Now that the 2024 college football season is over after Ohio State beat Notre Dame in Monday night’s Championship Game, a lot of eyes are turning toward 2025. We still have the Senior Bowl, NFL Combine, and NFL Draft coming up in the next couple of months. As is the case with the end of each season, there are a lot of way-too-early rankings and odds for a season that is eight months away.
That is the case with early candidates to win the Heisman Trophy next December with the Vegas oddsmakers. As far as Virginia Tech goes, they will face three early candidates for the award in their 12-game schedule next fall and they get one of them right off the bat on opening weekend.
Virginia Tech football to face three early Heisman Trophy candidates in 2025
The Hokies begin the season on Aug. 31 in Atlanta against Shane Beamer and South Carolina. The Gamecocks will enter the season as a Top 25 team and it would not be surprising to see them as a Top 15 team. Why? One big reason why is because of returning quarterback LaNorris Sellers. The duel-threat QB had a big finish to the 2024 season and is expected to carry that over to next season.
Two other early signal callers who are drawing Heisman consideration are two transfers into the ACC for next season. Carson Beck left Georgia through the transfer portal and committed to Miami to replace the outgoing Cam Ward. Beck is bypassing the NFL Draft for a season in South Florida and the Hurricanes will visit Blacksburg.
The other transfer QB who is drawing Heisman chatter is USC transfer Miller Moss who committed to Louisville, who also will be playing at Lane Stadium next season. The Cardinals are hoping that Moss, who has a big arm and play-making ability, gets them over the top and into the conference Championship Game.
Virginia Tech’s second-week opponent, Vanderbilt, will have Diego Paiva returning and by the end of the summer, expect him to get some love from Vegas. During the season, the former New Mexico State QB will get some recognition after getting a lot in 2024 after helping the Commodores take the next step after knocking off Virginia Tech in overtime in the season-opener.
All of this hype could end up being false smoke as Hokies’ QB Kyron Drones got some Heisman love before last season, but after a disappointing season that ended early with injuries, he quickly faded from the spotlight. Results on the field matter.