Hlas: My Heisman vote went to Christian McCaffrey

I didn't put Alabama running back Derrick Henry atop my Heisman Trophy ballot.

Nay, I went with the player who broke the NCAA all-purpose yards record, Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey. But it wasn't a slam-dunk, to use football terminology. I also gave strong consideration to Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson, who I put second on my ballot.

The Heisman is supposed to go to the best football player. Which makes it open to about a thousand forms of interpretation. But in my mind, being a running back/receiver/kick-returner extraordinaire makes you a better football player than being a running back extraordinaire.

McCaffrey has 3,496 all-purpose yards. That includes kickoff-return yards, though, and those are kind of cheap compared to rushing, receiving and punt-returns. But no matter. Kickoff-return yards are vital, too. Field position always has mattered, and always will.

Besides, McCaffrey has over a thousand — a thousand! -- more all-purpose yards than anyone else in FBS.

Oh, McCaffrey has thrown two touchdown passes on top of his other work, including one in last Saturday's Pac-12 title game win over USC. That's a nice touch.

By the way, the winner is plenty deserving. Henry is sensational, period. You rush for 1,986 yards and 23 touchdowns for a team that goes 12-1, you don't need to explain yourself to anybody. But I wonder how this award would have gone had McCaffrey did what he did at Alabama, and Henry did what he did at Stanford.

No, I don't really wonder. McCaffrey would have won in a landslide.

Stanford plays out west, and over half its games were at night when no one in the Eastern time zone (and perhaps Central) watched.

McCaffrey isn't the best running back in the land. He's extremely good at playing RB, though, and he's easily the best of all multipurpose players.

Watson, who finished third in the voting behind Henry and McCaffrey, probably got shortchanged. Not only has he passed for 3,512 yards and 30 TDs, he rushed for 887 yards and 11 scores for a team that's 13-0. His passing-efficiency rating is superb and he averaged eight yards per rush.

What more does a guy have to do? After sending my ballot on Monday, I started regretting not putting Watson at No. 1.

But it is, and always has been, an award that seldom goes to the right player. Hey, most of the people I vote for when it comes to elected office end up losing, too. Maybe I need to get in step with the masses. Or maybe they should get in step with me.

Yeah, that's it. That's the ticket. (Really old Saturday Night Live reference)