Vegas oddsmakers are already high on Josh Hoover at Indiana with early Heisman odds

Fresh off their first national championship in program history, the Indiana Hoosiers will once again strive to reach college football's summit with a new cast of characters. They must scale the same mountain all FBS teams strive to each and every season. One of the biggest names of intrigue for next year has to be TCU quarterback Josh Hoover replacing Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza.

These are the Heisman Trophy odds from FanDuel for 2026 for every player with +5000 or better.

• Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback CJ Carr: +800
• Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning: +850
• Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Jeremiah Smith: +1100
• Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Julian Sayin: +1100
• Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Josh Hoover: +1100
• Oregon Ducks quarterback Dante Moore: +1100
• Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Gunner Stockton: +1300
• LSU Tigers quarterback Sam Leavitt: +1300
• Oklahoma Sooners quarterback John Mateer: +1600
• USC Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava: +2000
• Texas A&M Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed: +2000
• Texas Tech Red Raiders quarterback Brendan Sorsby: +2500
• Miami Hurricanes wide receiver Malachi Toney: +2700
• South Carolina Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers: +3000
• Michigan Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood: +3000
• Auburn Tigers quarterback Byrum Brown: +3500
• Utah Utes quarterback Devon Dampier: +4000
• Washington Huskies quarterback Demond Williams Jr.: +4000
• Oregon Ducks quarterback Dylan Raiola: +4000
• Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Austin Mack: +5000

And if you want a visual representation of FanDuel's 2026 Heisman odds, they have us covered on X.

Hoover is tied for the third best odds with three other Big Ten stars. The only players with better odds than him are Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback CJ Carr at +800 and Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning at +850. Hoover is tied with Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin, and Oregon Ducks quarterback Dante Moore at +1100.

While Hoover has banked a ton of starts before at TCU, these early odds are quite a bit of projection.

New Indiana QB Josh Hoover starts with strong Heisman Trophy odds

For as incredible as these times have been for Indiana football, we should view Hoover coming in with somewhat reasonable expectations. Like Mendoza and his predecessor in Kurtis Rourke, both were accomplished starters elsewhere before coming in. Mendoza cut his teeth at Cal, while Rourke was a sensational player in his own right for Ohio U. Hoover had been a three-year starter for Sonny Dykes.

So perhaps the best way to view what Hoover could do in a Hoosiers uniform is something between what Rourke did in 2024 and Mendoza in 2025. Effectively splitting the difference. Hoover is being brought in to sustain excellence at IU. The expectation is to win double-digit games during the regular season to make the College Football Playoff for the third year in a row. Mendoza may be unattainable.

While Hoover should definitely be in contention for the Heisman Trophy, expecting him to lead IU to 16-0 and be the No. 1 overall pick by the New York Jets or something over the likes of Manning and Moore is a bit much. Hoover is more accomplished than Carr and Sayin, but he is also being pushed from behind by the likes of Gunner Stockton still at Georgia and Sam Leavitt now playing for LSU.

Hoover being a top-10 candidate for the Heisman is more than fair, but let's have a little patience first.