Heisman Trophy finalists include 3 quarterbacks and Notre Dame's Jeremiyah Love

NEW YORK (AP) — Three quarterbacks — Indiana's Fernando Mendoza, Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia and Julian Sayin of Ohio State — joined Notre Dame moving backmost Jeremiyah Love successful New York connected Saturday for the awarding of the Heisman Trophy fixed to the apical subordinate successful assemblage football.

Quarterbacks person won the Heisman 3 of past 4 years, with two-way subordinate Travis Hunter of Colorado ending the tally past season.

The grant presumption Saturday nighttime comes aft a fig of accolades awarded already. Mendoza was named The Associated Press subordinate of the twelvemonth earlier this week and picked up the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien awards Friday nighttime portion Love won the Doak Walker Award.

Hoosier star

Mendoza guided the Hoosiers to their archetypal No. 1 ranking and the apical effect successful the 12-team College Football bracket, throwing for 2,980 yards and a national-best 33 touchdown passes portion besides moving for six scores. Indiana, the past unbeaten squad successful large assemblage football, volition play a College Football Playoff quarterfinal crippled successful the Rose Bowl connected Jan. 1.

Mendoza, the Hoosiers’ first-year starter aft transferring from California, is the triggerman for an discourtesy that surpassed programme records for touchdowns and points acceptable during past season’s astonishment tally to the CFP.

A redshirt junior, the erstwhile lightly recruited Miami autochthonal is the 2nd Heisman finalist successful schoolhouse history, joining 1989 runner-up Anthony Thompson. Mendoza is the seventh Indiana subordinate to gain a top-10 decorativeness successful Heisman balloting and it marks different archetypal successful programme past — having back-to-back players successful the apical 10. Hoosiers backmost Kurtis Rourke was ninth past year.

Confident Commodore

Pavia threw for a school-record 3,192 yards and 27 touchdowns for the Commodores, who were pushing for a CFP berth each the mode to the bracket annoucement. He is the archetypal Heisman finalist successful Vanderbilt history.

Generously listed arsenic 6 feet tall, Pavia led Vanderbilt to its archetypal 10-win play on with six wins against Southeastern Conference foes. That includes 4 wins implicit ranked programs arsenic Vandy reached No. 9, its highest ranking successful The Associated Press Top 25 since 1937.

Pavia went from being unrecruited retired of precocious schoolhouse to inferior college, New Mexico State and yet Vanderbilt successful 2024 done the transportation portal.

Brash and confident, the postgraduate pupil from Albuquerque, New Mexico, calls himself “a spot connected the enarthrosis guy” and helium was feisty disconnected the field, too: He played his 4th Division I play nether a preliminary injunction arsenic helium challenges NCAA eligibility rules; helium contends his inferior assemblage years should not number against his eligibility, citing the imaginable losses successful net from name, representation and likeness deals arsenic an amerciable restraint connected escaped trade.

Vandy adjacent plays successful the ReliaQuest Bowl against Iowa connected Dec. 31.

Buckeyes' leader

Sayin led the Buckeyes to a No. 1 ranking for astir of the season, throwing for 3,329 yards portion tying for 2nd successful the state with 31 TD passes up of their CFP quarterfinal astatine the Cotton Bowl connected Dec. 31.

The sophomore from Carlsbad, California, arrived astatine Ohio State aft initially committing to Alabama and entering the transportation portal pursuing a coaching change. He played 4 games past play earlier winning the starting job. He led the Buckeyes to a 14-7 triumph successful the opener against preseason No. 1 Texas and kept the squad atop the AP Top 25 for 13 consecutive weeks, tying its second-longest run.

Sayin was lone the 2nd Bowl Subdivision backmost successful the past 40 years to person 3 games successful a play with astatine slightest 300 yards passing, 3 touchdowns, nary interceptions, and a completion complaint of astatine slightest 80%. West Virginia’s Geno Smith was the different successful 2012.

Sayin follows a beardown lineage of Ohio State quarterbacks since manager Ryan Day arrived successful 2017. Dwayne Haskins (2018), Justin Fields (2019), C.J. Stroud (2021), and Kyle McCord (2023) averaged 3,927 passing yards, 40 TDs, and six interceptions, on with a 68.9% completion complaint during their archetypal seasons.

Irish Love

The past moving backmost to triumph the Heisman was Alabama’s Derrick Henry successful 2015. Love enactment himself successful the premix with an outstanding play for Notre Dame.

The inferior from St. Louis was 4th successful the Bowl Subdivision successful yards rushing (1,372), 5th successful per-game mean (114.3) and 3rd with 18 rushing touchdowns for the Fighting Irish, who missed retired connected a CFP bid and opted not to play successful a vessel game.

He was the archetypal subordinate successful Notre Dame’s storied past to nutrient aggregate TD runs of 90 oregon much yards, a 98-yarder against Indiana successful the archetypal circular of past year’s playoffs and a 94-yarder against Boston College earlier this season.

He padded his Heisman resume with a bid of highlights displaying an uncanny quality to support his equilibrium portion hurdling defenders, spinning retired of tackles oregon rolling disconnected opponents. He teamed with Jadarian Price to make 1 of the season’s apical moving backmost duos, a operation that helped first-time starter CJ Carr look arsenic 1 of the nation’s champion young quarterbacks.

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