The Doak Walker Award, first awarded in 1990, honors the nation's top college football running back. It is unique among college football awards in that it requires all candidates to be:

  • in good academic standing, and
  • on schedule to graduate within one year of students in their eligibility classification.

Honorees:

  • 1990 Greg Lewis, Washington
  • 1991 Trevor Cobb, Rice
  • 1992 Garrison Hearst, Georgia
  • 1993 Byron "Bam" Morris, Texas Tech
  • 1994 Rashaan Salaam, Colorado
  • 1995 Eddie George, Ohio State
  • 1996 Byron Hanspard, Texas Tech
  • 1997 Ricky Williams, Texas
  • 1998 Ricky Williams, Texas
  • 1999 Ron Dayne, Wisconsin
  • 2000 LaDainian Tomlinson, TCU
  • 2001 Luke Staley, BYU
  • 2002 Larry Johnson, Penn State
  • 2003 Chris Perry, Michigan