One of the biggest stories of the college football season is the budding rivalry between Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields. While both are entering their third seasons at the collegiate level, Lawrence still has one full season’s worth of work over Fields.
While Fields was watching from the sidelines as a freshman as Jake Fromm quarterbacked the Georgia Bulldogs, Trevor Lawrence was winning a national title and leading his team to a perfect 15-0 record.
Although Fields had to wait a year before finally getting his shot at Ohio State, he was absolutely stellar in his first season as a starter after transferring to the Buckeyes. He led his team to the College Football Playoff before ironically enough, being knocked out by Lawrence and Clemson.
Both enter the coming season in a category all by themselves. There is no question they are the two best Power-5 quarterbacks in the country. They are the two overwhelming favorites to win the Heisman, as well as be the top pick in next April’s NFL Draft.
Speaking of the Heisman, SportsLine recently released updated odds for college football’s most prestigious award. As we stand today, Fields is still a very slim favorite over Lawrence.
A little further down the list is Clemson running back Travis Etienne. With Tee Higgins now playing on Sundays and Justyn Ross sidelined for the season, Etienne could be the dark horse in this thing.
Justin Fields (+350)
Big things were expected from Fields in his first season leading the Buckeyes, and he not only delivered, he delivered in a big way. Able to make plays with his arm and his legs, Fields accounted for 40 touchdowns to just two interceptions leading up to the playoff. However, he did throw two picks against Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl, one being on the Buckeyes final offensive play as they were driving for a game-winning touchdown. While he was very good last year, he should be even better in that offense this season.
Trevor Lawrence (+400)
Many have called Lawrence the most talented quarterback prospect in history. He was a Heisman favorite last year before a slow start put him to far back in the pack to make up the ground. However, he did finish the season playing as well over the second half of the season as any quarterback in the country, including Heisman winner Joe Burrow. Up until the national title game that is. While Lawrence undoubtedly had his worst outing in that game, it is still just one game and now that he is entering his third season at the helm of the Clemson offense, his best football should still be ahead of him.
Travis Etienne (+2200)
Etienne has already won ACC Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons, and has done so with minimal touches. With Lawrence missing his top two targets from last season, Etienne could be looking at an increased workload in 2020. Tony Elliott said during the spring that he needs to get the ball to his talented running back more often, and that was before the team knew they would be without Ross this season. No other non-quarterback gets better odds than Etienne, and there is a reason for that, He could easily be the first non-quarterback to win it since 2015. And being frank, he might just be the safer bet to win Clemson’s first ever Heisman.
