Nick Saban has recruited Alabama’s two Heisman Trophy winners, running backs Derrick Henry and Mark Ingram. On Saturday night, Henry and Ingram’s current NFL teams will be facing off for a spot in the AFC Championship Game. Ahead of the divisional round between Henry’s Tennessee Titans and Ingram’s Baltimore Ravens, Saban reflected on recruiting both.

Coming out of Yulee, Florida, Henry was rated 5-stars, but labeled “ATH,” not running back as many schools were recruiting him to play defense.

“I think a lot of people made a mistake in recruiting Derrick,” Saban told CBS. “A lot of people said, ‘We want to play you at outside linebacker. We want to play you at this…’ I said, “We want to play you at what you want to play.”

The Crimson Tide coach continued, pointing out what makes the NFL’s top rusher in 2019 such a productive running back.

“He’s big, he’s really fast and he’s hard to tackle. He’s got a great stiff arm,” Saban said. “People don’t think he’s as fast as he is, and that’s the thing that I thought made him very, very special.”

Ingram was a 4-star ATH on Rivals coming out of Flint, Michigan in the class of 2008. He visited Alabama, Arizona State, Iowa, Michigan State and Wisconsin before signing with UA.

“Mark didn’t really have any flaws other than, you could say, “What about his height?” But to me, 5-10 guys are a great size for running backs,” Saban shared. “I just saw a guy that had really great quickness changing direction to get to top speed very quickly out of a cut, kind of a low center of gravity, and can run behind his pads and he was a good receiver.”

It’s safe to say Saban and his staff aced the evaluations and recruitments of the two running backs who would win college football’s top individual award en route to helping the Crimson Tide win national championships. The Tennessee-Baltimore game is set for 8:15 p.m. ET on CBS.