Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon II won the 2023 Doak Walker Award as the best running back in the nation. He was the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year (besting the likes of Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers for the honor), a unanimous All-American and he finished seventh in Heisman Trophy voting, the highest of three running backs that placed in the top 10.
And he’s still college football’s best-kept secret; according to Las Vegas oddsmakers, that is.
In the most recent run of Heisman Trophy futures, Gordon was tagged with +15000 odds to take home the sport’s top individual award. That put him 53rd on the list of eligible athletes, alongside the likes of Nebraska true freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin, who’s expected to back up starting signal caller Will Howard in his first year with the Buckeyes.
Of course, the Heisman is a quarterback-slanted award. Seven of the last eight winners have made their name tossing the ball around the field. The only non-QB to win the Heisman in that span — former Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith — stood out because he was elite at catching those passes thrown by quarterbacks.
A running back hasn’t won the Heisman since 2015, when Derrick Henry carried Alabama to a College Football Playoff National Championship. Even then he garnered just 65.7% of the vote, the lowest mark for a Heisman winner since 2011.
Regardless of recent trends, Gordon shouldn’t just be in the Heisman conversation; he should be an early front-runner. He has the potential to follow in that Henry mold as the most important player on a team with conference championship aspirations and College Football Playoff upside.
Because if Oklahoma State wants to reach those goals, it will follow Gordon. He…
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