Doak Walker Award

Last updated
Doak Walker Award
Toby Gerhart's Doak Walker Award 1.JPG
The Doak Walker Award, designed by artist Blair Buswell
Awarded forThe nation's top college football running back
CountryUnited States
Presented by SMU
History
First award1990
Most recent Ollie Gordon II, Oklahoma State
Website www.smu.edu/DoakWalkerAward

The Doak Walker Award honors the top running back in college football in the United States. Established in 1990, it is named in honor of Doak Walker, a former running back who played for the SMU Mustangs from 1945 to 1949 and in the National Football League (NFL) for the Detroit Lions from 1950 to 1955. The player is selected by the award's National Selection Committee, which consists of notable sportswriters, television commentators, analysts, radio sports personalities and former All-America and NFL All-Pro football players. [1] Recipients receive a bronze sculpture of Doak Walker, designed by artist Blair Buswell.

Contents

Notable Accomplishments

Wisconsin running backs won four times in eight years from 2012 to 2019. Wisconsin and Texas are tied with the most wins with 5 apiece. [2]

Ricky Williams (Texas – 1997, 1998), Darren McFadden (Arkansas – 2006, 2007) and Jonathan Taylor (Wisconsin – 2018, 2019) are the only three players to win the award more than once.

Winners

Made at least one Pro Bowl during career
YearWinnerSchoolRef
1990 Greg Lewis Washington
1991 Trevor Cobb Rice
1992 Garrison Hearst Georgia
1993 Byron "Bam" Morris Texas Tech
1994 Rashaan Salaam Colorado
1995 Eddie George Ohio State
1996 Byron Hanspard Texas Tech (2)
1997 Ricky Williams Texas
1998 Texas (2)
1999 Ron Dayne Wisconsin [3]
2000 LaDainian Tomlinson TCU [4]
2001 Luke Staley BYU
2002 Larry Johnson Penn State
2003 Chris Perry Michigan
2004 Cedric Benson Texas (3)
2005 Reggie Bush USC
2006 Darren McFadden Arkansas [5]
2007 Arkansas (2)
2008 Shonn Greene Iowa [6]
2009 Toby Gerhart Stanford [7]
2010 LaMichael James Oregon [8]
2011 Trent Richardson Alabama [9]
2012 Montee Ball Wisconsin (2) [10]
2013 Andre Williams Boston College [11]
2014 Melvin Gordon Wisconsin (3) [12]
2015 Derrick Henry Alabama (2) [2]
2016 D'Onta Foreman Texas (4) [2]
2017 Bryce Love Stanford (2) [2]
2018 Jonathan Taylor Wisconsin (4) [13]
2019 Wisconsin (5)
2020 Najee Harris Alabama (3) [14]
2021 Kenneth Walker III Michigan State
2022 Bijan Robinson Texas (5)
2023 Ollie Gordon II Oklahoma State

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References

General
Footnotes
  1. ↑ "Selection Committee - SMU".
  2. 1 2 3 4 Galloway, Jason. "Badgers running back Jonathan Taylor becomes 4th Wisconsin player to win Doak Walker Award". madison.com. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
  3. ↑ "Dayne Wins Walker, Maxwell". CBS News . December 9, 1999. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  4. ↑ "TCU's LaDainian Tomlinson Named Winner of the 2000 Doak Walker Award Presented by Vectrix". Texas Christian University Athletics. December 9, 2000. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  5. ↑ "Tebow takes Maxwell, O'Brien; McFadden wins Walker". ESPN.com. December 7, 2007. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
  6. ↑ Rittenberg, Adam (December 11, 2008). "Iowa's Greene wins Doak Walker Award". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
  7. ↑ "Stanford's Toby Gerhart wins Doak Walker Award". The Mercury News. December 10, 2009. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Oregon RB LaMichael James wins Doak Walker Award". San Diego Union-Tribune. Associated Press. December 9, 2010. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
  9. ↑ "Alabama's Trent Richardson wins Doak Walker Award". ESPN.com. Associated Press. December 8, 2011. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
  10. ↑ Temple, Jesse (December 6, 2012). "Wisconsin's Ball wins Doak Walker Award". Fox Sports. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  11. ↑ Hightower, Kyle (December 12, 2013). "BC's Andre Williams Wins Doak Walker Award". Associated Press. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  12. ↑ Potrykus, Jeff (December 11, 2014). "Melvin Gordon wins Doak Walker Award as top running back". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  13. ↑ Zucker, Joseph (December 12, 2019). "Wisconsin's Jonathan Taylor Wins 2019 Doak Walker Award as Nation's Best RB". Bleacher Report.
  14. ↑ Martin, Tyler (January 7, 2021). "Alabama RB Najee Harris Wins 2020 Doak Walker Award". Sports Illustrated .
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