Texas Football: Sam Ehlinger among top 2019 Heisman odds favorites

The standard for excellence for Texas football standout dual-threat quarterback Sam Ehlinger is growing for the 2019 season.

The talk surrounding major awards early on for the 2019 has already started up, including the talks for the Heisman Trophy. Some of those discussions do involve some of the brighter stars from the Texas football program, including rising junior star quarterback Sam Ehlinger. There’s a host of other stars around the country listed in the early odds for the next Heisman Trophy winner too.

Some of the other prominent names on this list are Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence and running back Travis Etienne, Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm, Oklahoma quarterback Austin Kendall, and Mizzou quarterback Kelly Bryant. Ehlinger and Kendall are the only two listed from the Big 12 listed among the 2019 Heisman Trophy favorites. That is unless a transfer candidate like Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts or Ohio State quarterback Tate Martell wind up landing at a Big 12 s

Most of the early Heisman odds list is composed of players from the SEC or Big Ten. And, it’s no surprise that the two players at the top are Tagovailoa and Lawrence. The Clemson Tigers were led to the win in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game this year by Lawrence and Etienne. Meanwhile, Tagovailoa was the Heisman Trophy runner up for the 2018 honors and is easily set to be one of the returning favorites with Hurts in the NCAA Transfer Portal.

Texas football doesn’t have any other players in sight of the early Heisman odds list for the 2019 honors. A few players to watch that could emerge as dark horse contenders for the award include rising sophomore running back Keaontay Ingram and rising senior wide receiver Collin Johnson.

Outside of Ehlinger, Ingram, and Johnson, there’s not much going on for the Texas football program in terms of Heisman contenders next season. Then again, most of the top programs in the nation rarely afford more than one or two Heisman contenders in the same season. Clemson and Alabama are two unusual exceptions to that rule heading into the 2019 season.

However, Ehlinger is set to be the biggest Heisman contender from Texas football since the quarterback run through the mid-to-late 2000s of Vince Young and Colt McCoy. Houston Texans second-year running back D’Onta Foreman could also be thrown into that mix of Heisman contenders involving Young and McCoy.

The recognition that Ehlinger is getting after his Sugar Bowl MVP performance in the 28-21 win over Georgia is building more and more entering the 2019 off-season. He is likely to be considered among college football’s top stars for the 2019 season and he’ll continue to stay in the thick of the storylines around the country as the off-season runs its course.