Eddie Lacy

Eddie Lacy (born January 1, 1991) is a college football player currently playing as the No. 1 running back for the 2012 Alabama Crimson Tide football team. During the 2011 regular season, his average of 7.5 yards per carry ranked first in the Southeastern Conference and sixth in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. Eddie Lacy was named MVP of the 2012 SEC Championship Game after rushing for 181 yards and two touchdowns. Lacy was named Offensive MVP of the 2013 BCS National Championship Game after rushing for 140 yards and a touchdown, in addition to a receiving touchdown.

High school
Lacy attended and graduated from Dutchtown High School in Geismar, Louisiana. Lacy ran for 1,207 yards and 19 touchdowns as a sophomore, 1,800 yards and 27 touchdowns as a junior, and 1,046 yards and 17 touchdowns during his injury-plagued senior season. In December 2008, he was selected by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association as a first-team player on the Class 5A All-State football team for the second consecutive season. Rated as the 13th best running back and the 116th best prospect overall by Rivals.com, Lacy committed to the University of Alabama in February 2009.

2010 season
After redshirting in 2009, Lacy earned his spot as the third string tailback behind Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson. In the season opener against San Jose State, Lacy ran for 113 yards and two touchdowns in his collegiate debut. In the 2011 Capital One Bowl against Michigan State, Lacy averaged 17.2 yards per carry and scored two touchdowns, including a 62-yard touchdown run in the second half. For the 2010 season, Lacy had 406 yards rushing.

2011 season
With Ingram departing for the NFL, Richardson and Lacy advanced to the No. 1 and No. 2 running back spots for the 2011 Alabama Crimson Tide football team. In the pre-season, those close to the program opined that "the Richardson-Eddie Lacy duo may put up bigger and better numbers and go down as the best duo in recent history." Backfield partner Richardson told reporters that Lacy's spin move is what separates him from other backs: "It's the nastiest spin move ever." The move has earned Lacy the nickname "Circle Button" based on the button on PlayStation's video games that triggers a spin move. Aaron Suttles of The Tuscaloosa News wrote, "To the fans, Eddie Lacy is a dreadlocked blur, spinning past defenders into the secondary. To his teammates, he's affectionately known as 'Circle Button.'"

In the 2011 season opener against Kent State, Lacy contributed 134 yards of offense with 76 receiving yards on three catches and 58 rushing yards on eight carries (an average of 7.3 yards per rushing carry). His 48-yard gain on a screen pass was the longest passing play of the game. Asked in a post-game press conference if he had hit the "Circle Button" a few times in the game, Lacy joked, "Yeah, I did a few spin moves." The Birmingham News wrote that Lacy "ran more impressively" against Kent State than the Crimson Tide's No. 1 running back, Trent Richardson. Another commentator led his coverage of the Kent State game with the headline, "Lacy, not Richardson, has look of Heisman-caliber RB in game one." After the game, head coach Nick Saban noted, "Eddie's a fast guy, an explosive guy." Photographs of Lacy hurdling over Kent State defensive back Calvin Tiggle were published in news outlets across the United States and in Europe,  with one such image being chosen by Yahoo Sports as its lead "Photo of the Day."

In the second game of the 2011 season, Lacy rushed for 85 yards in Alabama's 27-11 win over Penn State.

In the third week, Lacy had the best game of his collegiate career, rushing for 161 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries against North Texas. His 67-yard touchdown sprint in the fourth quarter was picked as Alabama's Play of the Week.

Against Arkansas, Lacy rushed for 61 yards and one touchdown on 13 carries. He sustained a foot injury against Arkansas and did not play the following week against Vanderbilt.

During the 2011 regular season, Lacy had 631 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. His average of 7.5 yards per carry ranked sixth among all players in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision.

2012
In 2012 Eddie Lacy became the starting running back for Alabama, after the departure of Trent Richardson. His back-up was true freshman T. J. Yeldon and both Lacy and Yeldon finished the year with over 1000 yards each. Lacy finished the 2012 season rushing for 181 yards and two touchdowns in the 2012 SEC Championship Game and 140 yards and one rushing touchdown, as well as one receiving touchdown in the 2013 BCS Championship Game. He was named the Offensive MVP for the BCS Championship game. Lacy finished the year with 1,322 rushing yards with 17 rushing touchdowns and 2 receiving touchdowns. On January 11, 2013, Eddie Lacy declared for the 2013 NFL Draft.