This year, the Downtown Athletic Club has tabbed three players as finalists to be invited to the presentation on Saturday: Alabama running back Derrick Henry, Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey, and Clemson quarterback DeShaun Watson.
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No Ezekiel Elliott or Trevone Boykin, who entered the season perceived by many to be the top two favorites. Henry was far less efficient than other dominant RB’s like Leonard Fournette and Dalvin Cook.
WORST GAME: Henrys lowest outputs came against lesser teams in easy wins, but Arkansas fared the best among SEC defenses. Henry leads the nation with 1,986 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns for the second-ranked Crimson Tide, who are in the College Football Playoff for the second straight year. He still only averaged 4.3 yards a carry for the game, but he moved the chains a lot even though Florida knew exactly what was coming. Four catches for 105 yards and a touchdown. “He has been the workhorse, and the wouldn’t be where they are without him, but I just think Deshaun Watson and what he has been able to do for an undefeated team and for a team that had a lot of holes coming into this season, has been pretty unbelievable”.
Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey runs for a first down against Cal in the first quarter of the Big Game at Stanford Stadium in Stanford, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015. When you add up those totals, he contributed 3,496 all-purpose yards which breaks Barry Sanders’ all-time record for most all-purpose yards in a season (albeit in two more games than Sanders played). “Yes, yes, he does”, USC coach Clay Helton said after McCaffrey blistered the Trojans for 461 all-purpose yards in the Pac-12 championship game. If Alabama plays in national championship game on January 11 that could keep Smart from devoting his full attention on Georgia for more than a month.
As versatile as McCaffrey has been as the only FBS player since 1996 to compile 1,500 rushing, 500 receiving and 1,000 kickoff return yards in a single season, his TD total (13) is alarmingly low for someone wishing to win the Heisman.
There’s no such thing as an assist in football, but McCaffrey could make the case that he led the nation in assists this season. Exactly a year later he will be in NY as a Heisman finalist.
The only knock on the Cardinal running back is his lack of touchdowns.
Based on his body of work this season for top-ranked Clemson, he’s sure got a good shot.
McCaffrey is a different type of running back, though, and is making a strong push down the stretch. It’s a shame, because he’s put up five more passing touchdowns and six less interceptions than Watson. The last five Heisman winners have all been QBs.
The victor will be selected from the 928 voters, including 870 media members and 58 former Heisman winners. Combine that with breaking Sanders’ record and that’s the extra factor that gives him the slight edge. It is true that Henry is a gifted young man – shattering the record of the legendary Herschel Walker is no mean feat. 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. With a passing game that has been inconsistent, the Tide has leaned heavily on Henry in its biggest games. All three of these guys could hear their name called and no one should be surprised.
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