The Heisman Trophy is CFB's highest honor. It is awarded to the most outstanding player in NCAA football. Over the years, the award has been a reflection of where the sport is headed. Recently, it has been a QB award, with 17 of the last 20 winners playing under center. This series will explore the top contenders for the 2020 Heisman trophy.
Kyle Trask
Senior QB, University of Florida
6'5" 240lbs.
Manvel, TX
This season has been a coming out party for the former high school backup. Trask started the year as the best returning QB in the SEC. That isn't saying much, as LSU QB Joe Burrow parleyed his historical 2019 season to a Heisman and the number one overall pick. Despite the pre-season hype, Trask has delivered. In fact, through his first 7 games, Trask is on par with Burrow's stats from the aforementioned 2019 season.
Trask 2020 Stats (through 7 games) Burrow 2019 Stats (through 7 games)
Yards: 2,554 Yards: 2,484
Completion: 70.7% Completion: 79%
TD-INT: 31-3 TD-INT: 29-3
Trask has a comparative advantage in total yards and has two more TD passes than Burrow did though 7 games, while Burrow completed a higher percentage of his passes. It was also around this point in the season that Burrow emerged as the betting favorite to win the Heisman. After a 474 yard, 4 TD performance in a de-facto SEC East title game against arch-rival Georgia, Trask was widely seen as the front-runner for the award.
It will be interesting to see if Trask can maintain this high level of play through the month of December. He already drew slight criticism from Gator fans after an "off" game against Vanderbilt. His line in that game? Oh, just 26-35, 383 yards and 3 TDs. If throwing for close to 400 yards and 3 TDs is an "off" game, then Trask is in good shape to keep the momentum rolling. It's not like the schedule is extremely difficult.
Kentucky at Home
Tennessee in Knoxville
LSU at home
Alabama in Atlanta (SEC Championship, presumably)
Trask has an opportunity to continue to pad his stats against three underachieving SEC teams before the biggest game of the year against the #1 team in the nation. If Trask can continue to orchestrate the offense and get everyone involved, there's no reason why the SEC championship game shouldn't double as the ultimate Heisman showdown, with Heisman contender Mac Jones leading the Crimson Tide.
Regardless of what happens, Trask will be the feel good story of the year. A former high school backup who's only other offer was Houston Baptist, Trask had to endure being stashed at the bottom of the depth chart for most of his career, a coaching change, and a foot injury. He only got his shot after an injury took Feilipe Franks out for the season. This past off-season, Gator fans wondered if backup Emory Jones should be given the starting job over the former 2-star.
Now, he's the frontrunner for the Heisman. If he does win the award, he will be immortalized in Florida football history on the west side of The Swamp. His bronze statue will stand next to former Gator QBs Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel, and Tim Tebow. Not bad company.
In the words of former Florida head coach Jim McElwain, "That's pretty neat."
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