Mac Jones, Trevor Lawrence, DeVonta Smith and Kyle Trask are the four finalists for the 2020 Heisman Trophy award. Those four were named live on ESPN Thursday night. The show also revealed the non-finalists who were in the top 10:
- No. 5 Alabama RB Najee Harris
- No. 6 Iowa State RB Breece Hall
- No. 7 Ohio State QB Justin Fields
- No. 8 BYU QB Zach Wilson
- No. 9 Notre Dame QB Ian Book
- No. 10 Kyle Pitts (first tight end to finish in top 10 since 1977)
DeVonta Smith surged in the Heisman Trophy race as he became Alabama’s clear-cut go-to pass-catcher in the absence of Jaylen Waddle. Smith leads all Power 5 receivers with 17 touchdowns. His 98 catches and 1,511 receiving yards are each best in the nation.
Kyle Trask is the nation’s passing leader in yards (4,125), yards per game (375) and touchdowns (43). While running is not his specialty, Trask also managed 3 scores on the ground, all coming in Florida’s past two games.
Mac Jones leads the nation in completion percentage with a 76.5 mark and yards per attempt (11.4). His 3,739 are second nationally behind Trask. Jones’ 32 passing touchdowns are tied for third in the nation with UCF’s Dillon Gabriel, behind Trask and BYU’s Zach Wilson. Jones is managing those numbers despite only 29.7 attempts per game, which ranks 44th among the nation’s passers.
There has been a national media case for Trevor Lawrence to win the 2020 Heisman as a lifetime achievement award recognizing his college football career and it appeared to resonate as he made the cut for the final four over Najee Harris.
The Clemson quarterback is outside the top 10 nationally in the major passing categories of yards (No. 11), touchdowns (No. 13), completion percentage (No. 12) and yards per game (No. 11). Lawrence does have 7 rushing touchdowns on the seasons as part of his 58 carries for 211 yards.
Voting for the Heisman Trophy ended Monday. The winner will be announced on Jan. 5, 2021, in a virtual ceremony airing on ESPN at 7 p.m. ET.
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
