30 best Alabama football players to play for Nick Saban
By Nick Villano
Best Alabama football players under Nick Saban: 2. Derrick Henry
Derrick Henry is the best running back in the NFL today. He took a little bit of time to get acclimated to the NFL, but once he did he dominated the league. That sounds familiar to some of the heads of the recruitment of Henry to Alabama. He was a five-star athlete, the top athlete in the country coming out of high school. Henry went to Tuscaloosa as a sure thing, and he eventually lived up to that hype.
Henry only got 36 carries in his true freshman year, and he averaged more than 10 yards per carry. He might have been behind T.J. Yeldon and Kenyan Drake on the depth chart, but every time he touched the ball he made a big play.
In his sophomore year, he shared the backfield with Yeldon, but it was clear he was the better player. He ended up finishing the season with 990 yards and 11 touchdowns. On top of that, he had 133 yards receiving and two more touchdowns. It was a great year for a player that was only destined for better things.
In his final year at Alabama, Henry had one of the best seasons in Alabama history. Yeldon left for the NFL, so the backfield was only Henry’s. He had 147 yards rushing and three touchdowns in the first game of the season against Wisconsin. He had touchdowns in every single game that season and he scored multiple touchdowns in nine games. He was best in big games. He had 148 yards against then-No. 8 Georgia. He had 236 yards against then No. 9 Texas A&M. Against the second-best team in the country LSU, he had 210 yards and three touchdowns.
It just kept going as Henry had 189 yards and a touchdown in the SEC Championship Game. In the National Championship Game, he had 158 yards and three touchdowns. Henry would end up winning the Heisman Trophy after 2,219 yards rushing in one season. No player in the history of Alabama football rushed for this many yards. It was the sixth-best rushing performance of all time. Henry was the best running back to play Alabama football, and that is seriously saying something.