Derrick Henry was the engine that powered No. 2 Alabama to the College Football Playoff. That earned him the 2015 Heisman Trophy, winning the award Saturday over fellow finalists Deshaun Watson and Christian McCaffrey. There may have been better candidates, but Henry's year was certainly excellent.
Alabama RB Derrick Henry wins the Heisman Trophy
The Tide’s bruising back wins the award, as expected.
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
The junior ran for 1,986 yards and 23 touchdowns, leading the nation in each category as he drove the Crimson Tide back from an early-season loss and into the College Football Playoff. There hasn’t been an Alabama game this season in which he hasn’t found the end zone, and he had a penchant of coming through when his team needed him the most.
The Heisman is a validation of Henry's career with the Crimson Tide. He showed flashes of brilliance as a freshman and then ran for 990 yards last season while backing up T.J. Yeldon. He wasted no time in grabbing the spotlight this fall. He ran for 147 yards and three touchdowns on only 13 carries in a win over a Wisconsin team that boasted the nation's fourth ranked rushing defense in 2015. Some peaks and valleys followed, but Henry became a true Heisman candidate in a four-game stretch where he ran for 793 yards and nine touchdowns against Texas A&M, Tennessee, LSU, and Mississippi State.
That LSU game featured a Heisman hopeful passing of the torch. Henry’s 210-yard, three touchdown day eclipsed Fournette’s 31-yard effort and made the ‘Bama back the award’s frontrunner with three weeks left in the regular season. Fournette managed to finish the season with 1,741 rushing yards, but was not invited to New York after being considered the Heisman favorite throughout the first half of the season.
Henry is only the second player in Alabama history to win the Heisman. The Crimson Tide last made room for the trophy in 2009 when Mark Ingram took home the award.
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