2016 CFRA Player of the Year Award

For the fifth consecutive season, the College Football Researchers Association has crowned a Player of the Year, and this season Clemson’s Deshaun Watson surprisingly takes the title.  Watson was edged out by Derrick Henry by a single point in last year’s player of the year competition, but this season he was able to beat out the presumptive favorite Lamar Jackson by 5 points, even though Jackson actually received two more first place votes than Watson.  During the past four seasons, the CFRA Player of the Year has gone on to take the Heisman Trophy so we will see if that happens again next weekend.  The full breakdown of votes is below with the number of first-place votes each player received in parentheses:

1.  Deshuan Watson (4)– 44 points

2.  Lamar Jackson (6)– 39 points

3.  Jabrill Peppers (1)– 15 points

4.  Jake Browning– 14 points

5.  Jonathan Allen– 9 points

6.  Dede Westbrook– 7 points

7.  Donnel Pumphrey– 6 points

7.  Baker Mayfield– 6 points

9.  D’Onta Foreman– 5 points

9.  Saquon Barkley– 5 points

11. Jalen Hurts– 4 points

11. Christian McCaffrey– 4 points

13.  Zach Terrell– 3 points

14.  Patrick Mahomes– 1 point

14.  Corey Davis– 1 point

14.  Corey Clement– 1 point

14.  Tim Williams– 1 point