The Heisman Trophy is given to the top individual college football player of the year, and it is the most coveted of the college football awards. The Heisman winner will live on in college football history alongside names like Archie Griffin (who is the only player to win it twice in 1974 and 1975), Desmond Howard, and Barry Sanders. The three finalists this year, Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson, and Bryce Love, have stamped their place as the three top players in college football, but only one of them will wake up on Sunday, December 10, as the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner.
Lamar Jackson, quarterback, Louisville
This will not be Jackson's first go around at the Heisman Trophy ceremony. Jackson was the 2016 Heisman winner and was only the fourth sophomore in college football history to be awarded that title. He has been compared to other great quarterbacks like Vince Young and Michael Vick. He hopes to join Archie Griffin as the only two players to win the award twice. He was also the first player from Louisville to ever win the award. He will lead Louisville in the TaxSlayer Bowl against Mississippi State.
Lamar Jackson has played at this elite level for the last two years and has earned his place as a finalist this year. He scored a combined 42 touchdowns this year, both, on the ground and in the air, which is more than any other player in the country.
He is ranked 10th in the nation in passing yards with 3,489 and 11th in rushing yards with 1,443 (which ranks second among quarterbacks). He's a duel threat that can beat opposing defenses with his arm or his feet.
Bryce Love, running back, Stanford
Bryce Love hopes to be the second player in Stanford University history to win the Heisman Trophy, along with Jim Plunkett who won it in 1970.
He created a wonderful body of work this season to get him to the apex of college football. Love and the Cardinals will play in this years Alamo Bowl against the Horned Frogs of TCU.
Love finished the regular season ranked second in the nation in rushing yards with 1,973 and he tied for sixth in the nation with 17 rushing touchdowns.
He was the first Pac-12 running back, since Reggie Bush in 2005, to run for 250 yards or more in back to back games. It took Love only five games for Love to hit the 1,000 yard mark this season. He was a go to and foundation of the Stanford Cardinal offense.
Baker Mayfield, quarterback, Oklahoma
Though he can be a polarizing athlete, Mayfield is currently the predicted favorite to take home the hardware. He has already won the Walter Camp Player of the Year award, the Maxwell Award, and the Davey O'Brien award, and the Heisman would be the cherry on top. He is leading the Sooners into the Rose Bowl, against Georgia, for a chance to play for the National Championship.
Baker Mayfield finished the regular season as the number two ranked quarterback in the country with 4,340 passing yards.
He, impressively, had a 69.4% completion percentage against ranked opponents, as well as 15 touchdowns and only two interceptions.
We will all have to wait and see where the trophy falls and then, it's time for the college football bowl games.
