Best Stanford football players: Modern-era Mount Rushmore – From John Elway to Andrew Luck
By John Buhler
Christian McCaffrey. player. 871. Pick Analysis. RB. (2014-16). 5. Scouting Report
Christian McCaffrey is the fifth former Stanford football great on this list to finish as the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy. The son of Stanford wide receiver and Broncos Super Bowl champion Ed McCaffrey, he more than made a name for himself during his three years on The Farm in Palo Alto.
McCaffrey was a consensus All-American and the AP Player of the Year during his sophomore campaign in 2015 when he had 2,664 scrimmage yards. He took home the Jet Award, the Paul Hornung and was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year. McCaffrey put on a show that year, but Derrick Henry was the bell-cow beast for the eventual national champion Alabama Crimson Tide.
Even though he had over 2,000 rushing yards and over 2,500 yards from scrimmage, it wasn’t good enough to give Stanford football its second Heisman Trophy winner. People might argue West Coast bias, but if you watched McCaffrey on the field for the Cardinal that season, or even during his junior season in 2016, there was no doubt he was one of the most electrifying playmakers ever.
McCaffrey left after his junior season to become a top-10 pick by the Carolina Panthers in the 2017 NFL Draft. He had a breakout season where he was named First-Team All-Pro for Carolina. While the Panthers are rebuilding under former Baylor head coach Matt Rhule, McCaffrey still has several more years to amaze us on the football field as he did in college.
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