CFB analyst places his bets on Ohio State star to win the 2025 Heisman Trophy over Arch Manning, Garrett Nussmeier, and more

Fans are still many months away from seeing who will win the 2025 Heisman Trophy. With several months until the 2025 college football season begins, speculation is rife about who the top contenders for the coveted award will be.

Early in the cycle, Texas quarterback Arch Manning and LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier have emerged as the biggest early contenders. Those picks make sense, as they are QBs on two strong teams in the SEC. The Heisman often goes to a quarterback, so they make sense as contenders. However, last season proved that a non-QB could win the award, with Colorado's Travis Hunter taking it.

On Friday, CBS Sports' college football analyst Shehan Jeyarajah looked at the favorites for the Heisman Trophy next season. He took the top contender from each team from analyst Brandon Marcello's preseason Top 25. Jeyarajah had Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith as a possible contender to beat out Manning and Nussmeier.

"Smith is the presumptive best player in college football after exploding for 381 yards and five touchdowns in the College Football Playoff," Jeyarajah wrote. "His workload should only increase in 2025 as the Buckeyes replace numerous key pieces.

"Quarterback Will Howard, 1,000-yard running backs Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson and 1,000-yard receiver Emeka Egbuka are all gone. Would surprise anyone if Smith manages to push towards the 1,800-yard or 20-touchdown plateaus as an undisputed centerpiece of the offense?"

How do analyst Shehan Jeyarajah's Heisman Trophy predictions compare to the betting odds?

Betting odds for the 2025 Heisman Trophy have been available for several months. LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier and Texas QB Arch Manning have had the best odds for a while. They are co-favorites to win the Heisman with +800 odds, narrowly edging out Clemson QB Cade Klubnik with +900 odds. Jeremiah Smith is fourth with +1200 odds.

These are Shehan Jeyarajah's top 10 Heisman contenders for the 2025 season and their associated odds on FanDuel:

Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith +1200
Texas QB Arch Manning +800
Penn State QB Drew Allar +1600
Clemson QB Cade Klubnik +900
Georgia LB CJ Allen, Odds N/A
Oregon RB Makhi Hughes +40000
Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love +5000
LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier +800
Alabama WR Ryan Williams +4000
Florida QB DJ Lagway +1600

Jeyarajah has some bold picks in the top 10, including Georgia linebacker CJ Allen, who does not even have odds to win on FanDuel.

About the author

Alexander O'Reilly is a journalist at Sportskeeda from Kingston, Ontario with over seven years in the field at companies including SenShot, RVBlogger, Monarch Media, WordAgents, GSeC LLC, and IGC.

His favorite college team is Duke, and his favorite sporting memory was Duke winning March Madness in 2010. JJ Redick was Alex's favorite college player when he was young but more recently, Caleb Williams gets the nod. As the Chicago Bears are Alex's favorite NFL team, this was a perfect match.

Alex's proudest moment came when he was interviewed by a radio station in Ottawa on his opinion on recent moves by the Ottawa Senators, which gave him a confidence boost and the knowledge that he could succeed as a writer.

Aside from sports, Alex likes to spend his time playing games. He is also very passionate about running and strives to improve at the half and full marathon distances.

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Edited by Alexander O'Reilly