Making the Case for Every 2023 Heisman Trophy Finalist

The ballots are submitted, the votes are counted and the stage is set for the 2023 Heisman Trophy presentation.

On Monday night, the Heisman Trust announced this season's four finalists: Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr., LSU's Jayden Daniels, Oregon's Bo Nix and Washington's Michael Penix Jr.

The winner will be revealed on Saturday. ESPN will broadcast the presentation, which begins at 8 p.m. ET.

Heading into the evening, LSU's Daniels is the favorite. Before we find out the next player to join Heisman lore, though, B/R is checking out each resume and explaining why each finalist landed the votes necessary to earn an invitation to New York.

Let's be clear: Making a serious case for Marvin Harrison Jr. would take some mental gymnastics.

Not since 1991 had a wide receiver won the Heisman Trophy until DeVonta Smith in 2020. That year, the then-Alabama star had racked up 98 catches for 1,511 yards and totaled 19 touchdowns before the postseason.

For comparison, no other wideout surpassed 1,200 yards. Smith was a transcendent player.

Harrison is also transcendent—from a talent perspective. A potential top-three pick in the 2024 NFL draft, he constantly showed his upside this season. He tallied eight 100-yard performances and scored at least once in 10 of the Buckeyes' 12 games. He finished the campaign with 67 receptions for 1,211 yards and 15 total touchdowns.

But the reality is Harrison wasn't as productive as LSU's Malik Nabers, Washington's Rome Odunze or even Oregon's Troy Franklin. Ohio State didn't win a conference title, either.

Harrison is an incredible player and a potential star in the NFL. He's about to finish fourth in the Heisman voting, though.

In a word: Production.

Entering the postseason, five quarterbacks cracked 4,000 yards of total offense. Jayden Daniels ended atop the Football Bowl Subdivision with 4,946, and he had 573 more than runner-up Bo Nix's 4,373 despite playing one fewer game.

Daniels posted a nation-best 11.7 yards per attempt, which is the second-best mark in the sport's history. He also led FBS quarterbacks with 40 passing touchdowns and 1,134 rushing yards.

Put simply, nobody has shredded box scores like Daniels.

Team success tends to have an influence on voters, and LSU dropped three games this season. Only three Heisman winners in the 2000s have played on teams with three losses.

Daniels' blend of individual excellence and elite production still may atone for LSU's record—which, by the way, is more a criticism of a defense that yielded 47.3 points per game in those losses than his performances.

Efficiency and consistency have shaped the season for Bo Nix.

He threw at least two touchdowns in each of Oregon's 13 games, and he went for three-plus in 11 contests. Nix tied Daniels with an FBS-high 40 passing scores and added six touchdowns as a runner while guiding the Ducks to an 11-2 record.

The fifth-year starter also tallied a nation-best 77.2 completion percentage, which is the second-best mark ever. Nix finished with just three interceptions in 435 attempts.

All of those factors result in a deserving Heisman finalist.

The challenge for Nix is that Oregon lost twice to Washington, including in the recent Pac-12 Championship Game. Had the result been flipped, Nix might actually have entered the Heisman Trophy presentation as the betting favorite. Instead, that honor belongs to Daniels.

Michael Penix Jr.'s total production isn't the greatest. He hasn't been the most consistent player, either.

But he's the lone finalist on an undefeated team.

As mentioned earlier, team success historically has been a factor to voters. I don't necessarily agree with it, given that the mission of the Heisman Trophy is to award an outstanding individual. At the same time, I understand the thinking.

Washington won the Pac-12 at 13-0 and is headed to the College Football Playoff. Defense hurt the Huskies in several games—namely Oregon, USC and Stanford—but Penix helped them win anyway.

Neither Daniels nor Nix can say the same. While that doesn't mean Penix clearly should win, it certainly helps his case.

Penix registered an FBS-best 4,218 passing yards with 33 touchdowns to nine interceptions, which are the lowest/worst totals among the leading trio. But again, the blend of superb numbers on an unbeaten team is traditionally an appeal.