Alabama’s Derrick Henry is the first running back since 2009 to win the Heisman Trophy, beating out Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey and Clemson’s Deshaun Watson.

Alabama running back Derrick Henry won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, capping a junior campaign that saw him rush for an SEC-record 1,986 yards on 339 carries and score a conference record-tying 23 touchdowns.

Henry is the first running back to claim the Heisman since 2009, when Crimson Tide running back Mark Ingram became the first Alabama player to win the award. In 2009, Ingram edged runner-up Toby Gerhart — a Stanford running back — by a single percentage point, the narrowest margin of victory in the history of the award.

Henry bested Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey and Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson. On Thursday night, Henry also beat McCaffrey and Watson for the the Doak Walker Award as the country’s top running back and became the first running back since 2002 to win the Maxwell Award, which is given to college football’s player of the year. He is the first running back to win Maxwell Award and Heisman Trophy since Ron Dayne in 1999.

The 6-foot-3, 242-pound junior from Yulee, Florida led the country in carries, rushing yards, rushing touchdowns and yards after contact. He was second among Power 5 backs in carries of 25 yards or more. He’s a key cog in the Crimson Tide’s offense, representing more than 36 percent of its total yards and 42 percent of its total touchdowns.

Henry will power No. 2 Alabama into the College Football Playoff semifinals against No. 3 Michigan State. They meet Dec. 31 in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic in Arlington, Texas.

SOURCE: ESPN
ESPN’s Alex Scarborough and ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this report.