2026 Heisman Trophy odds, prediction: Byrum Brown, Josh Hoover stand out

We’re in for a real hootenanny of a Heisman Trophy hunt in 2026.The face of the race is Arch Manning, just as he was at this time last year, but the third-generation quarterback isn’t a runaway favorite.Depending on the sportsbook, Manning is either slightly ahead of or behind Notre Dame signal-caller CJ Carr.And those two are a hop in front of Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith.At bet365 Sportsbook, Carr has +700 odds, Manning is at +750 and Smith is right there at +800.Manning, Carr, and Smith may well be the frontrunners ahead of Week 0, but this is not a three-horse race.Darian Mensah, who is now at Miami after spells at Tulane and Duke, is a trendy fourth-favorite at 10/1.

Oregon’s Dante Moore will get plenty of support at 11/1 and so will Ohio State’s Julian Sayin at 12/1.Trinidad Chambliss, last season’s breakout star at Ole Miss, is also 12/1.Throw in Josh Hoover, who took over for Fernando Mendoza at Indiana, and you’ve got eight players — seven of them quarterbacks — between +700 and 14/1 odds at bet365.That’s nuts.This thing could go in a million different directions, which is not how it felt a year ago when Manning, Garrett Nussmeier and Smith were the leading candidates.None of them made the trip to New York, and only Smith was in the top six in voting at the end of the season.And that’s not an outlier.

In fact, it’s trending toward the norm that the Heisman winner comes from nowhere.Six of the last 10 winners were at least 30/1 before the season started, and the last two (Mendoza and Travis Hunter) were 50/1 or higher.

We’ve also had two 100/1 winners since 2016 (Devonta Smith and Lamar Jackson).So while Manning and the favorites will get most of the oxygen right now, don’t be afraid to take some shots down the board, because things will look very different, very quickly.Replacing Mendoza is going to be quite the feat, but Hoover is bringing quite the resume with him to Indiana.The Texas native threw for 9,629 passing ...