🏈 Sorry, Herschel, but Derrick Henry owns the SEC's greatest rushing season by any measure

[Kevin Scarbinsky |]

No one's saying Henry is better than Walker, but no one should try to diminish what Henry's done in putting together the single greatest rushing season in SEC history.

The fellowship of the miserable came out in force late Saturday afternoon when Derrick Henry broke a hallowed record held by a sainted figure for 34 years.

The SEC list of single-season rushing leaders officially now looks like this.

Derrick Henry (Alabama) 2015: 1,986 yards.
Herschel Walker (Georgia) 1981: 1,891 yards

But, but, but, but.

Doubters and haters emerged quickly from the social media shadows looking for a way to throw shade on the historic accomplishment of the Alabama junior running back, and they thought they'd found it.

More games! Simple math! Tell Greg Sankey to go get an asterisk!

There's only one problem with that argument. The Georgia fans and anti-Alabama voices making it are barking up the wrong equation.

Yes, it's true that Georgia played 11 regular-season games in 1981. Alabama has played 12 regular-season games plus the SEC Championship Game this season. Henry has indeed played more games.

It's also true that bowl statistics were not included in season statistics in 1981, and Walker ran for 84 yards in a Sugar Bowl loss to Pitt to conclude the 1981 season. So his season total actually was 1,975 yards.

Or 11 yards fewer than Henry's accumulated to this point.


If that weren't enough to end the argument in Henry's favor, consider this: Including his 25 rushing attempts in the bowl game, Walker carried the ball 410 times to gain his 1,975 yards during the 1981 season.

Including the SEC Championship Game, Henry has amassed his 1,986 yards on 339 carries. Or 71 fewer carries than Walker. Put it another way, and Henry's 5.9 yards per carry is a full yard better better than Walker's 4.8.

Give Henry 71 more carries - which Nick Saban might be tempted to do in the Cotton Bowl semifinal against Michigan State - and Henry might pile on another 400 yards.

OK. That's hyperbole. But just barely.

Bottom line: Henry has gained 11 more yards than Walker on 71 fewer carries in one more game. Oh, and Henry has run for 23 touchdowns so far this season, matching the SEC record of Tim Tebow and Tre Mason. In 1981, including the Sugar Bowl, Walker ran for 20 touchdowns.

Look. No one's saying Henry is better than Walker, who stacked three straight dominating seasons in the SEC before turning pro. At the same time, no one should try to diminish what Henry's accomplished this year, and what he's done is put together the single greatest rushing season in SEC history.

The numbers don't lie, and they're on Henry's side. And he's not done yet.

Continue reading...

 

[Sgt. Lincoln Osiris]

Good Lord. I've hated on Scarbinsky in the past. But, he's really been writing some good stuff lately.

Great read.

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[OldPlayer]

Another example of why it's difficult to compare one era to another. Henry has the record, no ifs, ands or buts. Records were made to be broken. Offenses were different, defenses were different. Congrats to Henry.

 

[Mr. Pink]

To be honest, I think it's even more astonishing that it was broken in this era. With the heavy emphasis on passing the ball, and the common 2-3 running backs utilized, it's quite a feat to get to 2000 yards (I'm going to assume he gets there in the first quarter).

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[BamaFan334]

To be honest, I think it's even more astonishing that it was broken in this era. With the heavy emphasis on passing the ball, and the common 2-3 running backs utilized, it's quite a feat to get to 2000 yards (I'm going to assume he gets there in the first quarter).

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Man, one more carry against Charleston Southern and he may have gotten 2,000.

 

[It Takes Eleven]

Good Lord. I've hated on Scarbinsky in the past. But, he's really been writing some good stuff lately.

Great read.

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Don't get sucked in. He'll be the first punk off the wagon when it gets a little out of balance.

 

[RhinoGuy]

So you guys think Henry is better than Herschel?

If you could pick one guy to be on your team. Would it be Herschel, Henry, or Bo?

 

[Mr. Pink]

So you guys think Henry is better than Herschel?

