By Brooke Brottman

The Heisman Trophy is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in NCAA Football. Predicting who will win the Heisman award is never easy, especially so early in the season. However, Heisman Trophy odds saw major changes going into Week 10 of the 2020 season, with COVID-19 causing drastic impacts atop the Heisman odds board.

Trevor Lawrence, the star Clemson quarterback who is projected to go No. 1 in the 2021 NFL draft, is no longer the betting favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. A positive test for Heisman odds-on favorite Trevor Lawrence caused him to miss last week's game against Boston College. He will also miss this Saturday against No. 4 Notre Dame, and missing these games has caused Lawrence to slip out of the top spot. Lawrence attended and played football for Cartersville High School in Georgia, where he was considered to be among the best high school quarterback prospects of all time. Enrolling at Clemson University, Lawrence won the starting job for the Tigers midway through his freshman season, leading them to an undefeated season that ended with a victory in the 2019 National Championship Game. As a sophomore, he led Clemson to another undefeated regular season before being defeated by LSU in the 2020 National Championship Game. This season, over Clemson’s first six games, Lawrence threw for 1,833 yards and 17 touchdowns with just two interceptions while completing 70.7% of his passes for the top-ranked Tigers.

Mac Jones

Alabama is off to another tremendous start this season. The offense is loaded with playmakers, but the excellent performance by quarterback Mac Jones so far can't be underestimated. After originally committing to the University of Kentucky, Jones accepted a scholarship offer from Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban and signed with the University of Alabama. Jones redshirted his freshman season in 2017. This year, Jones has led the Crimson Tide to a 6-0 record with an offense that tops the country by averaging 47.2 points per game. After coming on late last season in place of the injured Tua Tagovailoa, Jones has thrown for 2,196 yards, 16 touchdowns, and two interceptions in 2020.

Justin Fields

One of the front runners for the award is Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields. Fields attended Harrison High School in Georgia. In two years as a starter for Harrison, he totaled 4,187 passing yards, 41 passing touchdowns, 2,096 rushing yards, and 28 rushing touchdowns. In 2017, Fields committed to the University of Georgia to play college football. In his true freshman season at Georgia in 2018, Fields served as the backup to starting quarterback Jake Fromm. After Georgia's loss to Alabama in the 2018 SEC Championship Game, Fields announced that he intended to transfer schools. In 2019, Fields threw for 3,273 yards and 41 touchdowns and ran for 484 yards and 10 touchdowns in his first season as Ohio State's starting quarterback. In the process, he led his team to a Big Ten championship and a berth in the College Football Playoff. Fields has played just two games this season, due to the Big Ten Conference delaying the start of its season until Week 8. He has completed 87.3 percent of his passes for 594 yards, six touchdowns, and zero picks through his first two games for the No. 3-ranked Buckeyes. This success has elevated Fields chances to win the 2020 Heisman Trophy.

Zach Wilson

Zach Wilson quarterback for BYU has been excellent so far in 2020. Wilson attended Corner Canyon High School in Utah. As a senior, he passed for 2,986 yards and 24 touchdowns and also rushed for 752 yards and eight touchdowns. This year for BYU, Wilson has thrown for 2,152 yards and 19 touchdowns while completing 74.6% of his throws. In a blowout victory over Western Kentucky on Saturday, the QB threw for three touchdowns and rushed for another touchdown, completing 18 of 32 passes for 224 yards that currently put him in the fifth spot for the Heisman.

Travis Etienne

There is a significant gap between Jones, Fields, and Lawrence, and the rest of the field. With quarterbacks winning 17 of the last 20 Heisman Trophies, it's little surprise that the players with the best Heisman Trophy odds for 2020 all tend to play the quarterback position. However, Travis Etienne, Running Back for Clemson is also in the mix. Etienne attended Jennings High School in Louisiana. As a senior, he rushed for 2,459 yards with 39 touchdowns. For his high school career, he had 8,864 total yards with 115 total touchdowns. He was rated as a four-star recruit and the 15th highest rated running back recruit in the country. Etienne continues to set records for the Tigers. In the first quarter of Saturday's comeback win over Boston College, Etienne's touchdown solidified that he has scored a touchdown in 42 games, setting an FBS record. Then in the third quarter, he set the ACC career rushing record.

As many of us know, 2020 is an unprecedented year and anything can happen. With Lawrence testing positive for COVID and out for this week’s game, it is going to be a tight race for the Heisman trophy between Lawrence, Jones, Fields, Etienne, and Wilson. With these notable players this year in the mix for the Heisman Trophy, only one will come out on top and be awarded the most prestigious award in college football.

You can follow Brooke on Twitter @Brottman_10.

2020 Heisman Favorites

Mac Jones

Justin Fields

Zach Wilson

Travis Etienne

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