The Colorado Buffaloes two-way star Travis Hunter brought the prestigious Heisman to Boulder after a three-decade drought. Hunter beat the other favorites, Ashton Jeanty, Cam Ward, and Dillon Gabriel, by a small margin to emerge as the top dog in New York, with a room full of zealous spirits’ curtain calling for him. Mission accomplished. Victory stamp installed. Now, it’s time to move on to a new honeybee. You might argue, noting it’s too early to let the Travis Hunter fever die, but you have to if someone as momentous as Cade Clubnik continues adding to his stock despite a playoff heartbreak.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound junior has exceeded expectations for the Clemson Tigers this season. He has thrown just five interceptions. He has rushed for 458 yards and seven more scores on the ground, with 40 total touchdowns. Clemson gave it to the Longhorns and Quinn Ewers. But Klubnik did his part. He had a tricky situation without running back Phil Mafah but managed to post two second-half touchdown drives, regardless.

Overall, the way Cade delivered throughout the season was turning a lot of heads, including college football analyst David Pollack. Deeming him the next year’s Heisman Lionheart, Pollack backed up, ‘‘I think Cade Klubnik will be in the Heisman conversation next year. That’s how good I think he is like statistically this year, he was kind of there dude, what he what he did to Texas. Texas gave up four touchdown passes all year. He had three, and he was dropping the deep ball in the bucket, making plays.”

Klubnik scored a splendid ACC Championship Game record-tying four passing touchdowns against SMU and became only the third player ever to win multiple ACC Championship Game MVP honors (After Deshaun Watson and Tyrod Taylor). If he stays locked with the Tigers for another season, he will have a good chance to walk past another huge record.

Clemson has never produced a Heisman winner, although Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence came close but couldn’t complete the push. So, if Klubnik does this, he will be a trailblazer in the program. In that case, Arch Manning, another top projected 2025 Heisman frontrunner, has to take the back seat.

Arch Manning is named as the early Heisman frontrunner 

In 2024, the majority of the Heisman drama revolved around two top figures, Travis Hunter and Ashton Jeanty. The duo underwent a lot of back and forth before reaching the final stretch. After a while, Coach Prime’s favorite got back to the glory and edged out Jeanty by just 214 points on the big day.

Next year, we might see another nail-biter as Texas Longhorns’ Arch Manning is shaping up to be a Heisman beast under the radar. Arch Manning, the No. 1 quarterback recruit of last year, is ready to take up the starting gig at any time. He is showing every sign that he’s ready to lead the Longhorns onward. Before it all starts, Manning is already getting Hunter-like hype for 2025. With Quinn Ewers’ NFL draft rumor, Manning’s room for score looks like a serious hope for the 19-year-old kid.

Former quarterback Danny Kannell revealed on Twitter/X that one international sports book mentioned Manning as the clear favorite for the 2025 Heisman Trophy. Although it will be too early to jump, I am not gonna lie; we smell a Travis Hunter-Ashton Jeanty rivalry but are not sure if this time, Hunter/Manning (the most hyped) will win the race. It might be an underdog’s trophy in 2025.