Doak Walker Award


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 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

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, Darren McFadden and Jonathan Taylor are the only three players to win the award more than once.

Winners

YearWinnerSchoolRef
1990Washington
1991Rice
1992Georgia
1993Texas Tech [Red Raiders football|Texas Tech]
1994Colorado
1995Ohio State
1996Texas Tech
1997Texas
1998Texas
1999Wisconsin
2000TCU [Horned Frogs football|TCU]
2001BYU
2002Penn State
2003Michigan
2004Texas
2005USC
2006Arkansas
2007Arkansas
2008Iowa
2009Stanford
2010Oregon
2011Alabama [Crimson Tide football|Alabama]
2012Wisconsin
2013Boston College
2014Wisconsin
2015Derrick HenryAlabama
2016D'Onta ForemanTexas
2017Bryce LoveStanford
2018Jonathan TaylorWisconsin
2019Jonathan TaylorWisconsin
2020Najee HarrisAlabama
2021Kenneth Walker IIIMichigan State
2022Bijan RobinsonTexas
2023Ollie Gordon IIOklahoma State
2024Ashton JeantyBoise State
2025Jeremiyah LoveNotre Dame [Fighting Irish football|Notre Dame]