It's time to consider Florida tight end Kyle Pitts as a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender

The junior tight end has been tearing it up in 2020 with six touchdowns through two games against SEC competition

The Heisman Trophy mission statement states that the award should go to the college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity. Through two games, a legitimate argument could be made that the player who fits that description is Florida tight end Kyle Pitts. 

Is it too early to start making Heisman proclamations after only two games? Historically, well, yeah. But it's 2020 -- one of the most bizarre years and college football seasons of all of our lifetimes. It's time to get weird and legitimately consider Pitts as an option.

Sure, he only had four catches for 57 yards in No. 3 Florida's 38-24 win over South Carolina on Saturday afternoon at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. But two of those catches were touchdowns, bringing his two-game total to 12 receptions for 227 yards and six touchdowns. All six of those touchdowns came in his first six quarters of play. For comparison's sake, Pitts only had five touchdowns in 13 games last season.

Pitts tried to downplay talk of individual accolades following the win over South Carolina.

"I try my best not to pay attention to those types of things because sometimes that will affect some players' performances," he said. "So I don't really pay attention to that."

He doesn't ... but we can.

The 6-foot-6, 239-pound junior from Philadelphia has shown in just two games this year that he has all of the makings of a superstar at this level and beyond. His quarterback, Kyle Trask, has found Pitts on crossing routes, back-shoulder fades, 50-50 balls and just about everything else in coach Dan Mullen's offensive repertoire. That versatility helped Pitts pad stats during the first two games of the season, but also allowed Mullen to take advantage of matchups elsewhere when Pitts got double and triple-teamed.

"We know he's a mismatch out there on the field," Mullen said of Pitts during a press conference this week. "So as you go pull different things and you're looking at your players, 'What do you expect to do well?' We looked at the tight end position and we know we have some really good tight ends. Not just him, but the other ones that we feel comfortable with in the offense."

Trask, by the way, is no slouch himself with 10 touchdowns through two games. He's just the third SEC player in history to do that, and he may well be in contention for the trophy at year's end whether Pitts gets there or not.

No tight end has ever won the Heisman Trophy. It has evolved into a quarterback award this century with a sprinkle of running back mixed in. Pitts could be the guy to break through that glass ceiling if he continues at this pace.

His sizzling two-game start is just the beginning, though. Mullen's track record of offensive wizardry will allow Pitts plenty of opportunities to show his talent to the football world. If this continues -- and it will have to through a schedule that is going to get much tougher for the Gators -- it could take him all the way to New York in December.