Syracuse Football: Is Sean Tucker an early 2022 Heisman Trophy favorite?

Star running back Sean Tucker had a record-setting year for Syracuse football in 2021, but one national analyst didn’t include the Orange sophomore on his list of early favorites for the 2022 Heisman Trophy.

Naturally, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young is at the top of the list in this piece written by 247Sports national college football analyst Blake Brockermeyer.

Young just won the 2021 Heisman Trophy, and he has led the Crimson Tide to the No. 1 seed in the upcoming College Football Playoff, where Alabama will face No. 4 seed Cincinnati in the semifinals.

But besides Young and a few other players, Brockermeyer has included multiple running backs in his article, but Tucker is nowhere to be found, which is kind of surprising to me.

Syracuse football RB Sean Tucker absolutely could contend for the 2022 Heisman Trophy.

Now, as some of my fellow ‘Cuse fans have noted, even though Tucker was phenomenal in 2021, he didn’t get significant Heisman Trophy buzz likely due in large part to Syracuse football posting a 5-7 record this season.

That’s totally fair, and I agree with this assertion. However, I did find it interesting that the 247Sports analyst put one running back among his early 2022 Heisman Trophy favorites, even though his team also has a losing record in 2021.

That running back is Bijan Robinson of Texas, which wrapped up the 2021 regular season at 5-7. The other running backs included are TreVeyon Henderson of top-10 Ohio State, Braelon Allen of Wisconsin (8-4) and Deuce Vaughn of Kansas State (7-5).

To date in 2021, by the way, Tucker has rushed for more yards than all of these other running backs, although Tucker’s campaign is over, while some of these other RBs could pick up more yards in the post-season.

I get that Syracuse football isn’t a huge national brand, and the Orange didn’t qualify for a bowl game. But Texas wasn’t good this year, either.

So for these four running backs to get featured as early 2022 Heisman Trophy favorites, but Tucker was omitted, doesn’t make a ton of sense to me (no disrespect to Blake Brockermeyer here).

Regardless, Tucker rushed for nearly 1,500 yards in 2021, and he has received inclusion on multiple All-America teams. I believe that if the Orange fares better next season, Sean Tucker can and will receive some Heisman Trophy consideration.