Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders is a big Heisman liability at sportsbooks

The college football season started this past weekend with everyone’s favorite Week 0, but it truly begins in earnest this week. We’ll have a full slate of games, and an opportunity for players to put an early stamp on their Heisman candidacy. USC quarterback Caleb Williams (+475 favorite), who won the Heisman in 2022, picked up right where he left off in Week 0, overcoming a slow start to throw 4 TDs in a 56-28 win over San Jose State.

But while Williams is the clear favorite as we enter Week 1, sportsbooks are less concerned about his Heisman chances, since only one player has ever repeated and Williams’ odds are so short.

One player who has drawn interest from the public and is rising in potential liability is Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders. BetMGM reported taking a $1,000 wager on Sanders to win the Heisman at 125-1 odds, and Sanders — with only 1.5% of all bets and 3.4% of handle at BetMGM — now represents the third-largest Heisman liability there.

Sanders — yes, that is Deion Sanders’ son — transferred from Jackson State to Colorado this offseason and will be the Buffs’ starting QB. They open the season on Saturday as 20.5-point underdogs against TCU and have a win total of just 3.5.

Sanders is an even more popular wager at some books, but not all of them across the country.

“Sanders is our biggest Heisman liability,” Joey Feazel, lead college football trader at Caesars Sportsbook, told me. “Caleb Williams is the favorite and probable No. 1 pick in the draft next year, but you have to be extra special to win it twice in a row. We’ve taken some money on Jayden Daniels and JJ McCarthy as well, you usually have to be in playoff contention to be considered.”

Sanders, however, wasn’t among the Top 10 players with the most tickets or handle at DraftKings.

“I haven’t seen that on Sanders,” Zachary Lucas, retail sports director at TwinSpires said. “Michael Penix Jr. is our biggest liability right now and has the most tickets as well. Brock Bowers also has some liability at our book.”

Another longer shot getting some attention is star Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.

Harrison Jr. (20-1) had the most bets at DraftKings Sportsbook (12%) and BetMGM (10.2%) and the second-highest handle (10%) at DraftKings. He represented the largest liability Monday morning of any player at BetMGM sportsbooks to win the Heisman.

Harrison Jr. was sixth in the country in receiving yards last year (1,263) and fourth in TDs (14). Ohio State opens its season this season on the road at Indiana.

Alabama’s DeVonta Smith is the last wide receiver to win the Heisman in 2020; before him, no WR had won it since Michigan’s Desmond Howard in 1991.