Heisman finalists: Henry, Watson, McCaffrey

The Heisman Trust revealed Monday that Alabama running back Derrick Henry, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson and Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey are the finalists for this year’s award, and all three appear to have realistic chances to win.

McCaffrey is coming off a historic season in which he toppled Barry Sanders’ NCAA record for single-season all-purpose yards, finishing with 3,496 (nearly 250 more than Sanders).

Quarterback Jim Plunkett captured Stanford’s only Heisman Trophy in 1970. As hard as it is to run on Alabama, you can’t totally abandon the running game because then Alabama doesn’t have to play honest and they can come after you with more pass rushers.

On Saturday, he rushed for 207 yards, caught four passes for 105 yards, scored a pair of touchdowns, threw a touchdown pass and returned seven kicks and punts totaling 149 yards.

McCaffrey is second to Henry in rushing yards with 1,847, but doesn’t rank almost as highly in rushing TD’s recording just eight (t-80th) on the season.

Elliott was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year last week, and he should still finish highly in Heisman voting.

Toby Gerhart finished second to Alabama’s Mark Ingram by the closest vote in award history, and Andrew Luck couldn’t beat out Cam Newton and Robert Griffin III in subsequent years. Watson is the leader of an undefeated team that made the College Football Playoff, and that’s huge when it comes to the Heisman.

On Monday evening, former Heisman Trophy victor Ricky Williams announced the Heisman finalists on ESPN’s Sportscenter. The three players have separated themselves, in the opinion of voters, from the rest of the field.

The 6-foot-3, 240-pound junior carried the Tide (12-1) to the College Football Playoff, setting an SEC record with 1,986 yards and nation’s best 23 touchdowns. His 4,399 yards of total offense was fourth-best nationally while his combined 41 touchdowns running and passing was second-best among Power 5 conferences. Louisiana State running back Leonard Fournette, the marvelous football player who led this chase all through September and October, would be worthy enough. Deshaun Watson is the epitome of what the Heisman Trophy is all about. Special teams are always important, but you usually don’t see special teams make quite as much of an impact on a game as this one, especially in the first half. The Cardinal did have a recent run of three straight seasons with the runner-up.

Henry has blazed through school and SEC records in 2015, his first season as the primary running back.

Saban said he hasn’t coached “many players that actually set a better example to affect other people”. I am honored to be the first Heisman finalist from Clemson…I plan to represent our team and Clemson and the Clemson family this weekend.