Stanford standout running back Christian McCaffrey’s stellar season has earned him a trip to NY as one of three finalists for the Heisman Trophy alongside Alabama tailback Derrick Henry, and Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson. However, quarterbacks have won the award the last five years, and no running back has captured it since 2009. Since 2000, 13 of the 15 winners have been quarterbacks. He ran for 189 yards and a touchdown on 44 carries in the Crimson Tide’s Southeastern Conference championship-game victory over Florida on Saturday.
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Case For: The most versatile player in all of the college football world is Stanford’s own, Christian McCaffrey.
Miles says not winning the Heisman or finishing as a Heisman finalist will likely motivate Fournette to have an even better year next season.
Monday was the deadline for voting for the annual award, which will be announced on ESPN Saturday night.
If you’re using which of the Heisman finalists played against the best defenses as a tiebreaker, McCaffrey gets left in the dust, and Henry and Watson are in a virtual deadlock. The fact that Stanford played seven night games probably won’t help him, Shaw said. Derrick Henry of Alabama is getting all the love from the media right now and has been predicted as the front-runner. He has completed 69.5 percent of his passes this season for 3,512 yards and 30 touchdowns.
Deshaun Watson has brought that to the field this season, the best player on the country’s No. 1 team, and a Heisman Trophy finalist. Being undefeated and No. 1 ranked has everything to do with this.
Alabama coach Nick Saban, Henry and multiple other Tide players will be in Atlanta Wednesday and Thursday for Thursday’s College Football Awards ceremony.
He totally dominated Cal in the Big Game on November 21, rushing for 192 yards and scoring two touchdowns in spectacular fashion – running past nine Cal defenders for a 49-yard touchdown reception and 11 Bears on a 98-yard kickoff return. His average yards per game for the season stands at 152.8, but it’s an NCAA-best 180.1 against top 25 foes.
There are 929 Heisman voters, including 145 media representatives from each of six sections, plus 58 former winners and one vote that’s given to the public on an online ballot.
But there must be a victor and these are how the finalists stack up against one another leading up to the Heisman cermony.
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Watson, the quarterback for the 2012 Class AAAAA state champion Red Elephants, has a national following for his soft-spoken and polite manner – the polar opposite of numerous most famous players who’ve grabbed attention for scandal and eligiblity issues. He broke the FBS single-season all-purpose yardage record set by Oklahoma State’s Barry Sanders in 1988 when he won the Heisman.
