Lawson is there as one of six finalists to be named the nation’s best defensive ends.
Advertisement
Henry and McCaffrey will be trying to break a streak of five straight quarterbacks winning the Heisman on Saturday night when the trophy is presented in NY.
Henry, McCaffrey and Watson have clearly separated themselves from the field for college football’s highest honor. He set Alabama records for touchdowns rushing and yards rushing in a season and he also toppled Georgia legend Herschel Walker’s SEC record of yards rushing in a season.
Now, most years, there’s one candidate who appears to be above the rest, but this year’s Heisman vote could be one of the closest in recent history.
Henry came up especially big when the Crimson Tide needed him most. Against Florida, which has the No. 12 rushing defense in college football in yards per carry allowed (3.39), Henry rushed for 189 yards and a score. Henry only averaged 5.9 yards per carry as the FBS leader in carries at 339.
What didn’t Christian McCaffrey do this season? No one else had more than 72.
McCaffrey, Stanford’s fourth Heisman finalist in the last seven years, ran for 1,847 yards on 319 carries with eight touchdowns.
The SEC record is remarkable in a conference that has produced several great runners through the yet, and it’s whose record Henry broke that is even more telling.
The next closest contender is Stanford halfback Christian McCaffrey at 6-1 odds. Then, in the Pac-12 title game against USC, McCaffrey gained a combined 461 yards, and earned 11 first place votes for the Heisman.
Watson has guided Clemson to a 13-0 record this season and is 17-1 as the Tigers’ starter over the last two seasons. Watson threw for 3,512 yards (16th) and 30 touchdowns (9th) while also running for 887 yards (71st) and 11 touchdowns (38th).
What a year it has been for Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson. He has strung together four performances of over 200 rushing yards, including rushing a school-record 46 times for 271 yards against Auburn which was third-most for an Alabama running back.
However, this season has been dominated by running backs, even if the deck of players in the fold has been shuffled on numerous occasions.
There’s probably a better true running back in college football than McCaffrey and there are definitely better receivers. Being undefeated and No. 1 ranked has everything to do with this. In 2012, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel had his Heisman moment in a stunning win over Alabama.
Pretty inspiring. I’d normally say “May the best man win”. The only knock on Henry’s candidacy is that he’s not a quarterback, but the other components of his resume are strong enough to overcome that.
Advertisement
And the real scary thing about McCaffrey?
