Since 1990 the Doak Walker Award honors the top

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

in college football in the United States. It is named in honor of

Doak Walker Ewell Doak Walker II (January 1, 1927 – September 27, 1998) was an American football player. He played college football as a halfback at Southern Methodist University (SMU), where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1948. Walker then played professio ...

, a former running back who played for the

SMU Mustangs The SMU Mustangs are the athletic teams that represent Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas, United States. The Mustangs were founded in 1911 and joined the Southwest Conference, competing against Baylor, Rice, Texas, Texa ...

from 1945 to 1949 and in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

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. To qualify for the award, the following criteria must be met: * Candidate plays predominantly at the running back position and has made extraordinary contributions to his team. * Candidate is enrolled in a degree program, is in good academic standing and is on schedule to graduate. * Candidate holds a record of good citizenship within and beyond the athletic sphere. * Candidate has demonstrated a record of leadership. * Candidate exhibits the characteristics of sportsmanship and fair play associated with Doak Walker. The award recipient receives a sculpture of Doak Walker, cast in bronze and mounted on a wooden base. It was created by artist Blair Buswell, who has sculpted the busts of more than a dozen inductees in the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

Notable Accomplishments

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

running backs won four times in eight years from 2012 to 2019. Wisconsin and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

are tied with the most wins with 5 a piece.

Ricky Williams Errick Miron (born Errick Lynne Williams Jr.; May 21, 1977) is an American former football running back who played 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and one season in the Canadian Football League (CFL). After playing baseball ...

(

- 1997, 1998),

Darren McFadden Darren McFadden (born August 27, 1987) is a former American football running back. He played college football for the Arkansas Razorbacks and was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the first round with the fourth overall pick of the 2008 NFL Dra ...

(

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

- 2006, 2007) and Jonathan Taylor (

- 2018, 2019) are the only three players to win the award more than once.

Winners

References

;General
Doak Walker Award Winners
Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
College Football Awards - Doak Walker Award
ESPN.com. Retrieved December 13, 2016. ;Footnotes

External links

* {{College football award navbox College football national player awards Awards established in 1990