Dalvin Cook is a serious Heisman candidate entering his junior season, but he’s far from the favorite. Cook has the sixth-highest odds of winning the award, according to Bovada.
That means he’s not even the most likely running back to win the award, trailing LSU’s Leonard Fournette and Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey — who finished second in 2015 to Alabama’s Derrick Henry — or the top player out of the ACC, trailing Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, who is listed first.
Sure, Cook has been brilliant during his first two seasons in Tallahassee. He rushed for an ACC-leading 1,691 yards — which ranked sixth in the FBS — in 2015 and 1,008 yards in 2014, which set an FSU freshman record. But while some FSU fans may view it as Cook being overlooked, it is a reasonable scenario.
Cook is sixth, which shouldn’t be considered disrespectful and still puts him among the favorites to win the award. In fact, he’s ranked one spot ahead of Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield, who finished fourth in the vote behind Henry, McCaffrey and Watson last season.
Mayfield, Watson and Ole Miss’ Chad Kelly each have the advantage of playing quarterback on three teams expected to contend for a championship in 2016. Eight of the past 10 Heisman winners have been quarterbacks, with the exception being Henry and fellow former Alabama running back Mark Ingram.
But that doesn’t seem to matter considering the strong field of running backs favored in this year’s preseason Heisman vote. Fournette leads the pack, which shouldn’t be much of a surprise given he’s drawn comparisons to Adrian Peterson since entering as the nation’s top high school prospect in 2014.
McCaffrey entering with the third-highest odds overall rather than being listed as the favorite is the bigger surprise. Some would argue that his NCAA record-setting 3,864 all-purpose yards should have outweighed Henry’s SEC record 2,219 rushing yards — which also led the FBS — and earned him last year’s Heisman. Yet he’s still listed behind Watson and Fournette, who are both expected to perform even better as juniors.
Cook finds himself behind players who have dominated college football coverage during the past calendar year and should receive even more hype this season. However, his placement in the Heisman odds may put him at an advantage.
Cook will be given immediate Heisman consideration, so it doesn’t matter whether he’s first or sixth entering the season. It’s usually those players who emerge as the frontrunners, not the returning winners or finalists from the previous season.
Look at the last few Heisman winners. Henry was a player on many experts’ radar, but hardly a favorite entering last season. Oregon’s Marcus Mariota was the exception given that he was among the Heisman favorites, but was more of a “solid option” who perhaps received less buzz than previous winner Jameis Winston, Georgia’s Todd Gurley or Ohio State’s Braxton Miller.
Speaking of Winston, his Heisman candidacy was a complete surprise as it took place during his redshirt season. Florida State’s national championship was hardly a shocker, but Winston’s historical individual performance was far less foreseeable.
Cook doesn’t need to be in front of the pack, rather enter with consideration and let his play propel his candidacy. If he can continue the output of his first two seasons, he will remain a legitimate contender to win the award in December.
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