McCaffrey among Heisman finalists

Now that the three finalists have been announced, Alabama running back Derrick Henry has emerged as the clear favorite to win the Heisman Trophy award.

— PRO PROSPECTS: A junior, Henry is widely regarded as the second-best running back who could be available in the 2016 draft behind Ohio States Ezekiel Elliott.

— BEST GAME: Henry outshined LSUs Leonard Fournette in a game that gave Alabama the inside track to the SEC West title.

Henry and McCaffrey will be trying to break a streak of five consecutive quarterbacks winning college football’s top honor when the trophy is presented Saturday night in NY.

A small field, yes, but it’s hard to argue the voters made a mistake with their top three.

There are arguments against McCaffrey: He doesn’t play in the SEC (who cares; the Pac-12 has great teams and great athletes, too; that’s such a “2012 stance”); he’s not as big as Henry, nor does he lead the nation’s No. 1 ranked team like Watson. He gained 887 yards and scored 11 more touchdowns on the ground. He has 10 games with multiple touchdown passes, including five touchdowns against NC State.

Granted, hes done it in 13 games, two more than Walker. He may not be the best player to come out of Valor Christian, or the McCaffrey family. The Stanford running back put together one of the most impressive statistical seasons in college football history, embodying the word “versatile” on a weekly basis. McCaffrey has rushed for 1,847 yards in 13 games, an average of 142.1 yards per game. He was only really “shut down” once and that was against Northwestern to open the year, the most perplexing game of the season.

Highlights: Henry leads the country in both rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. No one else has done what Deshaun Watson has done this season and he is a threat in the passing game and the running game.

For the season, Watson has 3512 passing yards with 30 passing touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

The Heisman resumes of Henry, Watson and McCaffrey all have strengths and weaknesses.

The 6-foot-3, 242-pound Henry is perhaps the leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy.

He was named Most Outstanding Player at the team banquet Sunday night and a permanent team captain. He broke the FBS single-season all-purpose yardage record set by Oklahoma State’s Barry Sanders in 1988 when he won the Heisman.

The Skinny: Stanford head coach David Shaw is admittedly biased, but he has a strong stance about his running back, Christian McCaffrey.

Watson and Clemson will play Big 12 champion Oklahoma and Alabama will face Big Ten Champion Michigan State in the semifinal round of the College Football Playoffs on December 31. Just like the actual Heisman ballot, SI.com’s People Heisman ballot awards three points for a first-place vote, two points for a second-place vot and one point for a third-place vote.