Heisman Trophy Odds & Betting Favorites For 2025

The 2025 college football season is still many months away, but there’s big news in the futures market. The BetMGM online sportsbook has already released its 2024 Heisman Trophy odds. 

It’s one of the year’s most popular college football odds markets. 

Every year, I go very deep into Heisman odds betting research, breaking down the market name by name. I provide that extensive analysis for you below.

Heisman Odds Market Breakdown

Heisman Trophy Prediction 2025

Based on the current futures market, Arch Manning has an implied 14.3% chance of winning the 2025 Heisman Trophy.

Heisman Watch 2025

It’s no surprise that Texas quarterback Arch Manning is the early clubhouse leader for next season’s Heisman market. 

Early futures are all about public perception, and the rising star’s last name is pretty powerful in that regard.

That said, there’s plenty of value elsewhere in the table, as next year’s Heisman Trophy feels as wide open as the landscape has been in years. 

One early place to look could be Oregon quarterback Dante Moore. The Ducks’ quarterback has been Heisman-relevant every season despite year-to-year turnover, so Moore could be an easy place to pick up strong CLV, if nothing else. 

Heisman Odds: Arch Manning

Arch Manning, the Texas quarterback, is currently +600 to win the Heisman Trophy.

The former top recruit and potential Manning of destiny opens the 2025 Heisman market as the obvious favorite. If anything, I’m surprised he isn’t a little shorter. Perhaps there’s still room to run with this number, even with Arch at the top of the current market. 

Manning completed 68% of his passes and totaled 939 passing yards & 13 total touchdowns in limited action in 2024. When Quinn Ewers recovered from his abdominal injury and was able to retake the field, Manning rediscovered the sideline.

Still, many Texas fans will tell you they found Manning far more effective on the field than Ewers in 2024 and are excited for the 2025 campaign. The role of expectant savior isn’t a new one for a highly touted backup quarterback, but in the case of Manning, the high ceiling probably isn’t a mirage. This ticket has a pretty high floor. 

Heisman Odds: Garrett Nussmeier

Garrett Nussmeier, the LSU quarterback, is currently +850 to win the Heisman Trophy.

In his first year as the LSU starter, the junior threw for 4,052 yards and 29 touchdowns. Good stats, obviously, but Nussmeier was hardly the picture of a Heisman finalist in 2024.

Here, the market is potentially anticipating a second-year pop for Nussmeier, which is in line with recent LSU Heisman winners like Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels. 

Honestly, it’s not a bad theory on how to bet the Heisman market. The problem is the price. At +850, you’re getting an awfully short return for a pretty big Nussmeier projection that’s relying a lot on the history of unrelated previous players.

Heisman Odds: Jeremiah Smith

Jeremiah Smith, the Ohio State wide receiver, is currently +1000 to win the Heisman Trophy.

In 2024, Smith made headlines (alongside Alabama’s Ryan Williams) as a then-17-year-old phenom receiver for the Buckeyes. He’s now a national champion. Can he become a Heisman, too?

Heisman bettors with quarterback-or-bust betting strategies were left out in the cold a few years ago when Alabama’s Devonta Smith won the Heisman by overshadowing his own quarterback and the rest of the offense. 

With the departure of many of Ohio State’s top offensive pieces, and with a more established preseason reputation, Jeremiah Smith is in a very good position to recreate Devonta Smith’s Heisman success. 

The only question bettors have to ask: Is +1000 too short for a Heisman receiver ticket in 2025?

Heisman Odds: Cade Klubnik

Cade Klubnik, the Clemson quarterback, is currently +1100 to win the Heisman Trophy.

Klubnik had a slow start to 2024, and the ending was a little uneasy. Clemson barely beat Pitt, lost to rival South Carolina, edged out SMU in the ACC title game, and got bounced by Texas in the first round of the playoff. Halfway through the third quarter, the Longhorns led 31-10.

The final weeks of the season might gloss over the fact that Klubnik was awesome throughout most of the regular season. He finished the season with 3,639 passing yards, 463 rushing yards, and 43 total touchdowns, powering Clemson’s offense through much of its ACC schedule. 

In fact, Klubnik was so good that he was really the only player who made any kind of charge up the Heisman odds table in 2024. Last season’s Heisman race quickly coalesced around Travis Hunter, Ashton Jeanty, Cam Ward, and Dillon Gabriel, but Klubnik’s play was so strong that he threatened to turn the foursome into a fivesome. 

With the ACC likely to remain a top-heavy conference with a deeply average group of teams in the middle, Klubnik could continue to put up monster stats in 2025. With many of his chief Heisman competitors now departed for the NFL, he’s definitely a quarterback to watch.

Heisman Odds: Drew Allar

Drew Allar, the Penn State quarterback, is currently +1400 to win the Heisman Trophy.

Allar is now entering his third year as the starter at Penn State, where he and the Nittany Lions reached the CFP semifinals last season. That experience and achievement explains the market respect for Allar.

While Allar has had individual games where he looks like a top quarterback, he hasn’t necessarily shown the week-to-week consistency that’s probably necessary for a top Heisman contender. He’s a name to know, but probably a better bet at 25-to-1 or longer. 

Heisman Odds: Dante Moore

Dante Moore, the Oregon quarterback, is currently +1800 to win the Heisman Trophy.

