Danny Kanell: Derrick Henry is not the best RB in college football
Derrick Henry has had a monster year.
He leads the nation in rushing. He leads the country in rushing touchdowns. He’s led Alabama to the SEC title and a likely spot in the College Football Playoff. There’s a good chance he’ll win the Heisman Trophy.
But one person says Henry is not the best running back in college football.
While Henry was in the midst of rushing for 189 yards and a touchdown during the Crimson Tide’s win over No. 18 Florida in the SEC Championship Game, ESPN analyst Danny Kanell tweeted out a message saying he’s not the nation’s best running back.
Derrick Henry is gonna win the Heisman and he’s had a great year. But the best RB in the country resides in Tallahassee.
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) December 6, 2015
In Kanell’s opinion, the best running back is Dalvin Cook of Florida State. Cook has rushed for 1,658 yards and 18 touchdowns in 11 games for the Seminoles this season. He averages 7.9 yards per carry. He’s also caught 22 passes for 218 yards.
Henry has rushed for 1,986 yards and 23 touchdowns in 13 games for the Crimson Tide. He averages 6.1 yards per carry. He’s also caught 10 passes for 97 yards.
Cook is averaging 150.3 yards rushing per game, while Henry averages 149.8 yards.
Of course, Kanell was an honorable mention All-American quarterback at Florida State, so his opinion might be somewhat biased.
LOL. Roll Tide.
Danny Kanell and his idiot comments again….. smh.
Lol yeah Kanell is on crack too. Henry is the best followed by Fournete. Cook is probably 5th or 6th maybe.
Who gives two hot damns about that FSU biased turds opinion? Now if there was a Heisman given to the years best woman beater, than by all means it’s Cooke’s
Fournette is the best easily. Give him the OL of these other guys and he’s perhaps one of the best of all time.
That’s not a totally unreasonable claim. Fournette is a superb running back dealing with a weak O-line. In fairness, though, you have to acknowledge that Henry picks up a lot of yards after he has been hit.
Yessir, Papa … very fair comment.
Oh absolutely. That’s why they’ll “give it” to Henry. DB.
As they should. How many times has he run through a defender?
“Of course, Kanell was an honorable mention All-American quarterback at Florida State, so his opinion might be somewhat biased.”
Or maybe he doesn’t think leading the nation in carries is as impressive in leading the country in 20 yard runs, yards per carry, yards per game, in fewer games.
FSU leads in most rapes per game, that’s for sure.
And if FSU played Bama’s schedule, Cook wouldn’t have those numbers…you have to look at the whole picture, not just stats.
FSU played 4 of the top 25 run defenses in the country. Bama played 3. FSU faced 5 top 25 defenses this year. Bama faced 3. So what “whole picture” are you talking about?
Go back to your ACC site, blackblack. 1 of your 4 “top run D,” is Boston College, right? ACC top to bottom is a joke compared to SEC.
Black, they’re both great backs but why do you have to lie about the stats? I’m looking at the top 50 NCAA team rushing defense stats and Henry has played against 4 in the top 25 while Cook has also played against 4. The list only shows the top 50 rushing defenses but Henry has played against 8 of the top 50 and Cook has played against 6 of the top 50!
They rested Henry against Charlotte and only gave him 9 carries. If he would have had 20-30 carries he would have over 2100 yards rushing and probably another 2-3 TDs.
Danny Kanell your dillusional….if you thinks there’s another running back in the country better than Derrick Henry then your as full of S**t as a Christmas turkey….
Go to Hell Kanell!! And take that idiot Joey Galloway with you! Roll Tide and Kiss the Ring and Derrick’s Heisman Trophy while you’re kissing my A$$!!!
Well Henry got more yards against Florida than dalvin “wife beater” cook, so there’s that.
6 more yards on 18 more carries.
Nick Chubb.
Lol
It’s all relative. He’s very good, but he doesn’t win if he’s playing at Vanderbilt or Kentucky. If I had the best o-line in college football and I got to pick any running back in the nation, I’d pick Fournette.
Why does espn hire these idiots..
chubb and fournette are both better than cook. henry is a BEAST, period
and Bama’s o-line isn’t that great this year…if it was the Bama O-line mark ingram had in 2009, Henry would have 2500 yards! lol
Ugh..no…
Cook’s a beast also.So is McCaffrey.
My favorite part of the article was “Danny Kanell thinks”. I’ll laugh about that one a while.
Wish there was a up vote button
Danny Kanell is an idiot and a ridiculously unabashed homer for FSU. His jealousy and resulting altered reality is in line with that of BIg Game Bob Stoops. D Henry is the best back in the country and I have been saying that for 2 years now. When a UT fan is recognizing an Alabama player, it is legit.
Henry is a good back, but I’ll take Cook any day of the week. He’s not as big or strong as Henry, but no back is. However Cook is still a powerful runner, and he’s much faster, better at making people miss in the open field, and more versatile/dynamic overall. Conference doesn’t make a sh*t; you don’t have to play in the SEC to be the best player. Henry’s line is leaps and bounds better than Cook’s, and Cook getting hit more often behind the LOS proves that. Yet when he gets to the LOS before getting touched he averages almost 11 ypc, almost 4 ypc more than Henry. Not to mention they have no passing game, and he’s played the majority of the year with one healthy hamstring. Everyone knows that Saban’s teams at Bama always have one of, if not the, top run blocking lines in the nation. Henry is a product of that like the running backs before him–who have gone on to mediocre careers in the NFL. Put Fournette and Cook in Bama’s backfield and they easily put up better numbers. Both will be better pros than Henry. I apologize to the people who will undoubtedly be offended by this.
Where will he be on December 31st?
What’s that got to do with their respective skills? It’s certainly not Cook’s fault they lost 2 games.
Opinions vary and he’s welcome to his. It is apparent that Derrick is a product of good parenting/upbringing as well as good coaching and the sky is the limit in his life, with or without football.
Kanell is not only biased,he’s an iodiot,just listen to him talk,always goes against the grain.
Somewhat biased? Lol, he was an average QB and and he’s a below average tv personality. Espn would be better off bringing back Mark May and Lou Holtz and dumping dumb and dumber, Kanell and Galloway.
Danny Kanell is just an Alabama hater. By his comments, I am assuming that Dalvin cook broke ACC records.