2015 Heisman Trophy Winner Derrick Henry: 'The Team Accepted Me'
By Adam Silverstein | CBS Sports Staff Writer
Breaking a record owned by Herschel Walker puts one in the conversation for a myriad of awards, so it should come as no surprise that Alabama running back Derrick Henry brought home college football's most prestigious honor, the Heisman Trophy, on Saturday night.
Henry became the first running back (and Alabama player) since Mark Ingram (2009) to win the award, doing so over two finalists in Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson and Stanford all-purpose star Christian McCaffrey.
He joins Ingram as the second Crimson Tide player to capture the Heisman.
Henry (1,832 points) edged McCaffrey (1,539) for the award with Watson (1,165) coming in third and Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield (334) finishing fourth. The 293-point victory was the closest for the Heisman since Baylor QB Robert Griffin III beat Stanford QB Andrew Luck by 280 points in 2011.
Overall, Henry had 378 first-place votes compared to McCaffrey (290), Watson (148) and Mayfield (334). The Tide rusher won five of six regions (Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, South, Midwest, Southwest) with McCaffrey taking the other (Far West).
Navy QB Keenan Reynolds also totaled 180 points and was the highest service-academy finisher in 52 years (Roger Staubach).
"Coming into Alabama from Florida, they all accepted me," Henry said of his Alabama teammates during his Heisman speech. "They all loved me and all supported me. This season, they took me as a leader, guys following behind me, watching me work every day. All I wanted to do was affect them by the way I practice and the way I work hard. ...
"The courage they had in me, the faith they had in me, I couldn't let them down. 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."
In addition to breaking Walker's single-season SEC rushing yards record, Henry tied Tim Tebow's touchdown record with 23 rushing scores this season. The 6-foot-3, 242-pound junior from Yulee, Florida, scored in all 13 of the Alabama's regular-season games, registering multiple touchdowns in seven contests.
Not only was Henry productive in totaling 1,986 yards on 339 carries, he was an absolute workhorse for the Tide with 26 or more carries in seven games. Over the final two weeks of the regular season, Henry toted the rock a total of 90 times for 460 yards and two touchdowns.
Watson's tremendous resume (69.5 percent passing, 887 yards rushing, 41 total touchdowns) and McCaffrey's spectacular all-purpose campaign (3,496 total yards, 13 touchdowns) were incredibly impressive, but voters made it clear Saturday that Henry was their choice as the best player in college football for the 2015 season.
