Could Will Levis who led UK to 10 wins last season become a Heisman Trophy candidate this season? (Photo by Vicky Graff)
Who would have thought a year ago that going into the 2022-23 school year that Kentucky would have the returning unanimous college basketball player and a potential Heisman Trophy candidate leading the football team?
Yet that is exactly what Kentucky has now with Oscar Tshiebwe announcing Wednesday he would return to Kentucky and Will Levis deciding not to try the NFL after leading UK to a 10-win season.
Kentucky fan Steve Cate, who lives in Tennessee and enjoys any UK win over the Vols in any sport, wondered if any school ever went into a season with that combination. That got me to thinking the answer is probably no since I think the only two unanimous players of the year to return to school for another year were Danny Manning of Kansas and Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina — and I am pretty sure the North Carolin and Kansas football teams did not have a Heisman Trophy candidate.
Currently it is only Kentucky fans that view Levis as a Heisman Trophy candidate. Instead, SEC quarterbacks on Heisman Trophy early watch lists start with Alabama’s Bryce Young, the 2021 winner. You might also find Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker, Mississippi State’s Will Rogers and Arkansas’ KJ Jefferson.
However, think back to 2019 and I am not sure how many preseason Heisman Trophy lists would have had LSU quarterback Joe Burrow — but he won the Heisman and a national title. Same with Alabama receiver DeVonta Smith in 2020 when he hit the same double as Burrow.
I think Young was on preseason watch lists last year but certainly was not the favorite. That was Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler who not only did win the Heisman but lost his starting job with the Sooners. Georgia quarterback JT Daniels was on the 2021 preseason Heisman watch list — and he also lost his starting job on the national championship team.
So not being on a Heisman list now doesn’t mean Levis could not be there when the season ends. Okay, it’s probably a long shot but that’s okay. Just think how big a long shot it would have been when the 2021-22 basketball season started for Tshiebwe to be the unanimous national player of the year and that happened.
