Athlon Sports Names Top 10 Contenders For The 2026 Heisman Trophy

With the 2026 college football season right around the corner, the preseason Heisman Trophy conversation is starting to heat up.

Athlon Sports recently named its top 10 contenders for the Heisman Trophy, with four SEC quarterbacks making the cut.

Arch Manning was near the top of list, while Trinidad Chambliss, Gunner Stockton, and Sam Leavitt rounded out the group.

Here's what they had to say about Manning.

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Arch Manning, QB, Texas
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Arch Manning is a Heisman candidate and the Longhorns might just win it all. Okay, you’ve definitely heard that one before. We were not immune from Manning mania, having touted him as one of the best quarterbacks in the sport and Texas as one of college football’s best teams heading into 2025.

Both parties fell well short of those lofty outside expectations, Manning missing out on even All-SEC honors and the Longhorns left out of the CFP for the first time since 2022. Now, looking back, was Manning’s season really so bad? He finished with 3,163 yards, 26 touchdowns and seven interceptions and tacked on 399 yards and 10 scores on the ground...

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