Doak Walker Award
In-game article clicks load inline without leaving the challenge.
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. Recipients receive a bronze sculpture of Doak Walker, designed by artist Blair Buswell. The most recent winner of the award was Jeremiyah Love of Notre Dame.
Notable accomplishments
Wisconsin Badgers running backs won four times in eight years from 2012 to 2019. The Badgers and Texas Longhorns are tied with the most wins with five apiece.
Ricky Williams from Texas (1997, 1998), Darren McFadden from the Arkansas Razorbacks (2006, 2007) and Jonathan Taylor from Wisconsin (2018, 2019) are the only three players to win the award twice.
Winners
| Made at least one Pro Bowl during NFL career. |
| Year | Winner | School | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Greg Lewis | Washington | |
| 1991 | Trevor Cobb | Rice | |
| 1992 | Garrison Hearst | Georgia | |
| 1993 | Bam Morris | Texas Tech | |
| 1994 | Rashaan Salaam | Colorado | |
| 1995 | Eddie George | Ohio State | |
| 1996 | Byron Hanspard | Texas Tech (2) | |
| 1997 | Ricky Williams | Texas | |
| 1998 | Ricky Williams (2) | Texas (2) | |
| 1999 | Ron Dayne | Wisconsin | |
| 2000 | LaDainian Tomlinson | TCU | |
| 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 | |
| 2007 | Darren McFadden (2) | Arkansas (2) | |
| 2008 | Shonn Greene | Iowa | |
| 2009 | Toby Gerhart | Stanford | |
| 2010 | LaMichael James | Oregon | |
| 2011 | Trent Richardson | Alabama | |
| 2012 | Montee Ball | Wisconsin (2) | |
| 2013 | Andre Williams | Boston College | |
| 2014 | Melvin Gordon | Wisconsin (3) | |
| 2015 | Derrick Henry | Alabama (2) | |
| 2016 | D'Onta Foreman | Texas (4) | |
| 2017 | Bryce Love | Stanford (2) | |
| 2018 | Jonathan Taylor | Wisconsin (4) | |
| 2019 | Jonathan Taylor (2) | Wisconsin (5) | |
| 2020 | Najee Harris | Alabama (3) | |
| 2021 | Kenneth Walker III | Michigan State | |
| 2022 | Bijan Robinson | Texas (5) | |
| 2023 | Ollie Gordon II | Oklahoma State | |
| 2024 | Ashton Jeanty | Boise State | |
| 2025 | Jeremiyah Love | Notre Dame |
General
- . Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
- . ESPN.com. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
Footnotes