DeVonta Smith’s career-best game on a prime-time stage is likely to earn the Alabama star a piece of history.
Smith caught 15 passes for 184 yards and a pair of touchdowns in Saturday’s 52-46 victory over Florida in the SEC Championship Game. Crimson Tide quarterback Mac Smith threw five touchdown passes, but that wasn’t enough to hold off his teammate as the new favorite to win the Heisman Trophy.
Smith is now being offered at -200 by SportsBetting.com and -170 by FanDuel to win the Heisman. That is ahead of Jones, who is +150 and +170, respectfully.
It has been a meteoric rise for Smith, who wasn’t even on the Heisman prop board at most sportsbooks just two weeks ago.
ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit endorsed Smith as his Heisman pick on “College Gameday,” hours before the senior returned a punt 84 yards for a touchdown in Alabama’s 52-3 rout of Arkansas on Dec.12. That helped vault Smith to second favorite status behind Jones at several sportsbooks, and that momentum continued with his massive game against the Gators.
Smith has double-digit receptions in four games this season and a total of 98 catches for 1,511 yards and 17 touchdowns. He has another score on three carries to go with the punt-return touchdown.
If Smith wins the Heisman, he will become the first non-quarterback to do so since Crimson Tide running back Derrick Henry in 2015, and the first wide receiver since Michigan’s Desmond Howard in 1991.
Smith has also benefitted from the lack of a runaway quarterback candidate.
Jones took over as the favorite just last week after Florida’s Kyle Trask suffered his second loss of the season.
Preseason favorite Trevor Lawrence saw his Heisman Trophy hopes scuttled by a positive COVID-19 test that forced him to sit out two games. Lawrence led Clemson to the ACC title and the No. 2 seed in the College Football Playoff, but he is a distant third in the Heisman odds at +1000 by SportsBetting.com and +1500 by FanDuel.
Heisman Trophy odds (SportsBetting.com)
DeVonta Smith -200 (1/2)
Mac Jones +150 (3/2)
Trevor Lawrence +1000 (10/1)
Najee Harris +1600 (16/1)
Kyle Trask +2500 (25/1)
The 6-foot-1, 175-pound Smith has also elevated himself into consideration to be the first wide receiver selected in the 2021 NFL Draft. He is expected to compete for that honor with injured teammate Jaylen Waddle and LSU’s Ja’Marr Chase.
