Only three college football players are going to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony, which came as a surprise in a season that seemingly produced at least half-a-dozen candidates.

First, the finalists, who were revealed on ESPN's "SportsCenter" on Monday night, The Associated Press reported. The award ceremony will be Saturday at 8 p.m. ET in Midtown Manhattan, New York, N.Y.

Derrick Henry, running back, Alabama

Henry will likely be considered the favorite after breaking Herschel Walker's SEC single-season rushing record. Henry continues a tradition of bruiser backs at Alabama, fully embodying his team's offensive identity: big, physical, and methodical. His size makes him hard to stop and he has the endurance to take more than 40 carries in a game.

Christian McCaffrey, running back, Stanford

Unlike Henry, McCaffrey makes things interesting when he touches the football. McCaffrey broke Barry Sanders' record for all-purpose yards in a season, but he truly put the "all" in "all-purpose." McCaffrey ran for 1,847 yards, caught for 540, returned 14 punts for 67 yards, returned 36 kickoffs for 1,042, and threw for 39.

He also scored 15 combined touchdowns and even recorded seven total tackles.

Deshaun Watson, quarterback, Clemson

Watson was the superstar on the nation's top team, but he is the only QB that can keep the Heisman Trophy at the position for a sixth straight year. And he's deserving too, accounting for 30 passing touchdowns and 11 rushing scores.

Watson was the head of one of the nation's most well rounded and potent offenses. Not only was he a perpetual scoring threat no matter Clemson's field position, but he took care of the ball and distributed it well. Watson posted a 69.5 completion percentage and completed touchdown passes to nine different receivers.

But this is a close race, and a running back could well break the QB position's string of five straight winners, especially considering tailbacks like Ezekiel Elliott, Leonard Fournette, and Dalvin Cook did not get invites.

The vote is also expected to close, whereas the past few winners were decided by large margins, and Stanford will hope to get a bit of revenge against Alabama. The last running back to win the Heisman was Alabama's Mark Ingram in 2009, edging Stanford's Toby Gerhart by one percent of the vote.

(Player stats for Henry, McCaffrey, and Watson courtest of ESPN)