Doak Walker Award

{{Infobox sports award

| name = Doak Walker Award

| current_awards =

| image = Toby Gerhart's Doak Walker Award 1.JPG

| imagesize =

| caption = The Doak Walker Award, designed by artist Blair Buswell

| description = The nation's top college football running back

| presenter = SMU

| country = United States

| location =

| year = 1990

| holder = Ashton Jeanty, Boise State

| website = {{url|https://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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.smu.edu/DoakWalkerAward/AboutUs/SelectionCommittee|title = Selection Committee - SMU}} Recipients receive a bronze sculpture of Doak Walker, designed by artist Blair Buswell.

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.

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

class="wikitable"

style="background:#ffe6bd; text-align:center;" |

| colspan="5" | Made at least one Pro Bowl during NFL career

bgcolor="#e5e5e5"\| Year	bgcolor="#e5e5e5" \| Winner	bgcolor="#e5e5e5"\| School	bgcolor="#e5e5e5"\|Ref
class="wikitable sortable"
1990	{{sortname\|Greg\|Lewis\|dab=running back}}	Washington
1991	{{sortname\|Trevor\|Cobb}}	Rice
style="background:#ffe6bd" \| 1992	{{sortname\|Garrison\|Hearst}}	Georgia
1993	{{sortname\|Byron "Bam"\|Morris\|Bam Morris}}	Texas Tech
1994	{{sortname\|Rashaan\|Salaam}}	Colorado
style="background:#ffe6bd" \| 1995	{{sortname\|Eddie\|George}}	Ohio State
1996	{{sortname\|Byron\|Hanspard}}	Texas Tech (2)
style="background:#ffe6bd" \| 1997	rowspan="2" \| {{sortname\|Ricky\|Williams}}	Texas	rowspan="2" \|
style="background:#ffe6bd" \| 1998	Texas (2)
1999	{{sortname\|Ron\|Dayne}}	Wisconsin	{{cite news\|title=Dayne Wins Walker, Maxwell\|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dayne-wins-walker-maxwell/\|access-date=July 24, 2021\|work=CBS News\|date=December 9, 1999}}
style="background:#ffe6bd" \| 2000	{{sortname\|LaDainian\|Tomlinson}}	TCU	{{cite web\|title=TCU's LaDainian Tomlinson Named Winner of the 2000 Doak Walker Award Presented by Vectrix\|url=https://gofrogs.com/news/2000/12/9/TCU_s_LaDainian_Tomlinson_Named_Winner_of_the_2000_Doak_Walker_Award_Presented_by_Vectrix\|access-date=July 24, 2021\|publisher=Texas Christian University Athletics\|date=December 9, 2000}}
2001	{{sortname\|Luke\|Staley}}	BYU
style="background:#ffe6bd" \| 2002	{{sortname\|Larry\|Johnson\|dab=running back}}	Penn State
2003	{{sortname\|Chris\|Perry\|dab=American football}}	Michigan
2004	{{sortname\|Cedric\|Benson}}	Texas (3)
2005	{{sortname\|Reggie\|Bush}}	USC
2006	rowspan="2" \| {{sortname\|Darren\|McFadden}}	Arkansas	rowspan="2" \| {{cite news \|date=December 7, 2007 \|title=Tebow takes Maxwell, O'Brien; McFadden wins Walker \|url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/news/story?id=3144727 \|access-date=January 25, 2024 \|work=ESPN.com}}
2007	Arkansas (2)
2008	{{sortname\|Shonn\|Greene}}	Iowa	{{cite news \|last=Rittenberg \|first=Adam \|date=December 11, 2008 \|title=Iowa's Greene wins Doak Walker Award \|url=https://www.espn.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/1262 \|access-date=January 25, 2024 \|work=ESPN.com}}
2009	{{sortname\|Toby\|Gerhart}}	Stanford	{{cite news\|title=Stanford's Toby Gerhart wins Doak Walker Award\|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/2009/12/10/stanfords-toby-gerhart-wins-doak-walker-award/\|access-date=December 13, 2016\|work=The Mercury News\|date=December 10, 2009}}
2010	{{sortname\|LaMichael\|James}}	Oregon	{{cite news \|date=December 9, 2010 \|title=Oregon RB LaMichael James wins Doak Walker Award \|url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-oregon-rb-lamichael-james-wins-doak-walker-award-2010dec09-story.html \|access-date=January 25, 2024 \|work=San Diego Union-Tribune \|agency=Associated Press}}
