A new season of college football is still a few months off, but we already know a few of the top players in the nation that should have a major impact on the chase for a national title once the games get underway. BetOnline has helped highlight this list with its NCAA football futures odds to win the 2016 Heisman Trophy as the top college football player in the nation.

2016 Heisman Trophy Futures Odds

Quarterbacks will usually gravitate to the top of the list when it comes to talking about Heisman hopefuls for the upcoming college football season, but last season former Alabama running back Derrick Henry proved that the top gunslingers in the nation do not always have a lock on winning the Heisman Trophy as the top college football player in the country.

BetOnline's 2016 NCAA football futures odds to win this year’s Heisman is a mixed bag with a number of interesting options based on the current betting odds on the board.

The name at the top of the list at +450 odds to win is Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson. The highly touted junior is no stranger to the Heisman hype after finishing third in the final voting for last season’s award. He is a good a pick as any after leading the Tigers to the national championship game in his sophomore season where Clemson almost upset heavily favored Alabama in a thrilling 45-40 loss as a 6.5-point underdog. Watson threw for 4,104 yards and 35 touchdowns last season while completing an impressive 67.8 percent of his 491 passing attempts.

Second on the list to win the 2016 Heisman Trophy is Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey at +600 odds. He finished second in last year’s voting to Henry (1,832 points) with a total of 1,539 points after picking-up some serious steam down the stretch run of the regular season. The Cardinals capped-off a very successful year with a big 45-16 win over Iowa on New Year’s Day in a game where McCaffrey gained 172 rushing yards on just 18 carries. This followed his 207 rushing yards on 32 carries in Stanford’s 41-22 pasting of USC in the Pac-12 Championship.

LSU running back Leonard Fournette started his sophomore season as one of the early favorites to win last season’s Heisman, but back-to-back losses to Alabama and Arkansas in which he was held to a total of just 122 rushing yards all but derailed his chances. Fournette went on to finish sixth in the final vote, but at +700 betting odds this time around there is quite a bit of value in this pick. Even with those two off-days he ended-up rushing for 1,953 yards and 22 touchdowns on 300 attempts for an average of 6.5 yards a carry.

Baker Mayfield is one of two quarterbacks on the list at +1000 betting odds to win the Heisman this year. Oklahoma only lost one game in the regular season with him at the helm, but a 37-17 loss to Clemson in the College Football Playoffs semifinals could still dog him a bit heading into his senior year with the team. He threw for 311 yards and one score against the Tigers in that game, but he was also picked-off twice. Mayfield’s overall numbers in 2015 were still pretty impressive with 3,700 yards passing and 36 touchdown throws against just seven interceptions. He finished fourth on the final 2015 Heisman ballot with 334 total points.

The other quarterback at +1000 odds to win is moving up BetOnline’s Heisman futures list with a bullet. UCLA’s Josh Rosen appears to be the sexy pick to win this year’s award and his play on the field is more than capable to back this up. As a freshman last season with the Bruins, he put the ball up 487 yards and completed 292 of those attempts for 3,670 yards. His ratio of 23 touchdown throws to 11 interceptions is going to have to improve, but at 6-foot-4, 210 lbs. he has that prototypical quarterback build that has pro scouts drooling. Rosen is definitely worth a small play at these odds in light of the fact that the number will probably come down closer to the start of the 2016 season.