How do you rank the 10 most important players at a school that routinely has the best players? How do you choose only 10 names from a program that has won 4 national championships in the past 10 years alone and competed in 7 College Football Playoffs in that span? Putting that sort of dominance into article form is a daunting test. Any list is guaranteed to omit a great player. Alabama has had 30 first-round picks — 30! — in the past 10 drafts.

Any ordering is likely to be the subject of fierce debate. Of course, you’d rather be a program where such debates exist than one where it’s easy to identify the best of the best.

At Alabama, where greatness is the expectation, and failure simply doesn’t occur (unless you consider winning the SEC title but losing in the national championship game a failure and perhaps, at Alabama, some do), it seems All-Americans and impact players grow on trees. In the past decade alone, the Crimson Tide have claimed 3 Heisman trophies, multiple Unitas (best QB) awards, 4 Outland Trophy (best lineman) winners, 3 Biletnikoff winners (best WR), 2 Butkus Award (best LB) winners and 2 Bednarik Award (best defensive player) winners, among other hardware.

Trying to figure out which of these superstars was the “most important” is about as exact a science as ranking your favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe films. There’s always going to be someone who prefers Thor: Ragnorek to Iron Man or who slots Black Panther in ahead of Avengers: Engame. And that’s fair, because it wouldn’t be “talking season” without a good debate.

With that in mind, here’s the SDS list of Alabama’s 10 most important players from the past 10 seasons (2012-2021).

10. Barrett Jones, OL (2008-2012)

Jones predates the bulk of the time on this list but gets a spot anyway on account of anchoring the 2012 national champions offensive line. The big fellow’s list of accomplisments are staggering, but in 2012, he was a unaninimous First-Team All-SEC selection at center and a consensus All-American. Jones played every position on the offensive line for 3 national championship teams, and by the time he was Saban’s senior captain and center in 2012, he was so proficient as a center that he won the Rimington Trophy, given annually to the nation’s best at the center position. In accomplishing the feat, Jones became just the 2nd player in history to win both an Outland Trophy as the nation’s best lineman and a Rimington during his career.

9. Alex Leatherwood, OL (2017-2020)

Leatherwood enrolled early and played 4 seasons at Alabama, starting by late in his freshman campaign. A member of 2 national championship teams, Leatherwood was the anchor of the 2020 o-line, which blocked for the most prolific offense in Alabama history. The 2020 Crimson Tide finished 2nd nationally in yards per play (7.8), 1st in success rate (62%), 1st in S&P+ offensive efficiency, 2nd in scoring offense (48.5 ppg), and defeated all but 1 opponent by double digits despite playing an SEC-only schedule until the College Football Playoff.

Was this the greatest team in Alabama history? It’s fair to suggest it was, and Leatherwood was a consensus All-American and team captain who was the program’s best player in the trenches, which warrants a spot on this list. For his efforts, Leatherwood also won the 2020 Outland Trophy.

8. CJ Mosley, LB (2010-2013)

A 4-year contributor and starter at linebacker, Mosley earned Freshman All-American honors in 2010 and consensus All-American honors in 2012 and 2013. In the process, Mosley anchored the linebacker spot for 2 defenses that ranked No. 1 in the nation and he led the Crimson Tide in tackles as a junior (107) and senior (108).

Mosley’s 3 career interception returns for touchdowns remains an Alabama program record, and he shared SEC Defensivce Player of the Year honors with Missouri’s Michael Sam as a senior. In 2012, Mosley was voted by his teammates as the MVP of Alabama’s national championship team, captaining the Tide defense in its shutout of LSU in the BCS Championship game.

Mosley won the Butkus Award as the nation’s finest linebacker in 2013 and remains the only Saban linebacker to twice be named a First-Team All-American.