2011	{{sortname\|Trent\|Richardson}}	Alabama	{{cite news \|date=December 8, 2011 \|title=Alabama's Trent Richardson wins Doak Walker Award \|url=http://www.espn.com/espn/wire/_/section/ncf/id/7333976 \|access-date=January 25, 2024 \|work=ESPN.com \|agency=Associated Press}}
2012	{{sortname\|Montee\|Ball}}	Wisconsin (2)	{{cite news\|last=Temple\|first=Jesse\|title=Wisconsin's Ball wins Doak Walker Award\|url=http://www.foxsports.com/wisconsin/story/wisconsins-ball-wins-doak-walker-award-120612\|access-date=December 13, 2016\|work=Fox Sports\|date=December 6, 2012}}
2013	{{sortname\|Andre\|Williams\|Andre Williams (American football)}}	Boston College	{{cite news\|last=Hightower\|first=Kyle\|title=BC's Andre Williams Wins Doak Walker Award\|url=http://collegefootball.ap.org/article/bcs-andre-williams-wins-doak-walker-award-0\|access-date=December 13, 2016\|agency=Associated Press\|date=December 12, 2013}}
style="background:#ffe6bd" \| 2014	{{sortname\|Melvin\|Gordon}}	Wisconsin (3)	{{cite news\|last=Potrykus\|first=Jeff\|title=Melvin Gordon wins Doak Walker Award as top running back\|url=http://archive.jsonline.com/sports/badgers/melvin-gordon-wins-doak-walker-award-as-top-running-back-b99407441z1-285562811.html\|access-date=December 13, 2016\|work=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel\|date=December 11, 2014}}
style="background:#ffe6bd" \| 2015	Derrick Henry	Alabama (2)	{{Cite web \|last=Galloway \|first=Jason \|title=Badgers running back Jonathan Taylor becomes 4th Wisconsin player to win Doak Walker Award \|url=https://madison.com/sports/college/football/badgers-running-back-jonathan-taylor-becomes-th-wisconsin-player-to/article_4db7c942-a5f2-5d4b-840f-89131c7a61a4.html \|access-date=2018-12-07 \|website=madison.com \|language=en}}
2016	D'Onta Foreman	Texas (4)
2017	Bryce Love	Stanford (2)
style="background:#ffe6bd" \|2018	rowspan="2" \| Jonathan Taylor	Wisconsin (4)	rowspan="2" \| {{cite web\|url=https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2866773-wisconsins-jonathan-taylor-wins-2019-doak-walker-award-as-nations-best-rb\|title=Wisconsin's Jonathan Taylor Wins 2019 Doak Walker Award as Nation's Best RB\|first=Joseph\|last=Zucker\|date=December 12, 2019\|website=Bleacher Report}}
style="background:#ffe6bd" \|2019	Wisconsin (5)
style="background:#ffe6bd" \|2020	Najee Harris	Alabama (3)	{{cite web\|url=https://www.si.com/college/alabama/bamacentral/alabama-rb-najee-harris-wins-2020-doak-walker-award\|title=Alabama RB Najee Harris Wins 2020 Doak Walker Award\|first=Tyler\|last=Martin\|date=January 7, 2021\|website=Sports Illustrated}}
2021	Kenneth Walker III	Michigan State
2022	Bijan Robinson	Texas (5)
2023	Ollie Gordon II	Oklahoma State
2024 \|Ashton Jeanty \|Boise State	https://www.ktvb.com/article/sports/ncaa/ncaaf/boise-state-football/ashton-jeanty-doak-walker-award-best-running-back-in-college-football/277-50f78ed8-c231-4066-8f4f-6d7d5d77587d

References

;General

[https://web.archive.org/web/20130505000928/http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/awards/walker.html Doak Walker Award Winners]. Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
[https://www.espn.com/college-football/awards/_/id/5 College Football Awards – Doak Walker Award]. ESPN.com. Retrieved December 13, 2016.

;Footnotes

External links

{{official website|http://smu.edu/doakwalker/}}

Category:College football national player awards

Category:Awards established in 1990