Alabama Football’s Derrick Henry Wins Heisman Trophy
The University of Alabama’s junior running back Derrick Henry became the second player in Crimson Tide history to win the Heisman Trophy. Henry was presented the 81st Heisman Memorial Trophy at PlayStation Theater in Times Square in a live announcement on ESPN. Henry tallied 1,832 points to beat out Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey and Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Henry is the first running back to win the Heisman Trophy since 2009, when former Alabama running back Mark Ingram became the first player in school history to win the prestigious award. He is the 41st running back to win the Heisman Trophy, but just the ninth since 1985. He is the 12th player in Southeastern Conference history to win the Heisman Trophy and the first since Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M) in 2012. The conference has now claimed four of the last seven Heismans. Other SEC winners include Frank Sinkwich (Georgia), Billy Cannon (LSU), Steve Spurrier (Florida), Pat Sullivan (Auburn), Herschel Walker (Georgia), Bo Jackson (Auburn), Danny Weurffel (Florida), Tim Tebow (Florida), Ingram (Alabama) and Cam Newton (Auburn).
The Crimson Tide’s starting tailback has put together a historic season leading the Crimson Tide to the SEC Championship and a berth in the College Football Playoffs for the second consecutive year. Henry’s list of 2015 accomplishments includes first team All-American selection by the Walter Camp Foundation and USA Today, 2015 SEC Offensive Player of the Year and first team All-SEC by the conference’s head coaches. He also won the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, Maxwell Award and Doak Walker Award. He is just the fourth player in college football history win all four awards in the same season and the first since Ron Dayne accomplished the feat at Wisconsin in 1999.
The Yulee, Fla., native ran 339 times for 1,986 yards and 23 touchdowns in his first season as the team’s starting running back. He shattered the Alabama single-season rushing record and the SEC single-season rushing record that was previously held by Walker in 1981. He leads the nation in rushing yards and touchdowns and is second in yards per game with 152.8. Henry has recorded four 200-plus yard performances this year, joining Walker (Georgia) and Jackson (Auburn) as the only backs in SEC history to record four in one season. He has matched the all-time SEC single-season rushing touchdown mark and has recorded a rushing touchdown in 18 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the country and the most by any player in SEC history.
In seven games against top-25 teams, Henry ran for 1,261 yards and 13 touchdowns on 198 carries for a 180.1 yard per game average. In nine SEC games, he averaged 180 yards per game in leading the Tide to its second straight SEC Championship and 25th in school history. Henry recorded nine 100-yard games this season, tying the Alabama record held by Ingram and Trent Richardson. His 271 rushing yards in the Nov. 28 Iron Bowl at Auburn is the third-highest single-game total in school history and the most by any player in the rivalry’s history. He was a five-time SEC Offensive Player of the Week winner, earning the award against Wisconsin (13-147-3), Georgia (26-148-1), Texas A&M (32-236-2), Mississippi State (22-204-2) and Auburn (46-271-1).
In 36 career games, Henry has 547 rushing attempts for 3,358 yards and 37 touchdowns. He ranks third on the Alabama all-time career rushing list and fourth in rushing touchdowns.
