1. Geno Smith QB West Virginia

West Virginia senior quarterback Geno Smith has ascended to the top spot with his stellar performance against Maryland last week. Smith linked up with his favorite target Tavon Austin on three touchdown strikes and finished the contest with 338 passing yards.

Thanks to a stifling defensive performance by the Stanford Cardinal against USC, there is a new leader in CLA’s weekly Heisman pecking order. Early season favorite Matt Barkley struggled against the Cardinal, failing to throw a touchdown and throwing interceptions on consecutive passes in the Trojans 21-14 loss in Palo Alto.

1. DeAnthony Thomas RB Oregon

Now that the first week of the 2012 college football season is in the books, the debate for the Heisman can take form. Preseason hopefuls like Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson struggled against defending national champion Alabama’s suffocating defense in a 41-14 rout at Cowboys Stadium. Other favorites performed as expected . Players stock will potentially rise and fall from week to week but there are five players CLA believes will lead the way as the race unfolds.

1. Matt Barkley (USC, QB)

College Level Athletes arrived at Cal Lutheran early Saturday afternoon and witnessed an excellent display of coaching and technique, in addition to a few of the country's most coveted HS ballers. The 2012 B2G Sports Elite Football Camp at Cal Lutheran University featured some of the top high school football recruits in the nation.

Watch this flashback from an exclusive post game interview featuring former Crenshaw High School football standout recruits De'anthony Thomas and Hayes Pullard. Thomas is coming off a freshman season that included 16 touchdowns and a historic performance in Oregon's Rose Bowl victory. Pullard has also performed well at the NCAA level, and led the Trojans in tackles as a sophomore, last season.

Look for both of these former College Level Athletes recruits to continue to shine and provide their teams with the necessary tools to become BCS Title contenders in 2013.

The lists for preseason Heisman candidates are in full circulation. The process of eliminating candidates has already begun, thus we have assembled the “CLA Sports Preseason Heisman Top 5 List.”

Watch this CLA Sports exclusive video interview featuring University of Oregon pre-season Heisman Trophy candidate De'Anthony Thomas & USC linebacker Hayes Pullard while they starred at Crenshaw High School (Los Angeles, CA). Check out the post game interview, as well as highlights from the game vs. undefeated Culver City High School.

Watch this CLA Sports exclusive video coverage of Hayes Pullard while at Crenshaw High School (Los Angeles, CA). Pullard led the Cougars to a record of 14-1 as a senior. High school teammates De'anthony Thomas and Marcus Martin also went on to play at the college level, with Martin joining Pullard at USC, and Thomas electrifying the world of college football at the University of Oregon.