Alabama Crimson Tide Running Back Derrick Henry Wins Heisman

Deshaun Watson, the quarterback of No. 1 Clemson, finished third. 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.

“Now I’ll have something to look at it with my name on it. I’m so glad I could bring Alabama its second Heisman Trophy”.

“I’m just so thankful to have this trophy”, Henry said.

I’ll also say this: In 2010, I wrote that Newton had put together the single greatest season in college football history when you combine what he accomplished as an individual and what he meant to his team.

“I know that our entire organization is really happy, happy, happy for Derrick Henry tonight, winning the Heisman Trophy”, Alabama coach Nick Saban said.

Henry was the nation’s top rusher, finishing with 1,986 rushing yards, almost 100 more than Herschel Walker’s 1981 SEC record.

Florida State running back Dalvin Cook made the second team, as did Seminoles cornerback Jalen Ramsey.

The first two seasons I had the honor of voting for the Heisman Trophy, it was a pretty clear choice as to who was the top college football player.

He choked up during his speech, thanking his family, coaches and teammates, and mentioning former Alabama teammate Altee Tenpenny, who was killed in a auto crash two months ago.

Now he is a Heisman Trophy victor.

Watson led Clemson to an undefeated record and led Clemson to its first Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) title since 2011.

The 6-foot-3, 242-pound running back is only the second running back since 2000 to receive this prestigious award, the second being Mark Ingram, who also played for the Crimson Tide. Henry finished with 1,832 total points and 378 first-place votes, while McCaffrey had 1,539 points (290 first-place votes) and Watson had 1,165 points (148 first-place votes). “I never thought I would be up here”.

After 85 minutes of waiting in the PlayStation Theater, Derrick Henry’s childhood dream came true as Alabama’s junior running back was named the Heisman Trophy victor.

Aside from games against Louisiana Monroe and Charleston Southern, Henry had at least 22 carries in each of Alabama’s last 10 games. “Everyone asks about [the high number of] carries and how I felt, but when you have teammates like those, it doesn’t matter how much it hurts”. And the number of backs who, one week later, in a conference championship game, could carry the ball 44 more times for another 189 yards, is one. When it became apparent that Leonard Fournette, the Tigers’ running back and Heisman front-runner at the time, was going nowhere against the Crimson Tide defense, the network’s announcers immediately installed Henry as the new favorite.

The Tide faces Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl on December 31, trying to earn a fourth national championship in nine seasons under Saban.