SEC Football: Buy or Sell Leonard Fournette as a Heisman Candidate
Leonard Fournette is one of 5 SEC football players to make the early betting odds list for Heisman Trophy; we discuss whether you should buy or sell.
5 SEC football players made Bovada’s list of players they were willing to put odds on to win the Heisman Trophy. Unsurprisingly, Deshaun Watson leads that group and is closely followed by Christian McCaffrey and Leonard Fournette.
Related: 5 SEC Football Players Make Heisman Betting Odds List
If you continue scrolling down the list, you see 4 more SEC football players make the list. We started from the bottom and have now worked our way back to Fournette. We’ve already covered Tennessee’s Joshua Dobbs and Alabama’s Calvin Ridley, who both have+1600 odds. Next up was Georgia running back Nick Chubb with +1200 odds. Tied with Chubb with +1200 odds is Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly. We have finally made our way to the SEC football favorite for the Heisman: Leonard Fournette.
Buy:
Leonard Fournette is a man-child that carried LSU to 9 wins as their offense. Seriously. On an SEC football team filled with elite talent, Fournette WAS LSU’s offense. Throughout the entire month of September, it looked like a foregone conclusion that Fournette would win the Heisman last year as well.
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After having their season opener canceled, Fournette had to sharpen his teeth against an SEC football opponent — Mississippi State. He responded with 159 yards on 5.7 yards per carry and 3 touchdowns. He followed that performance by averaging at least 9 yards per carry, 228 yards a game and rushing for at least two touchdowns in his next 3 games.
For the season, Fournette ran for 1,953 yards on 6.5 yards per carry and added 22 touchdowns. He also contributed a receiving touchdown on 253 yards receiving. It is tough to gauge just how spectacular his numbers would have been had the season opener against McNeese State not been canceled. You can say it wouldn’t matter how great his performance was against such an inferior opponent, and you’d be right to a degree. But keep in mind his season stats would have been north of 2,000 yards rushing and even more rushing touchdowns. That, friends, certainly matters.
Sell:
Remember the beastly run I described earlier? Yeah, Fournette never matched those numbers again. He never again averaged 9 (or even 8) yards per carry, topped 228 yards or rushed for 3 touchdowns (save the bowl game). Instead he had two games under a 100 yards and averaged less than 6 yards per carry in 6 straight games down the stretch.
Fournette didn’t succumb to the SEC football schedule or forget how to be elite. The lack of a true passing threat doomed Fournette’s Heisman chances, as defenses would load 8 men in the box to stop one. That will be Fournette’s biggest issue as he hopes to at least get invited to the ceremonies this year.
More sec: Can Leonard Fournette Win a Heisman?
Final Verdict:
I’m very reluctantly buying Fournette’s stock. With Cam Cameron and Brandon Harris returning as offensive coordinator and quarterback, respectively, I just don’t think the Tigers can put Fournette in a position to win the Heisman. Fournette may turn into more a receiving threat, though, and make his way to New York anyway. Fournette is just too good to pass on.
*All stats taken from espn.com*