Henry, Watson among Heisman finalists

Henry, the presumptive favorite to win the Heisman, is Alabama’s fifth Heisman finalist in the last seven years, and the school’s seventh overall. This time, Watson is pictured celebrating on the podium Saturday after he accounted for five touchdowns in the top-ranked Tigers’ 45-37 victory over North Carolina in the 2015 ACC Championship in Charlotte. Another stat to note, Henry broke the great Herschel Walker’s record for single season SEC rushing yards.

McCaffrey, the Pac-12 Conference Offensive Player of the Year, is also a finalist for the Walter Camp Football Foundation Player of the Year award, the Maxwell Award presented to the top player in the nation, the Doak Walker Award for the best running back, and the Hornung Award for the most versatile player. He’s a true dual-threat quarterback, passing for 3,517 yards and 30 touchdowns, ranking No. 3 in pass completion percentage, rushing for 887 yards and 11 touchdowns, and ranking No. 7 in combined quarterback yardage against Power 5 opponents. He has scored 13 touchdowns and thrown two TD passes.

If the Heisman Trophy was awarded today, the victor should be Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, hands down. McCaffrey ran for 1,847 yards, caught for 540, returned 14 punts for 67 yards, returned 36 kickoffs for 1,042, and threw for 39. He held a lead in ESPN’s Heisman Predictor for weeks, although Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey is now in front there after a dynamic performance in the Pac-12 title game. His size makes him hard to stop and he has the endurance to take more than 40 carries in a game.

The Heisman Trophy goes to the most outstanding college football player each year.

Henry seems to be the front-runner in a race that tightened over championship weekend.

There’s no question how dominating Deshaun Watson has been this season and he deserves the honor of being called the best player in the nation and receiving the Heisman Trophy. I’m going to recuse myself, because I’m a Stanford fan who’s still pissed that Toby Gerhart didn’t win it in 2009.

Even if the voting doesn’t fully reflect it when it’s revealed on Saturday night, all three of these players – McCaffrey, Watson, and Henry – have put together incredible seasons.

Here is the view from the Clemson campus why Watson should win the 2015 Heisman Trophy.

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.

The only knock on the Cardinal running back is his lack of touchdowns.

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.

McCaffrey broke the NCAA record for all-purpose yards in a season with 3,496, surpassing Barry Sanders. He led the Tigers to eight straight wins since then with over 500 yards of offense to finish the regular season.