{"id":29199,"date":"2015-12-11T09:03:40","date_gmt":"2015-12-11T17:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/bamas-henry-wins-maxwell-walker-awards\/"},"modified":"2015-12-11T09:03:40","modified_gmt":"2015-12-11T17:03:40","slug":"bamas-henry-wins-maxwell-walker-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/bamas-henry-wins-maxwell-walker-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Bama’s Henry wins Maxwell, Walker awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA<\/strong> \u2014 Alabama running back Derrick Henry was the biggest star of college football\u2019s awards night, as he won the Maxwell Award, given to the college player of the year, and the Doak Walker Award given to the nation\u2019s top running back.<\/p>\n

The awards were presented for the first time at the College Football Hall of Fame on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Also Thursday, Henry was chosen as the Walter Camp National Player of the Year.<\/p>\n

Henry joined Trent Richardson, who won in 2011, as the only Alabama players to win the Doak Walker Award. Some other recent winners include Darren McFadden, Montee Ball and 2014 winner Melvin Gordon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis list is legendary,\u201d Henry said. \u201cI\u2019m just thankful to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry, Stanford\u2019s Christian McCaffrey and Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson were the finalists for the Maxwell Award and also are the finalists for the Heisman Trophy, to be presented on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Watson won the Davey O\u2019Brien Award given to the nation\u2019s top quarterback.<\/p>\n

Other award winners Thursday were: Stanford\u2019s Joshua Garnett (Outland Trophy, given to the top interior lineman); Temple\u2019s Tyler Matakevich (Chuck Bednarik Award, given to the nation\u2019s defensive player of the year); UCLA\u2019s Ka\u2019imi Fairbairn (Lou Groza Award for the nation\u2019s top kicker); Iowa\u2019s Desmond King (Jim Thorpe Award for the nation\u2019s best defensive back); Baylor\u2019s Corey Coleman (Biletnikoff Award for nation\u2019s outstanding receiver); Utah\u2019s Tom Hackett (Ray Guy Award for nation\u2019s top punter.<\/p>\n

Also, former Marine hero Hank Goff of Concordia won the Sports Spirit Award. Former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer won the NCFAA Contribution to College Football Award.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Clemson\u2019s Dabo Swinney won the Home Depot Coach of the Year and Hunter Henry of Arkansas won the John Mackey Award for the nation\u2019s outstanding tight end.<\/p>\n

Also, Georgia receiver Malcolm Mitchell won the AFCA Good Works Team captain award for his community service and off-field contributions and the Campbell Trophy for academic success was presented to Oklahoma center Ty Darlington.<\/p>\n

Henry rushed for 1,986 yards to break Herschel Walker\u2019s Southeastern Conference single-season record and lead Alabama to the College Football Playoff. He ran for 189 yards and was picked as MVP in Alabama\u2019s SEC championship game win over Florida.<\/p>\n

Henry is considered the Heisman favorite. Mark Ingram of Alabama in 2009 was the last running back \u2014 and only Crimson Tide player \u2014 to win the Heisman.<\/p>\n

Henry said his focus is on helping Alabama win the national championship. A spot in the national championship game will be on the line when Alabama plays Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 31.<\/p>\n

Alabama lost to Ohio State in last year\u2019s playoff semifinal in the Sugar Bowl.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat taste from last year is still in my mouth,\u201d Henry said. \u201cThat one really bothered us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry said having to face Alabama\u2019s \u201crelentless\u201d defense helped him have success against other teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day it\u2019s a challenge going up against them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Swinney said he is glad Watson is only a sophomore.<\/p>\n

Swinney said Watson was a \u201cvery deserving\u201d Davey O\u2019Brien winner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they got it right,\u201d Swinney said. \u201cHe\u2019s special in every regard. … He\u2019s more than just a great football player. He\u2019s a great young man. This is just the beginning for him. An incredibly bright future. I\u2019m glad we\u2019ve got him back for at least another year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swinney said he looked forward to joining Watson in New York at the Heisman presentation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pumped,\u201d Swinney said. \u201cI\u2019ve never sniffed the Heisman presentation.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP College Football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA \u2014 Alabama running back Derrick Henry was the biggest star of college football\u2019s awards night, as he won the Maxwell Award, given to the college player of the year, and the Doak Walker Award given to the nation\u2019s top running back. The awards were presented for the first time at the College Football Hall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-29199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29199"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=29199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}