With the 2026 college football season slated to kick off in just 50 days with North Carolina and TCU‘s clash in Ireland, Phil Steele has ranked his top-10 Heisman Trophy favorites.

Steele’s list includes nine quarterbacks and one wide receiver. 16 of the last 20 Heisman Trophy winners have been quarterbacks, with Colorado CB/WR Travis Hunter (2024), Alabama WR DeVonta Smith (2020), Alabama RB Derrick Henry (2015), and Alabama RB Mark Ingram II (2009) bucking the status quo.

[You can purchase Phil Steele‘s 2026 College Football Preview Digital Magazine here].

The list, headlined by Texas quarterback Arch Manning and Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, is below.

It’s safe to say that Arch Manning entered the 2025 season, his first as Texas‘ starter, with monstrous expectations. While he didn’t quite get off to the best start, he finished extremely strong. Across Manning’s final eight games of the 2025 season, he led Texas to a 7-1 record, with strong wins over No. 6 Oklahoma, No. 9 Vanderbilt, No. 3 Texas A&M, and No. 18 Michigan. He stands as Phil Steele‘s preseason favorite to win the Heisman Trophy in 2026.

In that span (final eight games), he passed for 2,012 yards and 15 touchdowns with just two interceptions. He also rushed for 239 yards and five scores on the ground, although 155 yards and two touchdowns came in the Longhorns’ 41-27 win over the Wolverines in the Citrus Bowl. Another big year is expected from Manning, as the Longhorns seek a return to the College Football Playoff.

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After spurning the NFL Draft, Oregon quarterback Dante Moore is tabbed as Phil Steele’s second-leading Heisman Trophy candidate. He could become the first Duck since 2014 (Marcus Mariota) to win the award. In his first season as Oregon‘s starting quarterback, Moore passed for 3,565 yards and 30 touchdowns with just 10 interceptions. He led the Ducks to a 13-2 record and an appearance in the Semifinals of the College Football Playoff.

With superstar tight end Jamari Johnson and talented wide receivers Dakorien Moore and Evan Stewart (who missed the entire 2025 season) returning to Oregon‘s offense this season, Moore certainly could find himself in New York City for the Heisman Trophy ceremony. The Ducks are seeking their first-ever College Football Playoff National Championship under head coach Dan Lanning.

Although Notre Dame fell just shy of a second consecutive College Football Playoff appearance, quarterback CJ Carr delivered an extremely impressive freshman campaign for the Irish. Carr passed for 2,741 yards and 24 touchdowns with just six interceptions across 12 games. In Notre Dame‘s two losses (No. 10 Miami and No. 16 Texas A&M), Carr totaled 514 passing yards, four total touchdowns, and two interceptions. He is poised to take an even bigger leap in his second year under Marcus Freeman‘s leadership.

“He’s the best quarterback [Notre Dame] has had during our lifetime,” ESPN’s Todd McShay said on the July 2 edition of The McShay Show. “I think he has a chance to be absolutely sensational. I think CJ Carr is tracking toward being a legendary Notre Dame quarterback.”

Ole Miss solidified itself one of the biggest winners of the college football offseason, when it was able to garner an extra year of eligibility for star quarterback Trinidad Chambliss. Although he didn’t open the 2025 campaign as the starter, Chambliss took over for an injured Austin Simmons and blossomed into one of the best quarterbacks in all of college football. He passed for 22 touchdowns with just three interceptions and led the Rebels to the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history.

“The best quarterback in the College Football Playoff, and the best quarterback going into this season, in my opinion, is Trinidad Chambliss,” ESPN’s Jordan Rodgers said on the June 29 edition of Get Up. “There were a lot of people talking about him as a first-round draft pick, if he chose to come out. He’s so talented, really just his first year at this level, coming from a lower rank. I’m really excited about him.”

Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin more than lived up to the hype in his first season as the Buckeyes’ starter in 2025. The Carlsbad, Calif. native passed for 3,610 yards and 32 touchdowns with just eight interceptions, and led Ohio State to an unblemished 12-0 regular season record and an appearance in the College Football Playoff. Sayin returns to Columbus for his 2026 campaign, and enters the season as one of the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy.

