Tailback Henry getting busier by the week for Alabama

Whether it's been Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson, Richardson and Eddie Lacy or Lacy and T.J. Yeldon, Alabama has not been lacking for talented tailback tandems in the Nick Saban era.

This year's version? Derrick Henry and Derrick Henry.

Entering Saturday's showdown against Tennessee at Bryant-Denny Stadium, the 6-foot-3, 242-pound Henry has racked up 85 carries in the past three games, or 61.6 percent of the Crimson Tide's rushing workload. Backup Kenyan Drake has just 18 carries, or 13.0 percent.

"It's going well for Derrick Henry," Saban said earlier this week in a news conference. "He's having a great year and has certainly done a fantastic job. Certainly we would like to get more players involved so that we can sort of spread out some of the load.

"We would like to get Kenyan Drake more involved, and we have other guys that I think can play running back as well."

Of course, there is no need to fix what isn't broken.

Henry's 85 carries the past three weekends have resulted in 479 yards (5.6 per carry), which have gone a long way in Alabama's decisive wins over Georgia (38-10), Arkansas (27-14) and Texas A&M (41-23). Last Saturday in College Station, the junior from Yulee, Fla., punished the Aggies for a career-best 236 yards on a career-high 32 carries.

Volunteers coach Butch Jones is impressed with Henry's size, strength and speed and noted that "you can't tackle him with arm tackles." Jones doesn't believe the preparation for the Crimson Tide is any different this year due to the lack of a tailback tandem.

"What you look at is the productivity, and whoever has run the football at Alabama has had great productivity," Jones said Wednesday on the SEC teleconference. "Derrick right now is the back who's having a lot of productivity, but Drake can do it and Damien Harris can do it. They have very skilled players."

Henry, who once rushed for 510 yards in a game at Yulee High and averaged 327.8 yards a game as a prep senior, is not basking in his mounting success. His personal best last weekend topped the 148 yards he had at Georgia on Oct. 3, which topped the 147 he amassed in the opener against Wisconsin in Arlington, Texas.

"These games wouldn't be possible without my offensive line blocking for me," Henry told reporters this week. "They did a great job of controlling the line of scrimmage and opening holes. I credit everything to the offensive line, receivers and tight ends."

When asked how he stays humble through an impressive stretch, Henry said, "I feel like I'm a leader on team, and I feel like I need to keep everybody encouraged."

Henry has set a career high in rushing attempts four times this season, including each of the last three weeks, when he had 26 carries against Georgia and 27 against Arkansas before the 32 last Saturday.

"We've always known that Derrick is a workhorse who kind of gets better as the game goes on," Saban said. "He certainly hasn't disappointed us, and he's certainly carried a big share of the workload in the last few weeks. We're hopeful we can get more players involved so he doesn't have to do that - not that we want to limit his production, but we don't want to wear him out, either."

Henry entered this season with far less wear and tear than his predecessors. He had 207 carries through his freshman and sophomore seasons, exactly half of what Ingram (414 carries) had his first two years in 2008 and '09, and well short of what Yeldon (382) and Richardson (257) had in their first two seasons as well.

Georgia sophomore tailback Nick Chubb had 219 rushes as a freshman alone, and LSU sophomore Leonard Fournette already has 337 carries a year and a half into his college career.

"We've been fortunate here to have two or three backs that we've played and shared time with," Saban said. "We don't take all the tread off the tires. This year, Kenyan Drake has been beat up a little bit and the third guy (Harris) is a freshman, so Derrick has had to carry the load a little bit more.

"It's probably good that he didn't have to do it earlier in his career. He's probably a little fresher now to do it."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.