 award at several sportsbooks before Texas stumbled to a 4-2 start. If Manning becomes a finalist this time around, he’ll join his uncles Peyton and Eli, as well as his grandfather Archie, as Heisman finalists during their college careers.
Players to Watch
Ohio State teammates Jeremiah Smith and Julian Sayin are both strong contenders. Sayin was a Heisman finalist in 2025, finishing fourth with eight first-place votes, while Smith placed sixth without making the trip to New York. FOX Sports college football writer RJ Young projects that both Buckeyes—along with Manning—will be in the mix again in 2026.
USC’s Jayden Maiava also has a shot at bringing the Heisman back to Los Angeles. If he wins, he’d be the first Trojan to do so since Caleb Williams in 2022. Maiava passed for 3,711 yards and 24 touchdowns in 2025, leading USC to a 9-4 record.
