Heisman Trophy 2015: Why Clemson QB Deshaun Watson should win

It’s Heisman Trophy time, and of the three finalists heading to New York for the presentation, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson makes the best case to win.

ALSO READ: Check Out Deshaun Watson’s Hype Video

Three young men will be on stage in New York’s PlayStation Theater hoping to grasp the weighty Heisman Trophy and hoist it over his head. Alabama’s Derrick Henry, Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey and Clemson’s Deshaun Watson will all have their moment in the sun, win or lose.

The arguments are strong for any of the three candidates, but when you break down more than just stats, and what a player has meant to his team and how he’s consistently performed at a level to keep his team winning, DeShaun Watson has to be the obvious choice.

Does that mean he’ll win it? Not necessarily, but he’s certainly the most deserving candidate making the trip to New York.

Watson, along with Home Depot Coach of the Year Dabo Swinney, have put together a renaissance of Clemson football, leading the team to the first 13-0 record in school history along with the Tigers’ first ACC title since 2011.

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Without Watson, none of it happens. Without Watson, “Clemsoning” is probably still a real thing.

When breaking down who should win the Heisman between finalists, the time for mulling statistics is over (or should be). If they all didn’t have outstanding stats, they wouldn’t be sitting on that stage having their stories told and rubbing elbows with college football royalty. The stats are there, the question is, who is really the best example of what the Heisman Trophy represents – best player on the field, best citizen off the field and a solid face of the sport.

One of the reasons Clemson hasn’t lost a game this season and was able to defeat three Top 10 opponents during the year is because Deshaun Watson never took a week off, never showed an achilles heel, and never let his team down…instead, he carried them.

Even against Notre Dame – throwing the ball only 21 times for 84 yards in a game that was going to be pounded out on the ground – Watson threw two touchdown passes and ran for a third in the Tigers’ 24-22 win over the Fighting Irish.

Like McCaffrey and Henry, the young man from Gainesville, Ga. is a key to his team’s success, but there may not be any player whose team depends on him as much as Clemson does Deshaun Watson.

The Tigers scored 500 points this season, and Watson was directly responsible for 246 of them, either throwing or running the ball for a touchdown. That’s just shy of 50 percent of all the points scored by one team falling on their quarterback’s arm and legs. He’s also responsible for 4,399 of the 6,638 total yards Clemson tallied this season…66.27 percent of their yardage total.

All of this coming off surgery to repair a torn ACL last October.

That’s Heisman-worthy.

Dec 5, 2015; Charlotte, NC, USA; Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney (R) celebrates with quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) after a score a touchdown during the third quarter in the ACC football championship game at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

Watson has turned from a dual-threat quarterback into a triple-threat quarterback in just his sophomore season. He makes plays with his legs – running for 887 yards and 11 touchdowns; he makes plays with his keenly accurate arm – throwing for 3512 yards, 30 touchdowns and at an impressive 69.5 completion percentage; and he makes plays with his head, becoming a cerebral quarterback who dictates what the defense is able to do.

His leadership skills on the field are indisputable, but his work off the field is just as impressive. Not only has Watson been a stand-up model of what college football players should be by avoiding situations that would necessitate media and NCAA scrutiny, but he’s gone out of his way to give back and be a pillar of the community, such as his work with Habitat for Humanity as reported by the Orange and White.

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The 6-foot-2, 210-pound sophomore has already put together an impressive list of awards this season, including:

2015 USA Today First Team All-American
2015 ACC Player of the Year
2015 ACC Offensive Player of the Year
2015 ACC Championship Game MVP

There will certainly be more postseason awards to come, and the Heisman Trophy should be the pinnacle of a season full of personal and team accomplishments for Deshaun Watson.

– All statistics via cfbstats.com

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