Does Derrick Henry think he’s Alabama’s greatest running back?

Derrick Henry broke the Alabama records for single-season and career rushing yards. He also has the most rushing yards in one season and in his career among Crimson Tide alumni in the NFL. Does that make Henry the greatest running back in the history of Alabama football? Henry was asked that question during an appearance on “The Pivot” podcast.

“I just feel like I made my mark when I had the opportunity,” Henry said, “because when I came in, I didn’t play my first year. And then my second year, it was all right. I would say it was mediocre. I didn’t have a year like I had the next year.

“And I felt like Shaun (Alexander), he laid the foundation for running backs. Even Bobby Humphrey. I could go on and on all about the Alabama running backs. I always say Shaun’s the greatest because of his body of work and what he did, and he didn’t have what we had at Bama in that whole era with coach (Nick) Saban, and the guys he brought in — first-round picks. It’s just crazy. So I’ll always say Shaun is the greatest Alabama running back of all-time.

“And Mark (Ingram) is the best in the Saban era because he started it. That’s who it started off with. He was the first one to win the Heisman and really set it off for the running backs, and so I’ll just say I made my mark and let the people decide.”

When Henry ran for an SEC single-season record of 2,219 yards in 2015, he won the Heisman Trophy, helped Alabama win the CFP national championship, set Alabama’s single-season mark and became the Tide’s career rushing leader.

At the time, Alexander held the Alabama career record with 3,565 yards, and Henry’s big season pushed his career total to 3,591 yards in three years. But Alexander ran for more yards than that in his four-year career. Because the NCAA did not include bowl numbers in official statistics until 2002, Alexander’s record is missing 315 rushing yards that he amassed in three bowls that would be counted for him today.

That would push Alexander’s career rushing total to 3,880 yards.

Najee Harris is now the Crimson Tide’s career rushing leader with 3,843 yards from 2017 through 2020. But he still trails Alexander’s unofficial total.

Alexander still holds the school single-game record with 291 rushing yards in a 26-0 victory over LSU on Nov. 9, 1996.

After joining the Seattle Seahawks as the 19th selection in the 2000 NFL Draft, Alexander ran for 9,453 yards in nine seasons.

Alexander reached his top total in 2005, when he ran for 1,880 yards and set an NFL record with 27 rushing touchdowns. He earned the NFL MVP Award that season as the Seahawks reached Super Bowl XL

Alexander had replaced Wilbur Jackson as the Alabama alumnus with the most NFL rushing yards in the 13th game of his fourth season in 2003.

Henry replaced Alexander as the Crimson Tide’s career NFL rushing leader in his most recent game. In the final game of the 2023 season, Henry ran for 153 yards in the Tennessee Titans’ 28-20 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Jan. 7 to push his career yardage total to 9,502.

Henry had surpassed Alexander’s 1,880-yard showing as the best by a former Alabama player in 2020, when he became the eight player to reach 2,000 rushing yards in a season with 2,027.

Ingram became Alabama’s first Heisman Trophy winner in 2009, when the Crimson Tide captured the BCS national championship in Saban’s third season as coach.

Ingram ran for 1,658 yards in 2009 to break Alabama’s single-season record, which had been established by Humphrey in 1986 with 1,471 (not including 159 yards in the Tide’s 28-6 victory over Washington in the Sun Bowl).

In 2011, Ingram became the first first-round running back from Alabama in the NFL Draft since Alexander and went on to compile 8,111 rushing yards in the pros.

Ingram was followed as a first-rounder by Tide running backs Trent Richardson in 2012, Josh Jacobs in 2019, Najee Harris in 2022 and Jahmyr Gibbs in 2023. Henry was a second-round pick in 2016. Other Saban era running backs drafted from Alabama include Glen Coffee in 2009, Eddie Lacy in 2013, T.J. Yeldon and Jalston Fowler in 2015, Kenyan Drake in 2016, Bo Scarbrough in 2018, Damien Harris in 2019 and Brian Robinson Jr. in 2022.

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Does Derrick Henry think he’s Alabama’s greatest running back?

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