Alabama Awards Tracker: As the Bryant Museum Once Boasted So Many Trophies, So Little Space

Tracking Alabama Crimson Tide football's major individual honors through the years

The haul continues, and is even more impressive when considering Alabama's individual honors at the national level before Nick Saban arrived in 2007. 

No one had won a Heisman Trophy before. Now with quarterback Bryce Young there have been four winners. 

The Maxwell Award? The total has gone from zero to five. 

The Walter Camp Award? A modest three. 

Of the 25 major college football awards that ESPN.com listed on its awards page, just five had been won by a Crimson Tide player.

No Chuck Bendarik or Bronko Nagurski trophy for defensive player of the year. No Fred Biletnikoff Award for the game's most outstanding receiver. No Doak Walker winners for having the best running back. 

A decade later the reverse was true. There were only five awards an Alabama player had never won: Davey O’Brien (quarterback), John Mackey (tight end), Lou Groza (kicker), Ray Guy (punter) and Paul Hornung (most versatile), which had only been around since 2010.

Two of those, the O'Brien and the Hornung, were secured in 2020. 

Alabama had won so many trophies during that the display cases on the second floor of the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility had seemingly been in a constant state of expansion. Just when the workers finished and had everything just the way they wanted someone would win another one.

Consequently, prior to the start of the 2018 season, Alabama opened up a new recruiting area in the Mal Moore Athletic Center, with one long wall dedicated national honors. Much like the way a lot of college football programs have a display with NFL helmets, and each player from the program who once played for that team listed, Alabama had trophies with all of its winners under Saban.

There were so many that one could take all of the trophies and play a game of checkers on a very, very large board (especially since the Joe Moore trophy weighed approximately 350 pounds. It took an offensive line to move).

Throw in some coaching honors and the Disney Spirit Award for overcoming adversity following the 2011 tornado and you’d have enough pieces to play chess.

That’s unparalleled in college football history.

Alabama was winning so many trophies that The Paul W. Bryant Museum had a little fun with a promotional video called “So many trophies, so little space,” that joked some were being used as paper weights and door stops.

And that was in 2012. 

Although Mark Ingram Jr. was Alabama's first Heisman Trophy winner, lineman Barrett Jones became the first to win so much hardware that he couldn’t hold all at once. Running back Derrick Henry was the second, and defensive lineman Jonathan Allen third third. 

In addition to the Bednarik and Nagurski honors, Allen also snared the Ted Hendricks Award as the game’s best defensive end, and the Rotary Lombardi Award as best lineman.

“He has a lot of great attributes as a player,” Saban said about Allen when he got Heisman buzz despite being a defensive player. “I think he would be a great candidate for it."

But then came 2020, the year that set the standard for all of college football in terms of individual accolades during the undefeated season that resulted in another national championships. If the tight end counted as part of the offensive line, every offensive starter minus one won a major national award.

College football may never see anything like that again. 

2020 Awards

Frank Broyles Award (top assistant coach): Steve Sarkisian

Joe Moore Award (outstanding offensive line unit): Alabama

Heisman Trophy: DeVonta Smith 

Paul Hornung Award (most versatile): DeVonta Smith

Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (best four-year quarterback): Mac Jones 

Rimington Award (best center): Landon Dickerson

Biletnikoff Award (best receiver): DeVonta Smith 

Maxwell Award (most outstanding player): DeVonta Smith 

Davey O'Brien Award (best quarterback): Mac Jones

Outland Trophy (best interior lineman): Alex Leatherwood

Doak Walker Award (running back): Najee Harris

Walter Camp Award (player of the year): DeVonta Smith

Associated Press Player of the Year: DeVonta Smith

Bear Bryant Coach of the Year: Nick Saban 

Manning Award (quarterback of the year): Mac Jones 

Alabama Crimson Tide National Awards

Heisman Trophy (Collegiate Player of the Year)

Alabama Athletics

2009 Mark Ingram (RB)

2015 Derrick Henry (RB)

2020 DeVonta Smith (WR)

2021 Bryce Young (QB)

Chuck Bednarik Award (Defensive Player of the Year)

2016 Jonathan Allen (DL)

2017 Minkah Fitzpatrick (CB)

Fred Biletnikoff Award (Outstanding Receiver)

2014 Amari Cooper

2018 Jerry Jeudy

2020 DeVonta Smith 

Butkus Award (Outstanding Linebacker)

1988 Derrick Thomas

2009 Rolando McClain

2013 C.J. Mosley

2016 Reuben Foster

Walter Camp Player of the Year Award (National Player of the Year)

