IT Today: Texas' history with the Doak Walker and Biletnikoff

Welcome to Inside Texas Today! On weekdays, Inside Texas Today will provide the latest on Texas Longhorns sports from around the Forty Acres. This morning, how Texas has fared historically when it comes to the Doak Walker Award and Biletnikoff Trophy, two awards whose preseason watchlists were released this week

Here’s the Friday, July 22, 2022 edition.

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On Thursday, Texas wide receivers Xavier Worthy and Isaiah Neyor were named to the Biletnikoff Award watch list. The Biletnikoff Award is given annually to the best receiver in college football.

On Wednesday, the Longhorns had another pair at a different position be named to an award watch list. Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson were both added to the Doak Walker Award watch list, which is given annually to the best running back in college football.

Texas has had several former players either win or come close to attaining both of those awards. Worthy, Neyor, Johnson, and Robinson hope to join that list of players this year.

1997-98: Ricky Williams wins back to back Doak Walker Awards

Though Williams is remembered most for his magical 1998 season where he won the Heisman Trophy, he also took home back-to-back Doak Walk Awards in 1997 and 1998. Williams shared a unique relationship with Walker, who passed in September of 1998. Wanting to honor his friend, Williams wore Walker’s No. 37 versus Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl, a stadium known as “The House that Doak Built.”

Williams had 31 carries for 139 yards and two touchdowns in the Longhorns’ rout of the Sooners on his way to his second Doak Walker Award in as many years. He became the first repeat winner of the award, a feat matched recently by Arkansas’ Darren McFadden and Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor.

2004: Cedric Benson wins the Doak Walker Award

As his Texas career went along, the late Cedric Benson rushed for more and more yards in each succeeding year. That’s an impressive feat, but it’s made even more impressive when considering Benson rushed for 1053 yards in his freshman year.

By the time he was a senior, Benson needed to rush for more than 1360 yards in order to eclipse his previous year’s total. In 2004, he did that with ease, rushing for 1834 yards on 326 carries with 19 rushing touchdowns. Benson was a key part of Texas’ first Rose Bowl winning team, and was rewarded with the title of 2004’s best running back as a result.

2016: D’Onta Foreman rushes for 2000 yards to win the Doak Walker Award

There weren’t a ton of beneficiaries of the one year in Sterlin Gilbert’s veer-and-shoot offense, but Foreman certainly was one of them. After meager freshman and sophomore seasons, Foreman exploded in 2016 with 2028 yards on 323 carries with 15 touchdowns.

Foreman also set a new standard at Texas, with 13 consecutive games of over 100 yards across his sophomore and junior seasons. That stretch included a 33-carry, 341-yard performance that helped the Longhorns squeak out of Lubbock with a win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

The Longhorns were not able to turn Foreman’s successes into successes of their own, but Foreman’s season still had voters believing he was the best back in the country.

2009: Jordan Shipley finishes second for the Biletnikoff

Player A: 12 games, 96 catches, 1496 yards, 15 touchdowns

Player B: 14 games, 116 catches, 1485 yards, 13 touchdowns

Player A, Notre Dame’s Golden Tate, won the Biletnikoff in 2009 over Player B, Texas’ Jordan Shipley.

Good arguments can be made for both players, but if the “Shipley won more!” argument is made, what about Foreman winning his award while on a 5-7 team?

Tate had a tremendous year for the Fighting Irish, setting multiple school records. It just occurred at the same time as Shipley’s tremendous year for the Longhorns, where he set multiple school records.

Voters saw it a certain way, and that way still has Texas searching for its first Biletnikoff winner.