The 2015 Heisman Trophy has three finalists with Alabama running back Derrick Henry, Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey and Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson being invited to New York City. The winner of the award will be revealed Saturday night and coming into the event, Henry looks to be the favorite to win.
The Heisman has gone to a quarterback for five straight years and now both Henry and McCaffrey will try and break that streak. The finalists were announced earlier this week and players like Leonard Fournette, Keenan Reynolds and Ezekiel Elliott were other players in contention that did not get invited to New York. Fournette was the frontrunner for most of the season before fading, while Elliott and Reynolds put up strong numbers for their teams.
Henry, McCaffrey and Watson all solidified their spots with strong performances during conference championship games and that makes the Heisman race very interesting. Very often the media talks about "Heisman moments" for the eventual winner and the Pac-12 championship game gave McCaffrey that opportunity, as he had over 400 total yards in that game. This year the vote could be a close one and that has not been the case with recent winners like Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston.
Henry has put up strong numbers rushing the ball for Alabama, while McCaffrey has been an explosive and versatile player for Stanford. Watson led his team to an undefeated season and helped Clemson get the number one spot in the College Football Playoff and if he wins he will keep the quarterback Heisman streak alive. Watson has over 40 total touchdowns this season and he is looking to become the first Heisman winner in school history.
McCaffrey comes in after putting up 461 all-purpose yards in the Pac-12 title game, rushing for over 200 yards and gaining 105 receiving yards. McCaffrey also had a touchdown pass to go along with his two scores and he comes in with 1847 rushing yards and 12 combined receiving and rushing scores. Henry comes in with 1986 rushing yards on the season with 23 touchdowns and he had 189 yards and a score in the SEC championship. Watson had 30 passing TDs and 11 picks this season and he rushed for 887 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Prediction: Henry wins the award.