Derrick Henry wins close race to claim Heisman Trophy

Before Florida’s Tim Tebow won it in 2007, only one SEC player had won the Heisman in the previous 21 years (the Gators’ Danny Wuerffel in 1996). Heisman runner-up, Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey, earned 1,539 points and 290 first-place votes, while Clemson’s Deshaun Watson finished third place in the voting with 1,165 points and 148 first-place votes.

Alabama running back Derrick Henry (left) and head coach Nick Saban pose with the Heisman Trophy during a press conference at the New York Marriott Marquis after the 81st annual Heisman Trophy presentation. He’s totaled more than 1,000 yards on his kickoff returns, and of his 36 returns, he took one 98 yards for a touchdown.

McCaffrey grew up in Colorado with a family full of former student-athletes, including aunts and uncles, his brother and his parents.

FILE – In this Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015, file photo, Penn State defensive end Carl Nassib (95) celebrates his second half interception with defensive end Garrett Sickels (90) during an NCAA college football game against Buffalo in State College, Pa. Nassib has been named to the AP All-America football team.

Historically seniors have been the most likely to receive the award, but that has changed in recent years. Among the lessons he learned from his father was to do everything at 100 percent. “They all loved me and all supported me”.

Henry’s 2015 season puts him above the rest.

“Of course, next year I want to be back”.

Henry won five out of six voting regions, with McCaffrey winning one, the Far West region, where Stanford is also located.

McCaffrey, often playing on TV late on the East Coast, trails Henry at No. 2 in 2015 yards rushing with 1,847.

‘I didn’t know at all, ‘ he said. I am hoping I am someone you can idolize yourself behind and look up to because God is everything.

“I really didn’t want to do a speech; I wanted to do it from the heart”, he said.

Not only is it relevant to acknowledge how McCaffrey can pick up yardage in a variety of ways and that he has successfully done so over the entirety of the season, but he has found success despite being Stanford’s only real option on offense. Shaw said, “It’s like, ‘Wow, that’s what we’ve been missing'”. “We didn’t ask him to play football”, Ed McCaffrey said.

His first breakout performance came on October 15 against UCLA.

With that being said, the Heisman Race is just like a Presidential Campaign.

In the 118th Big Game against Cal, McCaffrey continued to break records. He passed Reggie Bush, Marcus Allen, and Mike Rozier – all Heisman Trophy winners – on the single-season all-purpose yard leaderboard during the game.

The 2015 Davey O’Brien victor passed for 3,512 yards and 30 touchdowns while also rushing for 887 yards and 11 scores during Clemson’s 13-0 undefeated season. This time, though, he threw a 28-yard touchdown pass. A total of 84% of the ballots (750 of 898) were received after the conference championship games weekend of December 5th.

“I don’t see why not”, his middle school coach and longtime mentor, J.T. Medley, said.

A journey that started years ago on the playgrounds of the small North Florida town evolved under the bright lights of Times Square into college football’s grandest honors.