“Julian Sayin’s insanely accurate,” On3’s Ari Wasserman said on the Feb. 10 edition of Andy & Ari On3. “He throws a beautiful ball and is certainly good enough to win a national championship at Ohio State. The one thing I would neg him on – and maybe I’m being overly nit-picky here … all the spectacular plays that Ohio State made this year, I felt like, were more because the receiver was awesome than it was because of who was delivering it.”

Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith sat atop On3’s ‘Top 100 players in college football for 2026‘ list, which was released earlier this offseason. Across two seasons in Columbus, Smith has hauled in 163 receptions for 2,558 yards and a whopping 27 touchdowns. He was named a Unanimous All-American in 2025, a First Team All-American in 2024, and has been tabbed the back-to-back recipient of Big Ten Receiver of the Year.

“Stretching opponents vertically with his game-changing burst, he finished with college football’s fourth-most deep yards (536), despite fielding over a dozen fewer targets than everyone else in the top three,” On3’s Clark Brooks said about Smith in his piece. “Showing his might and impressive ball skills, he hauled in over half of his contested targets. Though receivers aren’t wise bets for winning the Heisman, especially in the preseason, Smith’s tantalizing scope of skills is more than capable for a historic 2026. 

Miami quarterback Darian Mensah, who transferred from Duke after leading the Blue Devils to an ACC Championship last season, enters the 2026 campaign as one of Phil Steele‘s favorites to win the Heisman Trophy. Mensah was remarkable for head coach Manny Diaz and Duke in his lone season in Durham. Mensah’s 3,973 passing yards ranked second most in the country, while his 34 passing touchdowns were tied for second most in the country.

“He’s really good,” Miami head coach Mario Cristobal said about Mensah. “He’s accurate, he’s got an unbelievable sense, and his pocket awareness is off the charts. His off-script stuff and his on-schedule stuff is elite. He’s got the right temperament. He is an alpha and he’s got a great personality. People really gravitate to him. He’s really athletic and he’s a hard worker. He’s really smart. He checks all the boxes.”

Josh Hoover has the extremely difficult task of succeeding a Heisman-winning quarterback at Indiana. Hoover has spent the past four seasons at TCU, serving in the starting role over the past three. Across 36 career games, the Heath, Tex., native boasts 9,629 passing yards and 71 touchdowns with just 33 interceptions. He will be the third starting quarterback of the Curt Cignetti era at Indiana. He joins Ohio transfer Kurtis Rourke (Second Team All-Big Ten) and Cal transfer Fernando Mendoza.

“Josh is one of the hardest workers that I’ve met, and he throws so much,” IU star receiver Charlie Becker said about Hoover. “I don’t know how he does it; my arm would fall off. He texts me probably every day asking if we want to throw, just to be able to build that connection, which is good. As soon as last season was over, me and Josh were texting. We had a little break, so he was like, ‘As soon as you guys get back, let’s get right to it’. After every workout, we’ve been throwing and just trying to build that connection that me and Fernando (Mendoza) had.”

The first starting quarterback of the Lane Kiffin era at LSU will be Arizona State transfer quarterback Sam Leavitt. Leavitt was banged up in 2025, but led the Sun Devils to the College Football Playoff for the first time ever in 2024. Across two seasons as ASU’s starter, Leavitt totaled 4,513 passing yards and 34 touchdowns with nine interceptions. He was tabbed as the No. 1-ranked player in the Transfer Portal by On3.

“Lane Kiffin offenses, historically, are going to be driven by quarterback play. Not just in volume, but in the way they can put stress on the opposing defense,” ESPN’s Greg McElroy said. “Sam Leavitt’s mobility and creativity matter because modern defenses are built to kind of suffocate structure. When the quarterback can extend plays and when the entire defensive structure changes because of the quarterback movement, that becomes a lot more difficult to defend.”

Finally, Utah‘s Devon Dampier rounds out Steele’s top-10 Heisman Trophy contenders list. Dampier shined in his first season at the Utes’ starting quarterback. He passed for 2,490 yards and 24 touchdowns with just five interceptions. Dampier is a threat to contribute on the ground as well, as he racked up 835 yards and 10 more scores that way.

He was named the Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year, and led Utah to an 11-2 record and a blowout victory over Nebraska in the Las Vegas Bowl. Things could change for Dampier this season, however, as both his head coach (Kyle Whittingham) and offensive coordinator (Jason Beck) departed for openings at Michigan. No Utah player has ever won the Heisman Trophy.