Why Stanford RB Christian McCaffrey should win the Heisman Trophy
Stanford Cardinal running back Christian McCaffrey is one of three finalists for the Heisman Trophy but he should be the one to win when it’s awarded on Saturday night.
Christian McCaffrey started the season slow with 124 yards from scrimmage in Stanford’s first two games, but he finished strong with more than 100 yards in 10 of the next 11 games, including a Pac-12 Championship Game record 461 all-purpose yards in the Cardinal win.
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Two days later, McCaffrey earned an invitation to the Heisman ceremony along with Clemson Tigers quarterback Deshaun Watson and Alabama Crimson Tide running back Derrick Henry, the betting favorite to win, but here’s why McCaffrey should win the Heisman.
McCaffrey won the Paul Hornung Award on Dec. 9, given annually to the nation’s most versatile player, so there isn’t a single player in college football who does more on the field than the Stanford sophomore all-purpose back.
The same can’t be said for Henry who despite his leading the nation in rushing with 1,986 yards only has 10 receptions for 97 yards this year and half of those came in the loss to the Ole Miss Rebels.
McCaffrey only trails Henry by 119 yards in the rushing department, but he blows him out of the water when you factor in his receiving yards, kick return and punt return yards to help Stanford win the field position battle.
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McCaffrey broke Barry Sanders‘s single-season record for all-purpose yards with 3,496, more than 1,000 yards than second place finisher, Tyler Ervin. Further, it’s 108.7 yards per game more than what Henry did for Alabama.
Records are meant to be broken and in this offensive era of college football, many are beginning to fall, but when you break a record previously held by the player with the most dominant offensive season a college running back has ever had, that’s a pretty remarkable accomplishment.
The other finalists have remarkable accomplishments of their own, including Henry breaking Herschel Walker’s SEC single-season rushing record.
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He’s the most versatile, the most valuable and the best player in college football. If that’s not worthy of the Heisman Trophy, I don’t know what it.