Making the best argument for each 2024 Heisman Trophy finalist to win the award

If you’re looking for negativity, you’ve come to the wrong place.

The 4 Heisman Trophy finalists will not be picked apart today, nor should they be. That’s in the past. Dillon Gabriel, Cam Ward, Travis Hunter and Ashton Jeanty all deserve to be praised for earning an invitation to New York.

If you want to debate their credentials, you’re welcome to do that on your own time. If you’re reading this, you’re on my time.

Here’s the case for each Heisman finalist to go home with the hardware tonight:

Making the case for Dillon Gabriel

If this were 1995, Gabriel might be a runaway for the Heisman. He’s the FBS career touchdowns record-holder and he’s the quarterback for the only remaining FBS unbeaten. That alone would be a slam dunk during an era when the Heisman was more of a lifetime achievement award than an individual season award.

The most favorable 2024 Gabriel stat is that he’s No. 1 in FBS in quarterback rating against teams that are ranked in the AP Top 25. That’s a major box to check for Gabriel, who had the knock of not being a big-game guy entering this season. By the way, that’s a 188.1 QB rating in those games. The only player with a better QB rating vs. AP Top 25 finishers (min. 2 games) in the past 3 seasons was Stetson Bennett IV, AKA one of the most clutch players of the 21st century.

Gabriel hasn’t just been a stat-padder. If anything, he’s been the inverse of that this year. In 3 matchups vs. eventual Playoff teams, he put up 867 passing yards (10 yards/attempt) with an 8-0 TD-INT ratio for an Oregon offense that averaged 38 points in those contests.

Remember that if anyone says “he only had 35 touchdowns in 13 games.”

Making the case for Cam Ward

Miami fans know this, but I’m not sure how much the average fan understands how difficult it’s been for the Canes to find a quarterback in the post-Ken Dorsey era. That’s right — the post-Ken Dorsey era, which is 2003-present. In those 20 years, we watched the likes of Brock Berlin, Jacory Harris, Brad Kaaya, D’Eriq King, Tyler Van Dyke, etc., all attempt to be that star, only to come up short of lofty expectations.

And then Ward stepped in and did everything that Miami fans have been clamoring for. He put that team on his back and if not for that train wreck of a defense, Miami would be the ACC champs with a first-round bye in the Playoff. Ward isn’t just the best player on a resurgent traditional power. He led FBS with a program-record 36 touchdown passes, he was 2nd in passing, he was 4th in FBS in quarterback rating and he led the nation’s No. 1 offense both in scoring and yards/play.

Ward would have plenty of years where his 40 total touchdowns for a 10-win Miami team would be good enough to win the honor. You could argue that if this is a quarterback award, Ward has as good of a case as any with what he was asked to do for a Miami team that allowed at least 28 points in 6 of its final 8 games. Whatever the Washington State transfer got to make the cross-country move to Coral Gables, it’s safe to say it was worth it.

Making the case for Ashton Jeanty

Do I need to say anything more besides “he’s about to break Barry Sanders’ 36-year-old single-season rushing record?” No? OK, I’ll continue for fun.

Let’s point out the fact that while the vast majority of Jeanty’s production came against Mountain West competition, what he did in Week 2 against Oregon aged like a fine wine. In Eugene, Jeanty put up 192 of Boise State’s 221 rushing yards that day, and he accounted for all 3 rushing touchdowns, which gave the Broncos a chance against the eventual lone FBS unbeaten. Jeanty was also responsible for handing the Oregon defense, which ranks No. 13 in FBS in scoring defense, its worst day against the run in the regular season.

But wait! That’s not even the most impressive part about that stat.

“Going off” for Jeanty wasn’t merely racking up 192 rushing yards. That was only his 7th-best rushing output of the season. It actually ended up being exactly his rushing yards/game average (192). That’s insane. So, too, is the fact that no FBS player has had more rushing touchdowns in a season (29) since Devin Singletary had 32 in 2017.

Yes, the volume is noteworthy. Jeanty has been given 344 rushing attempts this season, which is more than any non-service academy player since 2016. But Jeanty’s ability to stay healthy and be the backbone of Boise State’s run to a first-round bye is the stuff of legend. There’s a reason why Jeanty was the first running back invited to New York since Bryce Love in 2017. Shoot, he’s the first Group of 5 player to become a Heisman finalist since Jordan Lynch in 2013, and he’s the first Group of 5 running back to earn the honor since LaDainian Tomlinson in 2000.

Most important? Jeanty has a real case to be the first running back to win the Heisman since Derrick Henry in 2015. Don’t be surprised — or upset — if that happens.

Making the case for Travis Hunter

In the modern era of college football, we’ve never seen anything like what Hunter did. This guy is the best cornerback in America and he’s 6th in the country in receiving. That’s completely different from what Champ Bailey and Charles Woodson did as 2-way players. It’s not just “having a high snap count.” If Hunter just had a high snap count and didn’t put up numbers, nobody would be having this conversation.

But the numbers? They check out. He’s:

• T-No. 17 in interceptions in FBS (4)
• T-No. 12 in passes broken up in FBS
• No. 6 in receiving yards in FBS (1,152)
• T-No. 5 in passes defended in FBS
• No. 3 in receiving yards among Power Conference players
• No. 1 in receiving TDs among Power Conference players (14)
• T-No. 1 in FBS in second half/OT receiving TDs

Oh, and he put up those numbers at corner even though he was only targeted 38 times. He allowed just 91 YAC yards and 1 touchdown because quarterbacks completed just 58% of passes when throwing his way. And the “snaps aren’t a stat” crowd, which overlaps with the “he doesn’t want to tackle” crowd probably wouldn’t like me to point out that after he had already played 144 snaps, Hunter forced the game-winning fumble on the goal line in overtime to beat Baylor.

There’s a reason Colorado just had its second season with at least 6 wins in the past 17 years. It’s not just Shedeur Sanders. It’s Hunter being as good as any player in the sport at 2 different positions.

He’s once-in-a-generational special. If you can’t see why Hunter is a 1-of-1 player, that’s on you.

Connor O'Gara

Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.