If you could pick one guy to be on your team. Would it be Herschel, Henry, or Bo?

Bo

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[#80]

Hail King Henry !!

 

[Snout Spout]

So you guys think Henry is better than Herschel?

If you could pick one guy to be on your team. Would it be Herschel, Henry, or Bo?

1. Henry
2. Herschel
3. Bo

 

[RollllTide!]

Henry, but I would have included Cooper.

 

[JoshB]

Who knocked Scab upside the head with the logic stick?

 

[psychojoe]

Don't get sucked in. He'll be the first punk off the wagon when it gets a little out of balance.

Actually he and Finebaum will probably do a tandem jumo off the bandwagon when that happens.

 

[EdfromT'town]

So you guys think Henry is better than Herschel?

If you could pick one guy to be on your team. Would it be Herschel, Henry, or Bo?

No Question,
1. Henry
2. Lacy
3. Ingram
4. Trent Richardson--I know he doesn't look as good in the pros but I'm talking college ball.
5-12 other elite Bama running backs (Humphrey, Williams, ...many others)
13-205. Any other heisman winners, SEC heroes not from a Bama team.
206. West coast punks.

I might be bias.

 

[BamaFan334]

I'm sorry, but how can any of you say with a straight face you'd take Henry over Herschel Walker, a guy thought by many to be the best college football player ever? Maybe one of the best athletes ever, and one that could still run the 40 in under 4.6. I'm a Henry fan and very proud of his accomplishments this year, but I'd take Walker over Henry any day.

 

[planomateo]

I'm sorry, but how can any of you say with a straight face you'd take Henry over Herschel Walker, a guy thought by many to be the best college football player ever? Maybe one of the best athletes ever, and one that could still run the 40 in under 4.6. I'm a Henry fan and very proud of his accomplishments this year, but I'd take Walker over Henry any day.

My opinion, they played in two completely different times, impossible to compare the two. The type of football played in the early 80's is vastly different than the football played today. I appreciate them both for being very talented. I will say this, the Dallas Cowboys made one hell of a trade .

What would Derrick do to defenses back then at his current size/speed? What would Herschel do in today's game (people are faster and bigger than they were then).

 

[BamaFan334]

My opinion, they played in two completely different times, impossible to compare the two. The type of football played in the early 80's is vastly different than the football played today. I appreciate them both for being very talented. I will say this, the Dallas Cowboys made one hell of a trade .

What would Derrick do to defenses back then at his current size/speed? What would Herschel do in today's game (people are faster and bigger than they were then).

Technically you could say that about any comparison about the guys you grew up watching and the guys I'm growing up watching. The thing is, Herschel could still do it today. He still has elite speed and is fighting professionally in MMA, so his skills and ability could easily be translated to today. If anything, the comparison is biased to Henry because the training equipment, health programs, diets, and new ways of training high end athletes are very different than the early 80's, 90's, and even the early 2000's. Hell, Walker was 6'1/6'2-225, not terribly much smaller than Henry. Walker did it for three straight years, Henry has done it for one hell of a year and one other almost 1,000 yard season. Sure, he shared carries, but Walker came off the bench and took the lion's share of the carries due to his production and demanded that with his results. I just think many people are quick to say they'd take Henry over Herschel simply because he's an Alabama player and had a hell of a year, but looking at the entire picture from an unbiased standpoint, Herschel clearly jumps off the page. I mean, anyone in the sporting industry would probably tell you the same thing.

 

[planomateo]

Honestly, I'd love to see a breakdown of Walker's stats by game, distance per run, etc. I have looked around for a bit and haven't found anything that gives his stats per game.

With regards to "Herschel clearly jumps off the page", I don't see it that way - can you explain that to me? I see Derrick having more receiving yards in fewer receptions, more rushing yards in fewer carries, and more TD's in fewer carries. I also see that Herschel was relied on alot more as he was running the ball ~35 times a game vs Derrick at ~26 times a game. What would Henry have it he ran for 9 more carries a game?

