Who votes for the Heisman? Looking at overall process to decide ultimate winner

The Heisman Trophy is the most prestigious award in college football, with the winner's name revered throughout history. The race for the 90th award has been a tight one. The four finalists, Colorado's Travis Hunter, Oregon's Dillon Gabriel, Boise State's Ashton Jeanty and Miami's Cam Ward, were announced on Monday.

The award winner will be announced on Saturday at an event in New York City, but how will the winner be decided?

How is the Heisman decided?

The 2024 Heisman will be decided by 145 media votes from the six voting regions, 57 votes from former winners of the accolade and one fan vote, totaling 928 votes. However, former winners don't have to vote.

The six voting regions are South, Southwest, Mid Atlantic, Northeast, Far West and Mid West. The voters choose three players on their ballots to win the trophy with their first choice getting three points, trickling down to one point for the third choice.

The votes are independently counted by the accounting firm Deloitte. The four highest-scoring student-athletes were announced as finalists on the Monday before the ceremony on Saturday, where the overall winner is announced.

Ceremony details

The Heisman ceremony will be held at the Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Apple Room in New York City. It will be televised on ESPN from 8 p.m. E.T., and ESPN analyst Chris Fowler will host the hour-long show. He will be joined by analysts Matty Smith and Holly Rowe.

The cast will be joined by former Heisman winners Tim Tebow (Florida Gators), Andre Ware (Houston Cougars) and Desmond Howard (Michigan Wolverines), who will help to tell the story of the prestigious award.

Is Travis Hunter the favorite to win the Heisman?

Per BetMGM, Colorado's two-way star Travis Hunter is the favorite for the award (-2,500) after a stellar season with the Buffaloes. He tallied 1,152 yards on 92 receptions resulting in 14 touchdowns offensively while defensively. He registered 11 pass breakups, four interceptions, one forced fumble and 32 tackles.

Boise State Broncos running back Ashton Jeanty has run Hunter close and is favored at +1,500 to win the award. He has tallied 2,497 yards resulting in a mammoth 29 touchdowns while leading his team to the Mountain West Conference championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Oregon Ducks quarterback Dillon Gabriel (+25,000) led his team to a maiden Big Ten championship win and the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff while tallying 3,588 yards on 73.2% completion resulting in 28 touchdowns and six interceptions.

Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward (+25,000) finished the season with 4,123 yards on 67.4% completion resulting in 36 touchdowns and seven interceptions to complete the foursome.