It appears Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will head into the 2019 college football season as a slight favorite over Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence in the Heisman Trophy race.
Tagovailoa has 5/2 odds of bringing the Heisman Trophy back to Tuscaloosa, while Lawrence has a 3/1 shot, according to BetOnline.com. Former Alabama quarterback, now Oklahoma’s, Jalen Hurts is third with 8/1 odds.
Clemson running back Travis Etienne is tied for seventh, along with Georgia’s Jake Fromm and D’Andre Swift, with 14/1 odds.
Lawrence is still second to Tagovailoa despite the fact he outplayed the Alabama signal-caller in the national championship game last January.
In Clemson’s 44-16 win over the Crimson Tide in the CFP National Championship Game, Lawrence completed 20-of-32 passes for 347 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions.
Tagovailoa at times looked confused against Brent Venables’ scheme. Though he threw for 295 yards and two touchdowns on 22-of-34 passing, he was intercepted twice by the Clemson defense, while being harassed and hit for much of the night.
One of Tagovailoa’s interceptions was returned for a touchdown by corner A.J. Terrell, while the other interception by Trayvon Mullen set up the Tigers’ go-ahead score in the second quarter. Mullen also got a sack on Tagovailoa and forced last year’s Heisman runner-up to fumble once as well.
There is no doubt Lawrence and Tagovailoa are the front-runners for college football’s most prestigious award and deservedly slow. They are both coming off record-breaking years from 2018, when it was clear they were two of the top three quarterbacks in the country by the end of the season.
Both are sure to have big years this season, and if they do, it will be interesting to see if last year’s performances in the national title game might sway some votes.
Last year, Lawrence threw for 3,280 yards, while completing 65.2 percent of his passes. He threw a Clemson freshman record 30 touchdowns and had just four interceptions. He also set a Clemson record by ending the season without throwing an interception in his last 169 attempts.
Etienne rushed for a school-record 1,658 yards in 2018, while tying an ACC record with 26 total touchdowns. His 24 rushing touchdowns shattered Clemson’s single-season record.
2019 Heisman Trophy Odds
Tua Tagovailoa 5/2
Trevor Lawrence 3/1
Jalen Hurts 8/1
Adrian Martinez 10/1
Justin Fields 11/1
Jonathan Taylor 12/1
Jake Fromm 14/1
D’Andre Swift 14/1
Travis Etienne 14/1
Justin Herbert 16/1
Sam Ehlinger 16/1
Ian Book 20/1
Austin Kendall 25/1
Jerry Jeudy 25/1
Kelly Bryant 25/1
JT Daniels 25/1
Shea Patterson 28/1
K.J. Costello 33/1
Rondale Moore 33/1