2025-26 Weisman Award: Preseason Power Rankings

 College Football is back in full swing this weekend which means it's time to finally release the frontrunners for this season's Weisman Award.

Named after the mythical bastard child between myself and John Heisman, may his soul rest in Rhinelander, Wisconsin peacefully, the Weisman Award is by no means handed out to college football's best player. Rather, the Weisman Award is an honor bestowed upon college football's most entertaining quarterback (the committee is currently reviewing a retroactive exception to honor Jabrill Peppers in some fashion).

Prior winners of the award are as follows:

2018: Dorian Thompson-Robinson (University of California, Los Angeles)
2019: Dorian Thompson-Robinson (UCLA)
2020: Dr. Anthony Fauci (Cornell)
2021: Dorian Thompson-Robinson (UCLA)
2022: Dorian Thompson-Robinson (UCLA)
2023: Taulia Tagovailoa (University of Maryland)
2024: Bryson Daily (United States Military Academy at West Point)

The voting committee follows no formula, there's no artificial intelligence consulted. The Weisman is determined by pure, unbrittled eye test.

That's why DTR is a four time winner. At times you could've watched UCLA and sworn that Vince Young had come back for one last year of eligibility with the sky blue and gold. Other times he didn't look quite as good which is about as bad a thing I'll ever say about a FOUR TIME, FOUR TIME, FOUR TIME Weisman Award Winner.

Thankfully Taulia Tagolaivoa had redshirted his freshman year in Tuscaloosa because he was finally able to break through and win a Weisman following back-to-back second place finishes. He took home the 2023 trophy by leading the Big Ten in passing yards, touchdowns, and interceptions. The Weisman Triple Crown.

And finally last year's winner, Second Lieutenant Bryson Daily of the U.S. Army rushed for more touchdowns than Ashton Jeanty (32 to 29) in one less game while also throwing for 1000+ yards and 9 scores. He should've been the Heisman Winner but he'll settle for a slightly less prestigious trophy.

(Editor's Note: The write-up on 2020's voting process was omitted.)

Without further ado, this year's leading candidates:

Others Receiving Votes: DJ Lagway (Florida), Darian Mensah (Duke), Avery Johnson (Kansas State), Dante Moore (Oregon)

Lagway has the ceiling of a Heisman winner and top 5 draft pick in 2027 but the basement of a Weisman Winner. Won 2 Natty's at Tulane with Mensah on PlayStation.

7. John Mateer (Oklahoma)

Johnny Jackpots wasn't on the committee's radar as of two weeks ago. The gunslinger who spent a few years up at Wazzu would've been a guy that played his way into consideration, but the Venmos got him a fixed spot at number 7 on this year's preseason power rankings.

6. Jalon Daniels (Kansas)

I've been watching Jalon Daniels for a lonnnng time. It's his sixth season at the helm for the Kansas Jayhawks after keeping his COVID year and having another shortened by injury. And despite that he's still only 22 years old which doesn't make sense to me. Jalon Daniels sounds a lot like Jayden Daniels which also plays a factor for sure. Jalon is sitting at a career 2:1 TD to INT rate (48 to 24) which makes every possession an adventure. Daniels threw a pair of touchdowns without an interception in Week 0 though which actually knocked him down from starting these rankings in the Top 5.

5. Bear Bachmeier (BYU)

A true freshman finding his way into the Top 5 of the preseason Weisman power rankings is UN-heard of, as it's the first time we've ever seen such a thing. But Bear shows nothing but promise. He's got a sick name and had enrolled at Stanford for spring ball before transferring to Provo to join his brother, TIGER. Cougars and Tiger and Bear, Oh My!!!! With Jake Retzlaff's departure, the starting QB job opened up in the Mormon mecca and Bear was there to pounce. He'll also wear number 47, electric.

4. E.J. Warner (Fresno State)

Yup, it's Kurt's kid. I'm sure he's heard that more times than opponents have caught his passes at the collegiate level. Which would be 39 times. E.J. started his college career in the gritty city up norf philly at Temple U, tossing over 40 touchdowns under the lights of Lincoln Financial Field while spinning two dozen INTs. His 37 career picks coming into the season led all active FBS quarterbacks and he threw 2 more without a score in Week 0 against Kansas which vaulted the younger Warner above Jalon Daniels in preseason Weisman rankings.

3. Matthew Sluka (James Madison)

If I'm being transparent, Matthew Sluka is probably overrated here in terms of pure entertainment value on the field. He's got over 100 career total touchdowns which might make him too good to be this high on the list this early. But he graduated high school, played a post-grad year at Central Jersey's Peddie School, played four years at Holy Cross from 2020-23, played three games at UNLV last season before dropping out with claims of illegitimate NIL payments to preserve his redshirt candidacy. But I can't find the guy's birthday anywhere. I'm under suspicion that the quarterback of the JMU Dukes is paying for his own insurance and is the only one on his team who can rent from Enterprise.

2. Mark Gronowoski (Iowa)

Mark Gronowski is freakin gooooooood. He transferred down to Iowa City from South Dakota State after winning a pair of Missouri Valley Conference OPOY, a pair of FCS National Championships, a pair of Championship Game MVPs, and the 2023 Walter Payton Award. Now he's trying to become Iowa's first QB to throw for 2000 yards in a season since 2019. I have a feeling that Gronowski might be too good for this list come year's end, but you never know what hides in those cornfields.

1. Micah Alejado (Hawai'i)

Micah Alejado isn't quite in the rarified air of Bear Bachmeier but, as a redshirt freshman, he's the youngest player to ever be the preseason favorite for the Weisman Award. Alejado kicked off his career on the Big Island with two starts at the end of last season and he closed out the campaign with a 469-yard, 5-touchdown performance in a 38-30 win over New Mexico showing promise of things to come. Alejado followed that up with a Week 0 win over Power 4 opponent Stanford last Saturday, throwing for 210 and a pair of scores. The difference between him and everyone else on this list? Zero career interceptions. That's inevitable to change but for now, it's the deciding factor to put the Honolulan Hurler in the Weisman driver's seat to start the season.