7. Bryce Young, QB (2020-present)

The 2021 Heisman Trophy winner’s résumé speaks for itself. Young replaced All-American Mac Jones and threw for 4,872 yards in 2021 with 47 touchdowns (both are program records) against just 7 interceptions. He also saved his best football for last, engineering this game-tying, season-saving drive against Auburn in the Iron Bowl:

Young also captured MVP honors in Alabama’s rout of Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, throwing for 421 yards and 3 touchdowns in the victory. While the Crimson Tide didn’t win the national championship, Young returns the Capstone as the first player since Tim Tebow to be a prohibitive Vegas favorite to win a second Heisman Trophy and he’ll have every opportunity to move up this list in his second season as a starter.

Archie Griffin is the only player in college football history to win the Heisman twice.

6. Jerry Jeudy, WR (2017-2019)

A 5-star recruit from South Florida, Jeudy is a lesson in how recruiting wins in places where out-of-state schools simply didn’t pile up recruiting wins prior to Saban’s arrival in Tuscaloosa have paved the way for the Saban Alabama dynasty. Jeudy merits this list because he exemplified the personnel transition of Saban’s Alabama from dominant defense and power run game to dominant defense and dynamic, multiple offense. Jeudy contributed to a national champion in 2017, and then earned first-team All-SEC honors as a sophomore and a junior, collecting 2,500 yards receiving and hauling in 24 touchdown catches over those seasons. Jeudy became Alabama’s second Biletnikoff winner in 2018 and was a consensus All-American as a sophomore and a junior, helping guide Alabama to the SEC championship in 2018.

5. Tua Tagovailoa, QB (2017-2019)

Tagovailoa’s claim to fame, of course, came as a freshman backup quarterback, when he rescued the Crimson Tide from certain defeat in the national championship game against upstart Georgia.

Even if Tua and DeVonta Smith had not connected on “2nd-and-26,” the sensational Hawaiian quarterback may have made this list.

Tua beat out Jalen Hurts for the starting job in 2018 (no small feat, as we’ll get to shortly) and he rewarded Nick Saban’s faith by throwing for then-program records 3,966 yards and 43 touchdowns on the season, earning an invite to New York City as a Heisman finalist in the process. He also played perhaps the best game ever played by a Saban quarterback in the College Football Playoff Orange Bowl semifinal win over Oklahoma, completing 24-of-27 passes for 318 yards and 4 touchdowns in leading the Tide to a big victory. While Alabama fell short of national championships in Tua’s sophomore and junior seasons, Tagovailoa was an astonishing 22-2 as a starter, losing only to national championship winning opponents (Clemson in 2018 and LSU in 2019).

4. Will Anderson Jr., Edge (2020-present)

A starter since he arrived, Will Anderson Jr. is easily one of the most dominant individual players of the Saban dynasty. As a sophomore, Anderson led the nation in sacks (17.5), pressures (34) and tackles for loss (34.5), becoming the first SEC player to lead the nation in all 3 categories in a single season. Anderson captured SEC Defensive Player of the Year and Bronco Nagurski Award (Best Defender in Nation) honors as a result, and went on to win MVP honors in Alabama’s Cotton Bowl semifinal victory over Cincinnati. But for Bryce Young, Anderson would likely be a Heisman favorite in 2022, and even with Young, he has a strong opportunity to become just the second defensive player in college football history to win the Heisman in the fall campaign.

3. DeVonta Smith, WR (2017-2020)

Not only did Smith catch that pass as a freshman, he became Alabama’s first Heisman winner at wide receiver as a senior, catching 117 passes for 1,856 yards and a mind-blowing 23 touchdowns in 2020 despite playing a SEC only schedule. Smith was at his best in Alabama’s biggest games, including its closest game, a 6-point win over Florida in the SEC Championship. Smith torched the Gators for 184 yards on 15 receptions, scoring 2 touchdowns, including what would prove to be the game-winner, a 15 yard catch in the endzone from Mac Jones late in the fourth quarter. Smith won MVP honors in the College Football Playoff championship game against Ohio State as well, setting College Football Playoff records for receptions (12) and touchdown grabs (3) and receiving yards (215.)

Smith didn’t just win the Heisman either — he swept awards season, winning the Walter Camp Award as the nation’s best player, AP Offensive Player of the Year, SEC Player of the Year and the Biletnikoff Award.

