Patrick Mahomes Officially A Dark Horse Heisman Candidate, Has 30-1 Odds To Win The Trophy

Unless you've been living under a rock in the middle of the Gobi Desert for the past 60 years, you probably know what the Heisman Trophy is, as well as the prestige that comes with it. Every single year there are odds presented on the winner of the statue, with all of the dominant players in College Football listed. The other day, Patrick Mahomes was mentioned as a potential winner of College Football's biggest honor.

Too early to talk college football? Nope. Updated Heisman Trophy Odds: Deshaun Watson favored in Vegas at 5-1! pic.twitter.com/f6hqr1TA0T

— Johnny Detroit (@Johnny_Detroit) March 28, 2016

While certainly not the highest on the list (that would be Deshaun Watson of Clemson with 5/1 odds), Mahomes is definitely in the upper echelon of contenders with 30/1 odds. The junior Texas Tech quarterback currently has better odds than speedster Christian Kirk of Texas A&M and gunslinger Luke Falk of Washington State, according to Vegas.

Now, this does not mean that Mahomes is a lock to at least go to the ceremony, nor does it mean that the committee will not take the Texas Tech system into account, as they have been want to do in the past. The Air Raid has long been a knock on the stats of Texas Tech quarterbacks by claiming that their numbers are inflated due to the kind of system that is run at their school. In other cases this might be a valid point, but anyone who has watched Mahomes play knows that it isn't just the system that makes him good, he has a tremendous amount of athletic ability as well.

These odds will change and fluctuate when the College Football season kicks off, but 30/1 is a good place to start at. It's not too high and not too low. It puts Mahomes squarely in the conversation, while giving a slight air of mistrust around his numbers, a mistrust that is relatively easily broken when the ever-present eye test is taken into account.

As a sophomore, Mahomes completed 364 of 573 passes for a completion rating of 63.5%, with 4,653 yards to his name. This is good for 8.1 yards per attempt as well. Mahomes tossed 36 touchdowns to 15 interceptions, with several of the interceptions coming on 4th down armpunt heaves which probably saved us field position in the long run. Mahomes also rushed for 456 yards on 131 attempts, notching 10 touchdowns in his efforts on the ground.