Why is Derrick Henry the front runner to win the Heisman Trophy? He isn’t even the best player at his own position much less the best player in the country.

I have had this discussion with many of my colleagues several times in the last few weeks including two Heisman Trophy voters.

I have watched Alabama play just about every game this year. He is a good running back, don’t get me wrong. But that is all he is, a good running back who is running behind an offensive line that has improved with each game this season.

Yes, this Alabama offensive line is not as good as some of the ones it has had in years past, but it isn’t too bad either.

Through 12 games this year, Henry has rushed for an impressive 1,797 yards, which leads the nation by the way. He also leads the nation with 22 touchdowns. But does this mean he is the best player in the country?

Don’t use the excuse he is the best player on the best team, either. That doesn’t hold water.

The best player on the best team is without a doubt Clemson’s Deshaun Watson. By the way, Watson isn’t my pick to win the Heisman Trophy either. Sorry Clemson fans, but there is someone else out there who deserves to win the Heisman Trophy more than Watson.

That someone is Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey. Have you seen this guy play? He is amazing. Clemson fans, more than anyone, should appreciate a player like McCaffrey. Why? He plays a lot like former Clemson running back C.J. Spiller, and he is used in a lot of the same ways.

Let’s just say this. If McCaffrey played for Southern Cal he would win the Heisman Trophy and it would not even be close.

Just check out McCaffrey’s statistics, and by the way, I have stayed up and watched him play several times this year. In 12 games, he has rushed for 1,640 yards. He is averaging 136.8 yards per game on the ground. He has caught 37 passes for 435 yards. He has 922 yards on 31 kickoff returns for a 29.7-yard average. He has rushed for seven scores, caught three scores, returned a kickoff for another touchdown and threw a touchdown pass. He also returns punts.

In all, McCaffrey has 3,035 all-purpose yards for an average of 252.9 yards per game. He has 2,075 yards from scrimmage, 181 more than Henry and 75 more than LSU’s Leonard Fournette.

Speaking of Fournette, he is averaging more rushing yards per game (158.3) and more yards per carry (6.4) than Henry. Fournette has rushed for 1,741 yards in one less game. The season opener was canceled because of a severe thunderstorm system that hit the Baton Rouge area just before kickoff.

Yes, Henry had a better game than Fournette when Alabama beat LSU last month. But if you were to put Henry in an LSU uniform, and he had to play against the Crimson Tide’s defensive front with no help from the quarterback, I bet you Henry would have been held to 31 yards as well.

Is Derrick Henry a good player who can run the football? Yes, but that is all he is good at. Go watch an Alabama game, if it is third-and-long, guess where you will find Derrick Henry? He will be standing right beside Nick Saban on the sideline.

If its third-and-long for Stanford, guess where McCaffrey will be? Guess where Leonard Fournette will be? Guess where Florida State’s Dalvin Cook will be? Guess where Ohio State’s Ezekiel Elliott will be? They will all be in the backfield because they can do more than just run the football. They all are competent blockers in pass protection, and they can all catch the football out of the backfield. Plus they know what to do with it in open space. They can make people miss, not just run over people.

Henry cannot do any of that. He is a one-trick pony. Now, he is good at the one trick he does, but does that make him the best player in college football? No it doesn’t. He isn’t even the first, second, third or fourth best player at his own position.

If he wins the Heisman Trophy, he will go down as the worst Heisman Trophy winner ever. Mark it down. If this was 1974 or something like that, then Henry is your prototypical Heisman Trophy winning running back. But in this day and age of spread offenses and what running backs are asked to do, then there is no way you can say Henry is the best running back.

If McCaffrey does not win the Heisman Trophy, and because of all the Alabama bias and ESPN’s love affair with the SEC I doubt he will, then the next best choice is Deshaun Watson. Like I said, Watson is the best player on the nation’s number one ranked team.

Like McCaffrey, Watson not only passes the eye test, but his statistics back it up. He has 36 total touchdowns. He has nearly 4,000 total yards. He has rushed for 756 yards and thrown for 3,223 more. He is completing 70.4 percent of his passes and he has a passing efficiency rating of 162.0

Watson is the only player in the country to throw for 3,000 yards and run for 700. In the month of November, he averaged 414 yards of total offense per game, which was second in the nation. He has posted five straight games of at least 380 total yards – a first in Clemson history.

In road games, when it is supposed to be harder for a quarterback, Watson leads the nation by completing 74 percent of his passes, and in the fourth quarter, he is completing 78 percent of his passes for 475 yards and two touchdowns. He has thrown 54 passes in the fourth quarter without an interception.

So if Watson and McCaffrey go off this Saturday in their respected conference title games against North Carolina and Southern Cal, then both should jump Henry in the Heisman race, no matter what he does against Florida. They are the two best players in the country.

Remember, the Heisman Trophy is supposed to go to the most outstanding player in the country. Henry isn’t even in the top four at his own position.