2015 Heisman Trophy Award Finalists

[Mayonnaise]

Derrick Henry, RB, Alabama

Henry broke a different record almost every week during a 2015 season where he carried the ball over 300 times for the Crimson Tide. The bruising back tallied an impressive 1,986 rushing yards on the ground, breaking the school record and the SEC record in back-to-back weeks. Henry broke five records in the 2015 Iron Bowl alone, including the Alabama single-season record for rushing touchdowns (22, thought he scored again in the SEC championship to up his mark to 23) and the Alabama single-season record for 200-yard rushing games (four). Henry ran rampant throughout the season, finishing with an impressive 5.9 yards per carry average.

Christian McCaffrey, RB/KR, Stanford

What can’t Christian McCaffrey do? The multi-talented sophomore ran the ball, returned kickoffs and punts, caught passes, and even threw for touchdowns for Stanford this season. After a huge game against USC in the Pac-12 Championship, McCaffrey's season total reached 3,496 all-purpose yards, which broke Barry Sanders’ 27-year-old record of 3,250 all-purpose yards. McCaffrey rushed for 1,847 yards on 319 carries, caught 41 balls for 540 yards and returned 40 kicks (14 punts and 36 kickoffs) for 1,107 yards. McCaffrey also completed two of his three passings attempts for touchdowns to bring his finished with 15 total touchdowns on the year.

 Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson

Watson bounced back after suffering an ACL injury in 2014, leading his Clemson Tigers to an undefeated record, an ACC championship and the No. 1 spot in the College Football Playoffs. The sophomore signal caller shined in his return to the gridiron, tallying 3,512 passing yards and 887 rushing yards. Watson also finished the regular season with 30 passing touchdowns and 11 rushing touchdowns while completing 69.5 percent of his passes and averaged over five yards a carry.

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[Deleted]

Henry is going to win this pretty easily.

[kingoftheindies]

Any of the 3 will be good choices but Henry is going to win. I do think McCaffery should win though

[The_Don_Mecha]

McCaffrey is the clear choice. Insane record breaking season (NCAA single season all-purpose yards) + versatility (oh yes, he threw 2 TDs as well; returns punts and kicks) = should be winner. Plus he had more rushing yards on championship Saturday than Derrick Henry on fewer carries (and USC is no slouch on defense, either).

The Heisman is for the best player in the country, right?

[sfvega]

Henry will probably win. Is it just me or does the Heisman mean less every year?

[BRV]

I can't help but feel like this is a wildly underwhelming group of finalists in the sense that I feel like none of the three will really ever become anything in the professional ranks.

Derrick Henry has drawn a lot of comparisons to Legarrette Blount, but it's not like Blount is anything more than a replacement-level running back. Christian McCaffrey seems like his ceiling is as a serviceable third-down option out of the backfield, in the same regard as Theo Riddick or Charles Sims. And Deshaun Watson will be another in a long line of run-first quarterbacks who fizzled out in the NFL once defenses figured them out, no different than Colin Kaepernick or Robert Griffin III.

And wasn't it less than a month ago when we were all anointing Leonard Fournette as the runaway Heisman Trophy winner?

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

Dec 9, 2015 20:33:03 GMT -5 BRV said:

And wasn't it less than a month ago when we were all anointing Leonard Fournette as the runaway Heisman Trophy winner?

That's what happens when you're the team's only offense, defenses know they can stack 8 in the box against LSU because that passing game isn't beating anyone.

[Some Guy]

Anyone else find it alarming how Henry averaged 26 carries per game and had 90 in his last two? That's kind of an insane amount to put on a college back.

[sfvega]

Kind of. That's a lot of carries in a year, and especially a ton of carries in two games. But I don't find it that alarming. Guys have had that many carries before. Ray Rice had an ungodly amount of carries the year he came out, and Ricky Williams did too as a senior. And they both had a lot more wear than Henry, who was a back-up to Yeldon. It's pretty impressive how he's kept up that Y/C though, even though the SEC seems to be in a down year defensively.

[ICBM]

Boycotting the award this yr. I'm not saying he would have won, but Keenan Reynolds should be going to NY. Bool sheet and shenanigans

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

Dec 10, 2015 7:05:22 GMT -5 ICBM said:

Boycotting the award this yr. I'm not saying he would have won, but Keenan Reynolds should be going to NY. Bool sheet and shenanigans

While he does deserve a nomination and invite, he does have a game on Saturday.

[ICBM]

Dec 11, 2015 21:58:32 GMT -5 Jedi-El of Tomorrow said:

Dec 10, 2015 7:05:22 GMT -5 ICBM said:

Boycotting the award this yr. I'm not saying he would have won, but Keenan Reynolds should be going to NY. Bool sheet and shenanigans

While he does deserve a nomination and invite, he does have a game on Saturday.

And what a way to travel from the game to the ceremony than by Marine One in his dress blues. They missed a real by gawd Hiesman moment

[sfvega]

Reynolds is a good player, but really doesn't deserve to be with those 3 on merit, so it would be a hollow victory for him. I mean, if he QB'ed Notre Dame with those stats and made it as a Heisman candidate, people would be tearing them to shreds for even thinking about inviting him.

[Confused Mark Wahlberg]

I hope they give it to Derrick Henry, then take it right back for whatever is going on on top of his head

[The_Don_Mecha]

SEC bias is too real.

[ibdude]

In the years since I started kinda paying attention to the Heisman, this is the first time where I haven't heard of any of the players. I don't know what that says about me or about the nominees.