Soon, Jeff Lebby will unleash his fast-paced offense on unsuspecting defenses each and every week during the 2022 season. At the helm of the sports car is Dillon Gabriel, who was a freshman All-American in this same offense back in 2019.
Needless to say, there are high expectations that Gabriel will provide some fireworks for the Oklahoma Sooners. Unlike Sooners quarterbacks over the last several years, Gabriel doesn’t come into the season as one of the favorites to win the Heisman. Instead, he’s in “dark-horse” territory to win the award for most outstanding player in college football.
But as the 2022 season is set to kick off, the teams at the College Wires provided their preseason ballots for the Heisman. C.J. Stroud (171 points)came out as the preseason favorite, followed by 2021 Heisman winner Bryce Young (160 points) and former Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams (40 points).
Those were my top three picks in the preseason vote, but here’s how I ordered them:
- Bryce Young, Alabama
- C.J. Stroud, Ohio State
- Caleb Williams, USC
While there may be mixed feelings about [autotag]Caleb Williams[/autotag], the true freshman still provided some incredible moments in 2021. He put up big numbers against Texas, TCU, Texas Tech, and Oregon but struggled in games against Kansas, Iowa State, Baylor, and Oklahoma State. He’s a kid with a ton of talent, but he’ll have to be better against good defenses to be worthy of attending the Heisman ceremony in New York at the end of the 2022 season.
Bryce Young is still my favorite to win the Heisman. Though the award hasn’t been won in back-to-back seasons since Archie Griffen did so for Ohio State, there’s no time like the present to break that trend.
So, while C.J. Stroud may be many people’s preseason favorite, Young will likely keep my first-place vote until he stumbles or someone else emerges that just blows you away. Similar to what Kyler Murray did in 2018 or Joe Burrow in 2019.
Gabriel will put himself in the discussion, but as things stand right now, he’s on the outside looking in.
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