History says that Moore, who is transferring over from conference mate UCLA, has instant Heisman relevance as the Ducks’ quarterback. 

Oregon’s quarterback has generally been a Heisman-relevant playmaker for a significant portion of the last two decades. But that trend has been elevated under head coach Dan Lanning and OC Will Stein, who have turned the Oregon quarterback into a Heisman candidate machine. 

The previous two transfer quarterbacks, Dillon Gabriel and Bo Nix, were both labeled in one way or another as reclamation projects. The former spent several weeks as the Heisman favorite in 2024; the latter was selected in the first round of the NFL Draft by the Broncos. 

Even if you’re skeptical of Moore, he has to be taken seriously as a Heisman candidate because of Lanning and Stein. At +1800, he’s a value buy. Just as Gabriel’s price was targeted by sharps in the summer of 2024, I expect Moore to be targeted during this 2025 offseason.

Heisman Odds: LaNorris Sellers

LaNorris Sellers, the South Carolina quarterback, is currently +1800 to win the Heisman Trophy.

Sellers, who was the SEC Freshman of the Year in 2024, projects as the kind of high-ceiling playmaker that could make a big leap in 2025. 

With 2,274 passing yards, 655 rushing yards, and 24 total touchdowns in his first year as a starter, he also has the dual-threat profile that has spawned successful Heisman campaigns in recent memory.

Sellers’ Heisman candidacy is a projection. But at 18-to-1, it’s clear that this is a projection that the market likes a lot. He’s starting his redshirt sophomore campaign pretty far above long shot territory. 

Heisman Odds: Julian Sayin

Julian Sayin, the Ohio State quarterback, is currently +1800 to win the Heisman Trophy.

Like Sellers, the market is projecting a major role for Sayin, a former five-star high school recruit who had a cup of coffee at Alabama as an early enrollee. He ultimately transferred to Ohio State after Nick Saban announced his retirement, sitting behind Will Howard in the Buckeyes’ quarterback room as a freshman.

Sayin will be in the mix to replace Howard this year as Ohio State prepares to defend its latest national championship. Naturally, the potential heir to play quarterback for the Buckeyes begins the season with some Heisman relevance. 

Sayin is a high-variance bet. As a former five-star, he obviously has the potential to join previous big-time Ohio State quarterbacks like Justin Fields and Dwayne Haskins, among others. If he does, and Ohio State remains in the thick of the national championship hunt, Sayin will have real staying power in the Heisman Trophy race. Grabbing him early at 18-to-1 would be great value.

That said, the market has also tended to overrate the Heisman baseline for Ohio State quarterbacks. That’s true as recently as last year, when Howard was pumped early as a Heisman candidate in this same second tier of contenders. 

It quickly became obvious that Howard wasn’t going to be invited to New York as a Heisman finalist, let alone win the award. That means a Sayin ticket could also be a total waste, just as Howard proved last year.

Heisman Odds: Carson Beck

Carson Beck, the Miami (FL) quarterback, is currently +2200 to win the Heisman Trophy.

Beck has attracted some major offseason attention on social media after transferring to Miami to be closer to his girlfriend, Miami basketball’s Hanna Cavinder.

The pair broke up this offseason, scuttling the next Gen Z power couple before they even got started. But Beck is still on deck to succeed Cam Ward as quarterback for the Hurricanes, and college football fans know Mario Cristobal’s offense can produce a Heisman finalist. 

The only questions remaining for bettors: Do you still think enough of Beck after the 2024 season to buy him as a real Heisman contender? And are you willing to do it at +2200, or would you want a longer price?

Heisman Odds: John Mateer

John Mateer, the Oklahoma quarterback, is currently +2500 to win the Heisman Trophy.

Mateer was quite good at Washington State last year, but the diminished positioning of the Cougars made it hard for anyone outside of the Pacific Northwest to pay too much attention. 

This year, with Mateer now in Norman, the spotlight will shine on him in a much bigger way. And with Oklahoma increasingly desperate to assert its relevance, Mateer could be in for some heavy work.

Mateer could step into a big power vacuum after former Heisman contenders like Beck, Jalen Milroe, Jaxson Dart, Nico Iamaleava, Quinn Ewers, and others have all left the conference since the end of last year. 

That could be good for Mateer, which is why he’s priced at a semi-modest +2500. But Oklahoma would still have to deliver more competitive games in 2025, which looks like the biggest potential impediment to Mateer’s Heisman candidacy ahead of the season. 

Heisman Odds: Nico Iamaleava

Nico Iamaleava, the former Tennessee quarterback, is currently +8000 to win the Heisman Trophy.

Iamaleava was an early target in the 2024 cycle, attracting both tickets and dollars as an SEC quarterback in Josh Heupel’s quarterback-friendly system.

Once Tennessee stopped playing awful teams, though – the Vols scored 191 combined points against Chattanooga, NC State, and Kent State – the freshman quickly dropped off the Heisman radar. 

Even before Iamaleava fell out with the Tennessee coaching staff, he would have needed a big jump to be Heisman relevant in 2025. 

Now that he’s the potential starting quarterback for the Bruins – a far less relevant national team – he’ll need to be incredible. 

That explains the major odds shift from this spring. Three months ago, Iamaleava was closer to +2000.

Previous Heisman Trophy Winners