Post by DiamondThief on Dec 27, 2015 18:05:15 GMT -8
He may have come in second in the Heisman Trophy voting, but Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey has bee voted the Associated Press college football Player of the Year.
McCaffrey bested Alabama running back Derrick Henry (the Heisman winner) 29 votes to 16 in the AP voting to win the award. Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson was third with 11 votes. No other player received more than two votes.
"This award is a testament to all the efforts and support of my teammates, coaches, staff and the entire Stanford football program," McCaffrey said in a statement to the AP.
McCaffrey is the first Stanford player to win the award since it was first handed out in 1998. It is the first time since 2009 that the AP Player of the Year is not the same player to win the Heisman.
The Cardinal sophomore, son of former Stanford and NFL wide receiver Ed McCaffrey, ran for 1,847 yards (second-most in the nation behind Henry) and eight touchdowns, caught a team-best 41 passes for 540 yards and four scores and averaged 28.9 yards per kickoff return with another score. He also threw two touchdown passes.
McCaffrey also set a new NCAA record in all-purpose yards this season with 3,496. The old record of 3,250 was set by Barry Sanders of Oklahoma St in 1998. Ironically, McCaffrey's backup at running back is Sanders' son, Barry J. Sanders.
"What is Christian McCaffrey? The answer is football player," Stanford coach David Shaw said recently. "It's not running back. It's not receiver. It's not returner. It's football player. What do you need for him to do?
"You can say he had the best year in the history of college football."
Stanford won the Pac-12 title -- their third in four seasons -- and will play Iowa in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.
In addition to being the runner up for the Heisman, McCaffrey won the Paul Hornung Award this season. He captured the Pac-12 Player of the Year honors, bringing the award to the Farm for the fourth time in the past seven years (Andrew Luck in 2010 and 2011, Toby Gerhart in 2009). Additionally, he was named to the 2015 college football All-America team as both a running back and a kick return specialist.
He also was a finalist for the Maxwell Award and semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award. Former Cardinal players Andrew Luck won the Maxwell Award in 2011 and Toby Gearhart win the Doak Walker Award in 2009.
McCaffrey set Stanford records for most rushing yards in a game (243), most all-purpose yards in a game (461), most consecutive games with at least 100 rushing yards (9). He tied the record of rushing touchdowns in a game with 4.
McCaffrey will be a front runner to win the 2016 Heisman going into next season, yet, he feels there is plenty he could improve upon.
"I'm not satisfied at all with the season, my personal season," he said. "All the great players you ask always expect greatness. There's definitely a lot of work to be done. A lot of room for improvement."
- ANM
Note: Portions of this article are courtesy of ESPN.
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Graphic courtesy of David.
