Derrick Henry

Henry's 2015 is the running-back season the era will not produce again — 395 carries, 2,219 rushing yards, 28 touchdowns, an SEC single-season record that broke Bo Jackson's, and a national title that was decided in Glendale on a 75-yard touchdown that ended the Clemson comeback. Saban put the offense in his hands the week after Tennessee in October, and from then to the title game Henry averaged 192 carries a month. The body type (6'3", 247) was the argument against him as a Heisman candidate until November, and then the body type was the argument for him in every fourth quarter. The Titans took him 45th overall, which the rest of that draft class never lived down. He is the era's bookmark for the moment when a program could still win a national title with a running back as the offensive identity.