Pre-season Top 25 poll of 51 Heisman voters: It's a wide-open race in 2012
With just one 2011 Heisman finalist returning to the field in 2012, the Heisman race is wide open.
Once again, StiffArmTrophy.com has conducted the largest poll of Heisman voters in the country - with a total of 51 actual Heisman voters participating. Voters are asked to provide an unranked top-15 watch list.
As the season opens, the Heisman race features five candidates clustered at the top, with 97% support or better: 2011 finalist and Wisconsin RB Montee Ball, South Carolina RB Marcus Lattimore, Oklahoma QB Landry Jones, Michigan QB Denard Robinson, and USC QB Matt Barkley. Barkley appeared on 49 of 51 top-15 watch lists, while the rest were on 50 of 51 top-15 watch lists each.
Rounding out the top 10, each appearing on more than 60% of top-15 lists, were: West Virginia QB Geno Smith, Oregon RB De'Anthony Thomas, Georgia QB Aaron Murray, Arkansas QB Tyler Wilson, and Clemson QB Tajh Boyd.
Of course, in 2011, Robert Griffin III started the season ranked #11 on our watch list - and in 2010, Cam Newton didn't appear on our pre-season poll at all.
51 actual Heisman voters from 28 states participated in the pre-season StiffArmTrophy.com poll. A total of 52 different players were on at least one top-15 watch list.
| rank | player | weighted% | votes |
| 1 | Wisconsin RB Montee Ball | 97% | 50 |
| 1 | South Carolina RB Marcus Lattimore | 97% | 50 |
| 1 | Oklahoma QB Landry Jones | 97% | 50 |
| 1 | Michigan QB Denard Robinson | 97% | 50 |
| 5 | USC QB Matt Barkley | 97% | 49 |
| 6 | West Virginia QB Geno Smith | 83% | 42 |
| 7 | Oregon RB De'Anthony Thomas | 71% | 36 |
| 8 | Georgia QB Aaron Murray | 65% | 32 |
| 9 | Arkansas QB Tyler Wilson | 65% | 33 |
| 10 | Clemson QB Tajh Boyd | 60% | 31 |
| 11 | USC WR Robert Woods | 56% | 29 |
| 12 | Florida St QB EJ Manuel | 51% | 27 |
| 13 | Arkansas RB Knile Davis | 42% | 23 |
| 14 | Kansas St QB Collin Klein | 39% | 21 |
| 15 | Alabama QB AJ McCarron | 35% | 17 |
| 16 | Nebraska RB Rex Burkhead | 32% | 21 |
| 17 | Virginia Tech QB Logan Thomas | 31% | 15 |
| 18 | Washington QB Keith Price | 28% | 12 |
| 19 | Oregon RB Kenjon Barner | 26% | 15 |
| 20 | Nebraska QB Taylor Martinez | 25% | 12 |
| 21 | Ohio St QB Braxton Miller | 23% | 13 |
| 22 | LSU DE Sam Montgomery | 22% | 10 |
| 23 | Oklahoma St RB Joseph Randle | 22% | 13 |
| 24 | South Carolina DL Jadeveon Clowney | 18% | 9 |
| 25 | Michigan St RB Le'Veon Bell | 18% | 10 |
Regional breakdown and list of participating voters on the jump...
With votes coming from 28 states, players are ranked based on a weighted percentage that adjusts for the number of participating voters in each region.
Here's the regional breakdown:
| rank | player | Atlantic | Midwest | Northeast | South | Southwest | West |
| 1 | Wisconsin RB Montee Ball | 100% | 100% | 100% | 85% | 100% | 100% |
| 1 | South Carolina RB Marcus Lattimore | 100% | 100% | 100% | 85% | 100% | 100% |
| 1 | Oklahoma QB Landry Jones | 100% | 100% | 100% | 85% | 100% | 100% |
| 1 | Michigan QB Denard Robinson | 100% | 100% | 100% | 85% | 100% | 100% |
| 5 | USC QB Matt Barkley | 100% | 92% | 100% | 100% | 90% | 100% |
| 6 | West Virginia QB Geno Smith | 100% | 71% | 60% | 100% | 81% | 85% |
| 7 | Oregon RB De'Anthony Thomas | 71% | 64% | 80% | 71% | 72% | 71% |
| 8 | Georgia QB Aaron Murray | 57% | 42% | 60% | 85% | 63% | 85% |
| 9 | Arkansas QB Tyler Wilson | 57% | 42% | 60% | 85% | 90% | 57% |
| 10 | Clemson QB Tajh Boyd | 85% | 57% | 60% | 42% | 72% | 42% |
| 11 | USC WR Robert Woods | 42% | 57% | 60% | 57% | 63% | 57% |
| 12 | Florida St QB EJ Manuel | 42% | 57% | 40% | 71% | 54% | 42% |
| 13 | Arkansas RB Knile Davis | 42% | 64% | 40% | 42% | 36% | 28% |
| 14 | Kansas St QB Collin Klein | 57% | 28% | 60% | 0% | 90% | 0% |
| 15 | Alabama QB AJ McCarron | 71% | 42% | 40% | 14% | 0% | 42% |
| 16 | Nebraska RB Rex Burkhead | 14% | 78% | 20% | 28% | 54% | 0% |
| 17 | Virginia Tech QB Logan Thomas | 42% | 7% | 40% | 28% | 54% | 14% |
| 18 | Washington QB Keith Price | 42% | 7% | 20% | 28% | 0% | 71% |
| 19 | Oregon RB Kenjon Barner | 28% | 42% | 0% | 28% | 18% | 42% |
| 20 | Nebraska QB Taylor Martinez | 28% | 21% | 20% | 42% | 9% | 28% |
| 21 | Ohio St QB Braxton Miller | 0% | 35% | 20% | 14% | 27% | 42% |
| 22 | LSU DE Sam Montgomery | 14% | 14% | 40% | 42% | 9% | 14% |
| 23 | Oklahoma ST RB Joseph Randle | 14% | 21% | 0% | 14% | 54% | 28% |
| 24 | South Carolina DL Jadeveon Clowney | 0% | 28% | 40% | 28% | 0% | 14% |
| 25 | Michigan St RB Le'Veon Bell | 14% | 28% | 20% | 28% | 18% | 0% |
Participating voters included:
Mid-Atlantic: Frank Bodani, Michael Bradley, Richard Cirminiello, Josh Kendall, Chuck Landon, Matthew Osborne, Keith Sargeant
Midwest: Andy Baggot, Randy Beard, Mike Carmin, Doug Clarke, Pete DiPrimio, Dave Hackenberg, John Harris, Todd Hefferman, Andrew Logue, Tom Mulhern, Jeff Potrykus, Bill Rabinowitz, Jeff Rapp, Mark Rea
Northeast: C.J. McCarthy, Cory McCartney, Rick McGowan, Chuck Pollock, Lenn Robbins
South: John Crist, Brent Dougherty, Joe Girvan, Tim Guidera, Cecil Hurt, Phillip Marshall, Bob Tompkins
Southwest: Jimmy Burch, Sean Callahan, Suzanne Halliburton, Gary Ivins, Blair Kerkhoff, Harry King, Bob Lutz, Dave Matter, Jon Nyatawa, Mike'l Severe, Jake Trotter
West: Mark Anderson, Paola Boivin, Lisa Horne, Billy Hull, Jody Oehler, Eric Peterson, Ryan Recker