Notre Dame HC Marcus Freeman declares his pick between Heisman front runners Travis Hunter and Ashton Jeanty

Marcus Freeman, the head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, has given his verdict on who is going to win the Heisman Trophy this season. The candidates for the award were released on Monday and featured two of the leading front runners in the shortlist.

These are the Colorado Buffaloes' Travis Hunter and the Boise State Broncos' Ashton Jeanty. On Tuesday, Freeman made an appearance on the Outta Pocket podcast hosted by Robert Griffin III, where he said who he would vote for to win the Heisman Trophy.

“To see what Travis Hunter is doing on both sides of the ball, it’s unprecedented," Freeman proclaimed.

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Freeman preceded his answer by mentioning that he hadn't really seen either of the two players play but had seen highlights of both. This is not surprising, as Freeman should be focused more on his team and its opponents, which Notre Dame and Colorado were not this season. This being said, Freeman chose Travis Hunter to win the Heisman Trophy:

"I would go for Travis Hunter."

Hunter is the major favorite to win the award this year. His season has been impressive on offense and on defense for a Buffaloes side that, without him, would have struggled to stay competitive for the entire season.

On offense, as a wide receiver, Hunter recorded a team-leading 1,152 yards and scored 14 touchdowns from 92 receptions. On defense, he made 31 tackles, had 11 deflected passes, and four interceptions.

These numbers are strong, and once the fact that Hunter played nearly every snap that Colorado was involved in this season, they seem even more impressive.

What about Travis Hunter's rival, Jeanty?

In contrast, Jeanty has been by far the best running back in college football this season. Like Hunter, Jeanty was the reason why his team, the Boise State Broncos, had a successful year. But, unlike Hunter, Jeanty helped his team to a conference championship and a spot in the College Football Playoffs as the number three seed, which provides the team with a first-round bye.

On the field, Jeanty has dominated. In a whopping 344 carries, he recorded 2,497 yards and scored 29 touchdowns.

There was much talk surrounding Jeanty breaking Barry Sanders' single-season rushing record at the start of the season. Now, in the playoffs, the record is still under threat.

The sheer dominance that Jeanty has shown this season makes him the worthy contender against Travis Hunter for the Heisman Trophy.

About the author

Ben Tredinnick is a journalist who covers college football and college basketball at Sportskeeda who is currently studying for a masters in Data Science. His degree in Psychology has helped him gain an in-depth understanding of the minds of coaches.

Ben has been involved in sports writing since 2022 and covered the NFL previously. His strengths include providing in-depth profiles of athletes and coaches, with a particular focus on development, and looking at which teams could be in the hunt for today's college stars.

Ben enjoys following college sports more than the NBA or NFL because there is more variation in terms of playstyles. The tournaments are often more competitive than the major leagues, and due to the constant turnover of players, there are rarely any "superteams" in college sports.

He prioritizes research, looks at multiple sources and publications to make sure he gets the full picture of the story before writing. He tries not to write from a one-sided perspective to allow the reader to be able to make their mind up on their own.

A Texas Longhorns fan, as well as a massive New York Giants fan, some of his favorite college players of all time are Arch Manning, Tim Tebow and Reggie Bush.

When he is not working, Ben enjoys watching films (especially Godzilla) and spending time with his cat.

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Edited by Kim Daniel Rubinos