Every season the best player in college football is awarded the Heisman Trophy, named after John W. Heisman; this is considered to be the highest award in college football.
College football has been entertaining to watch as week seven nears. The Heisman race is being looked at differently this year due to COVID-19. The Big Ten Conference decided to postpone the beginning of their season due to the pandemic. They started their season four weeks after the rest of the conferences in the country.
The best winner for the Heisman before the season started was playing in the Southeastern Conference down in Clemson and got off to a very hot start. Unfortunately, the Clemson Quarterback, Trevor Lawrence was diagnosed with COVID-19 and has to undergo the 10-day quarantine protocol. With the front runner out and the Big Ten jumping in the race late, it is going to be an interesting finish to the 2020 Heisman Trophy race.
Last season, the leader from Louisiana and reigning national champion Joe Burrow claimed the Heisman Trophy in a race against Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts, Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields and Ohio State defensive end Chase Young. Every nominee headed into the draft was lucky enough to find a home in the National Football League besides the young buckeye Justin Fields.
“It’s going to be tough to call this year,” senior Ryan Komers said. “With Lawrence missing a big game against Notre Dame with the virus and with Fields jumping in late with the rest of the Big Ten, by the end of the season it will be hard to decide.”
Fields is the only returning finalist from the previous season judging off his first two games back, he is determined to come out victorious this season. Ohio State quickly jumped up to the third best team in the country, passing Notre Dame in the standings after winning against both Penn State and Nebraska.
“The Big Ten is different this year,” junior Reino Hill said. “It’s like a whole different league compared to the rest of college football.”
Fields comes from a string of dominant college football quarterbacks at Ohio State. The strong armed Lawrence from Clemson is giving Fields the competition that none of his previous Ohio State quarterbacks had to face. Last season, the two battled in the college football playoff at the State Farm stadium in Glendale, Arizona for the Playstation Fiesta Bowl. Fields threw the pick that would seal the game and Lawrence would go on to lose in the championship to the Burrow lead Tigers.
Fields knows his biggest competition is going to be out for one more week and hopefully recognizes this as his chance to leap ahead in the competition for the Heisman Trophy against a weak Rutgers team this week.
The pressure on Fields after a disappointing end to his previous season grows the closer he gets to his second trip to the college football playoff. A rematch against Lawrence is what the fans are begging for and he is hungry for the Heisman Trophy.
The race to be the next athlete in the Heisman house continues to entertain as it does every year. The gunslinging quarterback’s involved in the hunt are starting to realize the final stretch is near, and they need to stand out if they want to be named Heisman at the end of the season.