Smith was also named a unaninimous first-team All-American in 2020. Smith embodied the “new look” Crimson Tide — prolific offensive football teams who could pound you in the run game with a player like Najee Harris but whose true danger came on the perimeter in the form of electric, gamebreaking receivers like the “Slim Reaper.”

2. Derrick Henry, RB (2013-2015)

Henry’s lofty spot on this list comes for two reasons.

First, from an individual statistics standpoint, he is the gold standard among college running backs this century. Henry’s 2,219 yards rushing in 2015 shattered Herschel Walker’s legendary magic SEC number and Henry remains the only SEC back to break 2,000 yards in a single campaign. Before you point out that Henry did it in more games than Walker, remember that Henry did it in a modern SEC, meaning he was playing ball in the nation’s best conference against bigger, faster defenses. Despite that, Henry was, like Walker, a man amongst boys.

Second, out of all the players on this list, only Henry can stake a claim to the following mantle: “My team won the national championship on my back.” Alabama’s 2015 defense, which finished ranked 3rd nationally in total defense, 2nd in yards allowed per play and No. 1 in success rate defense, certainly contributed. But the reality is a team with a pedestrian quarterback and only one frightening perimeter playmaker (Calvin Ridley) wasn’t going to be championship caliber, let alone run away from anyone, without Henry.

In a pass-happy, spread-em-out era, we may never see the likes of what Henry did again. And you can bet Alabama isn’t the 2015 national champions but for the Heisman winning running back.

1. Jalen Hurts, QB (2016-2018)

The transition from Henry and the ground and pound Alabama that dominated college football from 2008-2015 to the current incarnation of Alabama, with its multiple offense led by an electric passing game, unstoppable perimeter playmakers and the same 5-star caliber stable of running backs that highlighted the front end of the Saban dynasty, all begins with Hurts.

In a list that names the “most important” players to Alabama football, that distinction alone justifies Hurts’ inclusion in the top spot.

The presence of Lane Kiffin’s genius certainly helped, but it was Hurts who showed Saban what was possible when he combined an elite athlete, talented thrower, and lightning fast wide receivers in a modern passing game with the power run principles that helped Alabama win its first 4 national championships under Saban.

Hurts did that as a true freshman. He ended Saban’s parade of game managers at QB and became an instant threat.

Hurts took the college football world by storm as a freshman, capturing SEC Offensive Player of the Year honors and leading the Crimson Tide to the national championship game, where they lost an epic contest with Clemson in one of the greatest college football games ever played. Hurts, remember, dashed 30 yards for a go-ahead TD with 2 minutes left, but Bama’s defense couldn’t contain Deshaun Watson and Hunter Renfrow.

Hurts threw for 2,780 yards as a freshman and ran for nearly 1,000 more, accounting for 36 touchdowns. As a sophomore, Hurts started every game for a national champion, and while Tagovailoa famously came off the bench to engineer the national championship game comeback, Hurts who threw for 2,081 yards and 17 touchdowns against only 1 interception, adding 855 yards and 8 touchdowns more on the ground during a 13-1 championship season.

As a junior, Hurts lost the starting job to Tagovailoa, but he stayed the course. He didn’t transfer. He didn’t blow up the locker room. He stayed ready. And when the Crimson Tide needed him the most, trailing Georgia at halftime in the SEC Championship Game — Hurts delivered.

The comeback win was his final, fond farewell to Alabama fans, and a reminder to every player in Saban’s program that “next man up” isn’t just a thing you say casually on tfhe Capstone.

Hurts’ success laid the foundation for the elite offenses of Tagovailoa, Mac Jones, DeVonta Smith, Najee Harris and Bryce Young that have followed.

Hurts gets no bonus points in a Bama story for departing gracefully and then delivering a College Football Playoff worthy season with Oklahoma. But Bama fans can’t help but be proud of what he accomplished there, too. His Big 12 Player of the Year further proved Hurts’ legend status in the sport.