“I was shocked at first”.
Advertisement
Bobby Ramsey, who coached Henry at Yulee (Fla.) High, remembers Henry discussing the Heisman as one of his ultimate goals. Veal doesn’t remember a specific story. Seeing her have to go through the stuff she had to go through and knowing she would never be the same person as she was before.
“We’re not talking about a conference record”, Stanford coach David Shaw said of McCaffrey’s 3,496 all-purpose yards (i.e., rushing, receiving and return). “Here we are today”.
“This was a very talented year”, said McCaffrey, who added that he could think of “at least 10” players who deserved to be named Heisman finalists.
Unfortunately for Stanford’s sophomore dynamo, judging by Henry’s sweep of the Doak Walker, Walter Camp and Maxwell Awards for this season, it’s looking like McCaffrey will join the proud Stanford tradition of Heisman Trophy runner-ups. At the time he was presented with the 2009 Heisman Trophy, RB Mark Ingram had accounted for 34.7 percent of Alabama’s yards from scrimmage. He also had the second most kick return yards in the nation with 1,042 and 67 additional yards on punt returns to finish with over 1,000 more all-purpose yards than any other player in the country. Henry broke Herschel Walker’s 34-year-old SEC record of 1,986 rushing yards and tied Tebow and Tre Mason’s SEC record for rushing touchdowns with 23. With the way quarterbacks have won eight of the past nine awards, the stiff-armed statue should be remade in the image of a player in mid-throw.
Bush said being a multi-threat – some have called McCaffrey the Swiss Army Knife of college football – has advantages and disadvantages. “It makes my heart beat just thinking about it, man. It’d be a dream come true”.
Henry can only do one of the above.
Henry, the Tide’s bulldozing back with surprising speed, is the clear frontrunner according to oddsmakers. When he gets going, no team is able to shut him down. The woman that really raised me.
Like most children, he was full of energy and preferred to be outside and loved sports. “The Stanford program is strong and smart and efficient; they’re making holes for him and he’s doing a great job…”
That’s around the time Ramsey first laid eyes on the budding phenom. “I’m just happy to be here”. He was thinking ‘What if I’m invited? He just towered over everybody else.
“I was speechless. The first thing I thought of was death”.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Derrick Henry made a quick impression on his Alabama teammates upon arriving on campus as a coveted prospect with everything from his hardcore weight room workouts to those middle-of-the-night pushup sessions.
On Saturday, he’ll be in the Big Apple, hopeful of winning the only individual honor in college sports that still matters. I just try to get better and better as the game goes on.
It didn’t matter what time of the game it was. His season took flight in rain-soaked Death Valley as he led the Tigers to a 24-22 win over Notre Dame that shot Clemson (13-0) into the playoff conversation. But if the other team scored, Henry could re-enter. “Obviously, if you have a kid playing against Derrick, you weren’t happy because it wasn’t fair”.
PRO PROSPECTS: A junior, Henry is widely regarded as the second-best running back who could be available in the 2016 draft behind Ohio State’s Ezekiel Elliott. He’s a first-team Academic All-American. “That’s just what he’s done all year long for this team”.
“I consider myself to be a leader of this team”, he said.
And to those that have argued that Henry has “showed up” for big games against top defenses and McCaffrey hasn’t: Henry has averaged 5.33 yards per carry and McCaffrey has averaged 5.34 yards per carry against top-50 rush defenses this season. I’m curious to where McCaffrey will stand if he had a record-breaking season if he was a quarterback with the competitive drive and edge like Johnny Manziel or Tim Tebow? He’s hoping to bring college football’s most recognizable trophy home.
“When I found out she had cancer I just started crying”. No one could stop him.
Not the media hype.
The race between Henry and McCaffrey will be interesting.
“I never asked him to take it to the one [yard line], you know what I’m saying?” He also has rushed for 887 yards, which is the third-highest total in the nation among quarterbacks, and an additional 11 touchdowns. The icing on the cake was Watson filling the stat sheet with 289 passing yards and three TDs along with another 131 rushing yards and another two scores in the ACC title game vs. North Carolina.
1 Alabama player has finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting – QB AJ McCarron in 2013.
Advertisement
All of Henry’s offseason work has led him to this moment. “You’re not going to get more than three years out of a great player, most likely”.