I haven't even said who I'd take over the other

[parseHTML]
<PRE>
Rush Rece Scri
Year School Conf Class Pos G Att Yds Avg TD Rec Yds Avg TD Plays Yds Avg TD
1980 Georgia SEC RB 11 274 1616 5.9 15 7 70 10.0 0 281 1686 6.0 15
1981 Georgia SEC RB 11 385 1891 4.9 18 14 84 6.0 2 399 1975 4.9 20
1982 Georgia SEC RB 11 335 1752 5.2 16 5 89 17.8 1 340 1841 5.4 17
Career Georgia 994 5259 5.3 49 26 243 9.3 3 1020 5502 5.4 52
</PRE>


<PRE>
Rush Rece Scri
Year School Conf Class Pos G Att Yds Avg TD Rec Yds Avg TD Plays Yds Avg TD
*2013 Alabama SEC FR RB 10 35 382 10.9 3 1 61 61.0 1 36 443 12.3 4
*2014 Alabama SEC SO RB 14 172 990 5.8 11 5 133 26.6 2 177 1123 6.3 13
2015 Alabama SEC JR RB 13 339 1986 5.9 23 10 97 9.7 0 349 2083 6.0 23
Career Alabama 546 3358 6.2 37 16 291 18.2 3 562 3649 6.5 40
</PRE>
[/parseHTML]

 

[bamachine]

Agree that you cannot compare one era to another. You can barely compare two backs in the same year, they faced different defenses, played in different offenses, had different blockers, etc.

Just congrats to Henry for now owning both the national HS rushing record and the single season SEC rushing record.

 

[BamaFan334]

Honestly, I'd love to see a breakdown of Walker's stats by game, distance per run, etc. I have looked around for a bit and haven't found anything that gives his stats per game.

With regards to "Herschel clearly jumps off the page", I don't see it that way - can you explain that to me? I see Derrick having more receiving yards in fewer receptions, more rushing yards in fewer carries, and more TD's in fewer carries. I also see that Herschel was relied on alot more as he was running the ball ~35 times a game vs Derrick at ~26 times a game. What would Henry have it he ran for 9 more carries a game?

I haven't even said who I'd take over the other

[parseHTML]
<PRE>
Rush Rece Scri
Year School Conf Class Pos G Att Yds Avg TD Rec Yds Avg TD Plays Yds Avg TD
1980 Georgia SEC RB 11 274 1616 5.9 15 7 70 10.0 0 281 1686 6.0 15
1981 Georgia SEC RB 11 385 1891 4.9 18 14 84 6.0 2 399 1975 4.9 20
1982 Georgia SEC RB 11 335 1752 5.2 16 5 89 17.8 1 340 1841 5.4 17
Career Georgia 994 5259 5.3 49 26 243 9.3 3 1020 5502 5.4 52
</PRE>


<PRE>
Rush Rece Scri
Year School Conf Class Pos G Att Yds Avg TD Rec Yds Avg TD Plays Yds Avg TD
*2013 Alabama SEC FR RB 10 35 382 10.9 3 1 61 61.0 1 36 443 12.3 4
*2014 Alabama SEC SO RB 14 172 990 5.8 11 5 133 26.6 2 177 1123 6.3 13
2015 Alabama SEC JR RB 13 339 1986 5.9 23 10 97 9.7 0 349 2083 6.0 23
Career Alabama 546 3358 6.2 37 16 291 18.2 3 562 3649 6.5 40
</PRE>
[/parseHTML]

Considering he is widely considered the best player in college football history, I think that's enough to jump off the page along with his many highlight reel runs and statistics. He was a three time All-American, national Champion, and Heisman Trophy winner that probably should have won it twice and maybe a third time. I was not alive to live through his years, so I have no first hand experience, only what I have seen through highlights, read in books, and heard from sports analyst. Once again, Henry had a killer year that absolutely carried us offensively, but I don't think anyone will be mentioning him, Herschel Walker, and Bo Jackson in the same sentence when you talk about greatest ever or who you would take in your backfield all time from the SEC.