Bear Bachmeier has already emerged as one of college football’s breakout stars in 2025.
But should he be in the Heisman Trophy conversation?
According to Robert Griffin III, absolutely.
Griffin, a former Heisman winner himself, has been Fox’s color commentator on each of BYU’s past two games, in which time he’s become a major fan of the Cougars’ freshman phenom at quarterback.
On Wednesday, Griffin posted his current list of Heisman front-runners to X, with “Air Bear Bachmeier” in the No. 5 spot.
“This guy is an explosive runner, anything that he can possibly do to go score, he’s gonna do it,” Griffin said on the broadcast of BYU’s contest against Iowa State this past weekend. “(Bachmeier can) jump over guys, juke them, run through them. He leads the Big 12 in rushing touchdowns for quarterbacks, and he’s decisive as a runner and as a thrower of the football.”
Through eight games, Bachmeier has passed for 1,693 yards and 11 touchdowns, adding another 408 yards and nine scores on the ground.
Listed ahead of Bachmeier on Griffin’s list were four other quarterbacks: Haynes King (Georgia Tech), Julian Sayin (Ohio State), Ty Simpson (Alabama) and Fernando Mendoza (Indiana).
Compared to the other members of Griffin’s list, Bachmeier has fewer passing yards and touchdowns than everyone except King, who in turn has more rushing yards and touchdowns than Bachmeier.
Oddsmakers aren’t currently as bullish on Bachmeier as Griffin. According to FanDuel, he’s currently tied for the 12th-best Heisman odds.
But given the context of starting 8-0 as a true freshman and winning four true road games already, Bachmeier’s performance has been plenty good enough to hang around the other dominant quarterbacks in the sport, and Freshman All-America honors could be on their way eventually.