Alabama Athletics

2016 Jonathan Allen

2018 Tua Tagovailoa

2020 DeVonta Smith

William Campbell Trophy (National Football Student-Athlete of the Year)

NFF

2012 Barrett Jones

Disney Spirit Award (Most Inspirational Player or Team)

2011 Alabama Football Team (accepted by Carson Tinker)

Ted Hendricks Award (Best Defensive End)

2016 Jonathan Allen 

Paul Hornung Award (Most versatile)

2020 DeVonta Smith

Lombardi Award (Outstanding Player)

1986 Cornelius Bennett (LB)

2016 Jonathan Allen (DL)

(From 1970-2015, the Lombardi Award was presented to the nation’s outstanding lineman/linebacker)

Lott Impact Trophy (Top Defensive Player)

2005 DeMeco Ryans (LB)

Manning Award (Top quarterback in the nation)

2020 Mac Jones 

Maxwell Award (Collegiate Player of the Year)

2013 AJ McCarron (QB)

2015 Derrick Henry (RB)

2018 Tua Tagovailoa (QB)

2020 DeVonta Smith (WR)

2021 Bryce Young (QB)

Joe Moore Award (Best Offensive Line Unit)

Joe Moore Award

2015 Alabama

2020 Alabama

Bronko Nagurski Trophy (Defensive Player of the Year)

Alabama Athletics

2016 Jonathan Allen (DL)

2021 Will Anderson Jr. (LB)

Outland Trophy (Outstanding Interior Lineman)

1999 Chris Samuels (OT)

2008 Andre Smith (OT)

2011 Barrett Jones (OT)

2016 Cam Robinson(OT)

2018 Quinnen Williams (DL)

2020 Alex Leatherwood (OL)

Rimington Trophy (Outstanding Center)

2012 Barrett Jones

2015 Ryan Kelly

2020 Landon Dickerson

Jim Thorpe Award  (Best Defensive Back)

1993 Antonio Langham (CB)

2017 Minkah Fitzpatrick (CB)

Johnny Unitas Golden Arm (Outstanding Senior Quarterback)

1994 Jay Barker

2013 AJ McCarron

2020 Mac Jones

Doak Walker Award (Outstanding Running Back)

2011 Trent Richardson

2015 Derrick Henry

2020 Najee Harris

Wuerffel Trophy (Community Service)

2011 Barrett Jones (OT)

National Coach of the Year

1961 Paul W. Bryant (AFCA)

1971 Paul W. Bryant (AFCA)

1973 Paul W. Bryant (AFCA)

1989 Bill Curry (Dodd)

1992 Gene Stallings (Bryant, AFCA. FWAA,

Camp, Munger)

2008 Nick Saban (ESPN, AP, FWAA, Sporting News,

Camp, Liberty Mutual)

2009 Nick Saban (Bowden)

2011 Nick Saban (Bowden)

2012 Nick Saban (Bowden)

2014 Nick Saban (Dodd)

2020 Nick Saban (Bryant)

Frank Broyles Award (Assistant Coach of the Year)

2009 Kirby Smart (defensive coordinator)

2018 Mike Locksley (offensive coordinator)

2020 Steve Sarkisian (offensive coordinator) 

Alabama and the Heisman Trophy

Top Finishers for Crimson Tide (Place, Name, Position, Year)

1. Mark Ingram II, running back, 2009; Derrick Henry, running back, 2015; DeVonta Smith, wide receiver, 2020; Bryce Young, quarterback, 2021
2. AJ McCarron, quarterback, 2013; Tua Tagovailoa, quarterback, 2018
3. David Palmer, wide receiver, 1993; Trent Richardson, running back, 2011; Amari Cooper, wide receiver, 2014; Mac Jones, quarterback, 2020
4. Lee Roy Jordan, linebacker, 1962; Johnny Musso, halfback, 1971
5. Joe Kilgrow, halfback, 1937; Harry Gilmer, halfback, 1945; Harry Gilmer, halfback, 1947; Pat Trammell, quarterback, 1961; Terry Davis, quarterback, 1972; Steadman Shealy, quarterback, 1979; Jay Barker, quarterback, 1994; Najee Harris, running back, 2020; Will Anderson Jr., linebacker, 2021
6. No one
7. Cornelius Bennett, linebacker, 1986; Shaun Alexander, running back, 1999; Jonathan Allen, defensive lineman, 1999
8. Quinnen Williams, defensive lineman, 2018
9. Walter Lewis, quarterback, 1983
10. Steve Sloan, quarterback, 1965; Bobby Humphrey, running back, 1987; Derrick Thomas, linebacker, 1988; Eric Curry, defensive end, 1992; Tua Tagovailoa, quarterback, 2019

This database will be regularly updated when necessary.