Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey has been named a Heisman Trophy finalist.
The record-breaking running back and Academic All-American was named one of three finalists for the award presented to the best college football player in the country, joined by junior running back Derrick Henry of Alabama and sophomore quarterback Deshaun Watson of Clemson.
The winner will be announced Saturday at 5 p.m. PT in New York City and the ceremony will be televised live on ESPN.
Henry and McCaffrey will be trying to break a streak of five straight quarterbacks winning college football's top honor. Since 2000, 13 of the 15 Heisman winners have been quarterbacks.
Henry seems to be the favorite in a Heisman race that tightened over championship weekend. He ran for 189 yards and a touchdown on 44 carries in the Alabama's Southeastern Conference championship game victory against Florida on Saturday.
Later that night, McCaffrey had 461 all-purpose yards with touchdowns running, receiving and passing as Stanford beat Southern California in the Pac-12 title game and Watson had 420 total yards and accounted for five touchdowns in Clemson's Atlantic Coast Conference championship game win against North Carolina.
Close Heisman voting has been uncommon in recent years. The last three winners — Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston and Johnny Manziel — all won by comfortable margins.
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The last time there was real suspense at the Heisman presentation was 2009, when Ingram received only 1 percent more of the vote than Stanford's Toby Gerhart. By percentage, that ranks as the closest Heisman vote in history.
