Derrick Henry Wins The Heisman Trophy 2015– Alabama Celebrates!
Derrick Henry, of the Alabama Crimson Tide has won the Heisman trophy 2015, Yahoo Sports reports. In doing so, he beat Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey and Clemson’s Deshaun Watson.
Henry scored 1,832 points while McCaffrey scored 1,539 and Watson scored 1,165. He also captured over 40 percent of the first place vote.
During his seven minute thank you speech, Derrick Henry thanked his family and Scott Cochran, the Director of Strength and Conditioning at the University of Alabama. He also paid homage to his teammate Altee Tenpenny who died in a car accident earlier this year.
As the winner of the Heisman Trophy 2015, Henry becomes the first running back to win the honor since 2009 when Mark Ingram nabbed the trophy. Mark Ingram also played for the University of Alabama. In fact, Alabama has had a consistent showing in terms of winning the Heisman in the last couple of years. Derrick Henry is their fifth finalist in seven years. The other finalists from The University of Alabama were Trent Richardson (2011), quarterback AJ McCarron(2013) and wide receiver Amari Cooper (2014).
Henry averaged 16.8 carries in four games in September. In the next eight games within SEC competition Henry averaged 32.9 carries. All of these games were won by the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Despite a pretty stellar record, Henry had some stiff competition from the other finalists, Christian McCaffrey and Deshaun Watson, Yahoo Sports reports.
“McCaffrey led Stanford to an 11-2 record and the Pac-12 championship, breaking Barry Sanders’ single-season, all-purpose yardage record with 3,496 yards to date.” Pat Ford writes for Yahoo. “Watson quarterbacked Clemson to a 13-0 record, the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff while amassing 4,399 yards of total offense so far.”
The Heisman Trophy is the highest honor that a college football player can receive. According to its official website, the first Heisman trophy– then called the DAC trophy –was awarded to Jay Berwanger from the University of Chicago. The trophy is named after the legendary coach and player John W. Heisman. The name change was made posthumously.
Well known for its signature design, The Heisman trophy was designed by a Frank Eliscu, a well-known sculptor and National Academy of Design Prize recipient. Ed Smith, a star player on the New York University football team in 1934 was his primary model.
“I’m just so thankful to have this trophy,” Henry said when her received The Heisman. “It’s just a blessing and an honor.”
According to ESPN.com, Derrick Henry was the favorite heading into the ceremony on Saturday night. He was aware that he was going up against some strong competitors though and wasn’t too cocky.
“Them two guys were great contenders for the trophy. Deshaun, with how consistent and efficient he is at the quarterback position, all the success he had, I was kind of worried,” Henry said. “Christian, breaking Barry Sanders’ record, doing all the things he does, he’s just unbelievable.”
Besides The Heisman, Derrick Henry has been racking up a boatload of other awards. Henry won The Doak Walker award for best running back in college football, beating his rival for the Heisman Trophy, Christian McCaffrey. He’s also the first running back since 2002 to win the Maxwell Award, the award that’s given to the best college football player of the year. Henry is the first running back to win both the Heisman and The Maxwell award since the year 1999, when Ron Dayne accomplished that awe inspiring feat.
[Photo by Kevin C Cox/Getty Images]
