Even with OU’s QB injury, TCU’s Josh Hoover best shot at Heisman is Deion’s way
Never confuse Deion Sanders’ record as a coach with Deion’s record as a salesman.
As the head coach at Colorado, Deion’s winning percentage is .517. As a salesman, his winning percentage is closer to .977.
The man can sell, and monetize, anything. Usually himself. One obscure detail about his tenure in Boulder is last season he had the University of Colorado take an old-school approach to campaigning for both defensive back/receiver Travis Hunter and quarterback Shedeur Sanders for national awards, most notably the Heisman Trophy.
This includes mailers, and bombarding Heisman Trophy voters, and social media, with constant updates about the achievements and success of those two. It’s time consuming, can be six-figure expensive, and in this era may be a relic.
Whatever you want to say about Deion, and there is a lot to say about Deion, his approach to push for these two to win national awards generated the return CU sought. Shedeur won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award in 2024, finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting, the award which Hunter won.
Unless you are on the highest profile team, like Texas or Ohio State, or have that last name, like Manning, and you want your guy to be a finalist, Deion’s approach is still the safest approach.
For the second time since 2022, a TCU quarterback is in the conversation for the award. In ‘22, Max Duggan was dropped in from some Disney movie, to come off the bench to finish second in the Heisman Trophy, and first for the Davey O’ Brien award.
If TCU wants to see Josh Hoover in New York City for the Heisman Trophy ceremony, he will have to maintain his level of play, and the school will have to embrace the Deion methodology.
“There’s so much conversation about these guys before they ever play a game. We had a pretty clear front runner for the Heisman Trophy,” TCU head coach Sonny Dykes said Tuesday, referring to Texas quarterback Arch Manning.
“Maybe it hasn’t played out that way.”
Maybe?
“It’s if you’re not one of the favorites early on, it’s hard to get in the mix now,” Dykes said.
To start the season, according to oddsmakers, Manning was the clear favorite. Today, he’s at 35-1.
Conversely, Hoover’s chances have improved from 150-1 to start the season to 18-1.
At the start of Tuesday, the leader was Oklahoma QB John Mateer. After news broke later in the afternoon that Mateer suffered an injury to his throwing hand in OU’s win over Auburn on Saturday will force him to miss the next month, his Heisman chances dropped off the market.
With the exception of Miami quarterback Carson Beck, every player ranked ahead of Hoover plays in the SEC or Big 10.
If Hoover, or most players in the ACC or Big 12, want to be in the Heisman chat room, their respective schools can’t rely on ESPN and Fox Sports to do their selling.
“We don’t have a million alumni, we don’t have a 120,000 seat stadium. We just don’t have those things,” Dykes said. “Because of that, sometimes we’re going to have to do a little bit more than some of those programs that do. That’s just the way it is.
“I think you’re supposed to support your players. The university is supposed to support them. Winning the Heisman Trophy ... is a life-changing achievement. There’s a lot of doors that are open to guys that have won the Heisman Trophy. The guys that that laid it on the line for us every Saturday, and laid it on the line for TCU, and those guys need to be taken care of, and we need to do everything we can to promote them the best that we can.”
This is in stark contrast to his predecessor. Former TCU coach Gary Patterson was not a fan of promoting individual players for awards. A lot of coaches of that era didn’t love it, either.
TCU’s lone Heisman Trophy winner came in 1938, the fourth year of the award, to quarterback Davey O’ Brien. Running back LaDainian Tomlinson made it to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony in 2000, and Duggan did it in 2022.
Hoover sounds unmoved about the whole scenario.
“You hear stuff, or whatever, but I haven’t looked into it,” Hoover said Tuesday.
The way Dykes views it, a TCU player must overcome the same kind of perception obstacle course a lot of other teams must navigate.
“I’m not sure (Duggan) was able to overcome a lot of that pre-season hype,” Dykes said of the 2022 Heisman Trophy, which went to preseason favorite, USC quarterback Caleb Williams.
‘”And it’s the same thing for teams in the college football playoff. There’s some teams that are going to get the benefit of the doubt, and there’s some that aren’t. And I think it’s the very similar with players.”
He’s not wrong.
Which is why unless your last name is Manning, and you don’t play for Ohio State, Michigan or Texas, the best way to approach promoting yourself, or your player, is the Deion Way.
This story was originally published September 23, 2025 at 6:52 PM.
