Derrick Henry's dependability leads to Alabama's success, and the Heisman

NEW YORK — If you subscribe to the MVP theory of the Heisman Trophy, it would have been easy to choose any of the finalists as winner. But if that’s the criteria, the voters got it right. Perhaps no one meant more to his team’s success than Derrick Henry.

Yeah, Alabama’s running back broke the SEC’s rushing record, held for so long by Herschel Walker. Sure, his formidable combination of size, speed and durability is unmatched. Without question, his Godzilla-through-the-village romps through defenses en route to the end zone contained plenty of Heisman moments.

But Henry’s dependability — just give him the ball, over and over and over — is the biggest reason Alabama is 12-1, the SEC champion, the No. 2-ranked team in the College Football Playoff.

“He did as much for his team as anybody could have done,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said, “or ever has done for any of our teams.”

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Put another way: Without Henry, Alabama’s remarkable run near the top of college football might be over.

As always, the Crimson Tide is very talented. The roster remains loaded with future NFL players. Everything begins, as all of Saban’s teams have, with very good defense. But offensively, this version of the Crimson Tide has tilted away from the passing game and heavily to the run, and the imbalance has been born of necessity.

Senior quarterback Jake Coker is a work in progress. He has at best been inconsistent. It has been a far better option to put the ball in Henry’s hands and let him run behind a good offensive line. He has accounted for 38 percent of the offensive production — piling up 1,986 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns — but that doesn’t begin to describe his impact.

The Tide’s slightly altered formula for success has been to grind to victory by feeding the football to Henry. In the latter stages of games, he has been nearly unstoppable.

Not counting the Tide’s annual November cream puff (this time, it was Charleston Southern; Henry had 68 yards on nine carries), in the last eight games Henry averaged 32.9 carries and 187 yards. He had 27 carries against Arkansas, 32 against Texas A&M, 28 against Tennessee and 38 against LSU. He finished the season with 46 carries against rival Auburn and 44 against Florida in the SEC championship. In the last two possessions against Auburn, he ran the ball on 14 consecutive plays, finishing with a 25-yard touchdown run.

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“Whatever I have to do to help my team win,” Henry said. “ I don’t care how many carries it is. As long as it’s successful and we’ve got the ball, I’m all for it.”

In addition to the Heisman, Henry won the Maxwell Trophy as the player of the year and the Doak Walker Award as the top running back. But he seemed to spend the entire week on college football’s awards circuit deflecting questions about his personal success.

“It’s all about the team, the team, the team, the team,” he said Saturday night, oddly channeling the late Bo Schembechler.

(It wasn’t the only apparently unintentional homage: “Our entire organization is really happy, happy, happy for Derrick Henry,” Saban said, sounding like Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson without the accent.)

Giving credit to teammates is classy, and it’s also correct (see how his production dipped when, say, ‘Bama center Ryan Kelly left the Texas A&M game with concussion-like symptoms and it’s easy to recognize how many moving parts contribute to success). But as long as we’re talking about the team, the team, the team — this team is as successful as it is because of Henry.

“They’re all great team efforts,” Saban said. “But when it came right down to it, he really stepped up and did a great job for our team.”

It’s not just the heavier-than-ever emphasis on the running game that’s different, but also the shift to one running back. In the Nick Saban era, running backs have always shared the load.

“We’ve always had two running backs, and sometimes three, that make a huge contribution,” Saban said. “We alternate guys and try to leave a lot of tread on the tires as the season wears on.”

So it’s been Glen Coffee and Mark Ingram, followed by Ingram and Trent Richardson, followed by Richardson and Eddie Lacy, followed by Lacy and T.J. Yeldon, followed by Yeldon and Henry. That was supposed to be followed by Henry and Kenyan Drake.

But Henry was clearly the workhorse all season. And then Drake broke his right arm Nov. 14 against Mississippi State (he returned to play in the SEC championship game). Henry’s workload only increased.

“It was really unprecedented for me philosophy-wise as a coach to do that,” Saban said. “We were in some tight games and some big games, and we were ahead in the games and we were trying to take the air out of the ball. You can’t have a better guy to do it with than Derrick Henry.”

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Whether the formula remains effective isn’t certain. Alabama leans on its defense. But in SEC play, the Tide was not often challenged by dynamic offenses; the league did not feature great quarterback play. This allowed the Crimson Tide’s offense — allowed Henry — to simply grind away, controlling the ball and the clock and ultimately, the SEC.

In the Playoff, ‘Bama figures to face much more potent scoring threats — especially if it advances to the national championship game against Clemson or Oklahoma. If a shootout breaks out, we’ll find out if Coker can beat someone with his arm. The Tide will have to do more than hand it to Henry.

So far, though, feeding the big guy has been more than enough. When he returns to Tuscaloosa with the 25-pound bronze statuette in tow, Henry said the first thing he’ll do in the locker room is thank his teammates.

“It’s not something I could have done without them,” he said.

True enough. But getting to the Playoff is not something Alabama would have done without him.

The final vote count:

1. Derrick Henry 1,832 
2. Christian McCaffrey 1,539 
3. Deshaun Watson 1,165 
4. Baker Mayfield 334 
5. Keenan Reynolds 180 
6. Leonard Fournette 110

Henry by the numbers

Position: Running back

Vitals: 6-3, 242 pounds

From: Yulee, Fla.

Class: Junior

Stats: 339 carries for 1,986 yards (No. 1 nationally) and 23 touchdowns (No. 1), 152.8 yards a game (No. 2)

Plus, 10 receptions for 97 yards

Heisman-defining moment: Henry made one cut behind the line and sprinted toward the end zone while Auburn defenders seemed to be moving in slow motion. The 25-yard touchdown in the final minute of the Iron Bowl (Nov. 28) was especially notable because it was Henry’s 46th carry and 14th in a row to punctuate a 271-yard performance.

Best game: Henry outshined LSU’s Leonard Fournette in a game (Nov. 7) that gave Alabama the inside track on the Southeastern Conference West title. He had 38 runs for 210 yards and three touchdowns. Two of Henry’s scores came in the third quarter when the Tide took control of the game. The fallout from that game: Fournette skidded out of the lead that he had held for weeks in many Heisman races, and Henry ascended.

Worst game: Henry’s lowest outputs came against lesser teams in easy wins, but Arkansas (Oct. 10) fared the best among SEC defenses. The Razorbacks limited him to 95 yards on 27 carries.

Of note: The last running back to win the Heisman also was from Alabama, Mark Ingram in 2009.

Quotable: “When you meet him in the hole, you better bring everything you’ve got.” — Alabama linebacker Reggie Ragland, who has seen, and felt, Henry’s impact.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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