The Doak Walker Award honors the nation's top 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.
| Year | Winner | School |
| 2006 | Darren McFadden | Arkansas |
| 2005 | Reggie Bush | Southern California |
| 2004 | Cedric Benson | Texas |
| 2003 | Chris Perry | Michigan |
| 2002 | Larry Johnson | Penn State |
| 2001 | Lucas Staley | BYU |
| 2000 | LaDainian Tomlinson | TCU |
| 1999 | Ron Dayne | Wisconsin |
| 1998 | Ricky Williams | Texas |
| 1997 | Ricky Williams | Texas |
| 1996 | Byron Hanspard | Texas Tech |
| 1995 | Eddie George | Ohio State |
| 1994 | Rashaan Salaam | Colorado |
| 1993 | Byron "Bam" Morris | Texas Tech |
| 1992 | Garrison Hearst | Georgia |
| 1991 | Trevor Cobb | Rice |
| 1990 | Greg Lewis | Washington |









