College Football World Reacts to Heisman Trophy Finalists, Snubs

Who was the most glaring omission for college football’s highest individual award?

Get ready to strike the pose.

The finalists for the 2022 Heisman Trophy were announced Monday, and all four players in the voting results were quarterbacks: Georgia’s Stetson Bennett, TCU’s Max Duggan, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud and USC’s Caleb Williams. The quartet will head to New York for the annual ceremony, where the winner will be announced Dec. 10.

Three of the four will quarterback their teams in the College Football Playoff later this month, while Williams’s Trojans will face Tulane in the Cotton Bowl Classic on Jan. 2. Williams is currently the heavy betting favorite, and would be the first USC quarterback to win the award since Matt Leinart in 2004.

That group—as well as those who didn’t quite make the cut—drew plenty of reactions from the college football world Monday evening, with plenty of attention devoted to those many felt were snubbed. That group includes Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker, Michigan running back Blake Corum and Texas running back Bijan Robinson, among others.

Here are some of the most notable responses.

Hendon Hooker should have been invited to New York.

— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) December 5, 2022

Case for Hendon Hooker is a simple one: No. 2 overall QB rating in college football despite playing No. 8 schedule in college football — and No. 3 when dismissing the Vandy game he missed.

32 total TDs, 2 INTs.

There weren't four players better than Hendon Hooker this season.

— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) December 5, 2022

If Hendon Hooker or Blake Corum deserved to be Heisman finalists, obviously they should've proven it by not getting injured.

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) December 6, 2022

Make no mistake: Stetson Bennett had a great season.

Better than Hendon Hooker or Bijan Robinson? Debatable. https://t.co/ltpSaPbuCb

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) December 6, 2022

Stetson Bennett has 3,104 passing yards this year ... in the first three quarters of games.

Bennett only has 321 passing yards in the fourth quarter all season, due to being pulled from blowouts or Georgia running the clock out.

— Seth Emerson (@SethWEmerson) December 6, 2022

Hendon Hooker not being a Heisman Trophy finalist is the insult to his injury. I assumed he would be at least a finalist.

— @GrantRamey (@GrantRamey) December 5, 2022

Michigan RB Blake Corum did more than enough to warrant an invitation to New York as a Heisman finalist. He was snubbed.

— RJ Young (@RJ_Young) December 5, 2022

Appreciation tweet for Hendon Hooker and Blake Corum. Hate the idea that injuries kept them from going to NYC after all they did in 2022.

— Dean Straka (@DWStraka49) December 5, 2022

There were Heisman voters who saw Bijan Robinson and Stetson Bennett play football this year and decided Bennett was better.

Think about that for a moment.

— HornSports (@HornSports) December 6, 2022

Caleb Williams is going to win so ultimately it doesn’t really matter. But Hendon Hooker was not the 5th best QB in the country this year.

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) December 6, 2022