ALABAMA
The best of the best: ESPN names All-Saban Alabama team
It isn’t easy to name the best players that have suited up for Alabama during the Nick Saban era.
The issue isn’t finding outstanding players, the issue is finding a way to put together the list without leaving off some of the best players in modern SEC history.
Credit Ryan McGee of ESPN for doing his best to put together a team that Alabama fans can be proud to call the best of the Nick Saban era down in Tuscaloosa.
Following Saban’s sixth national championship during his time in Tuscaloosa, and seventh overall as a college head coach, now was the perfect time to put out a list like this one.
Here is the list ESPN came up with:
All-Saban Alabama Offense
All-Saban Alabama Defense
Which Crimson Tide player that didn’t make the list most deserves to be included here?
Is this pro or what they were like in college
I would imagine it’s college since it’s about Saban’s time in T-town….
The article mentions “players that suited up for Nick Saban” at the beginning, so they’re talking about collegiate athletes only.
Correct me if I’m wrong- didn’t minkah mostly play safety at Alabama? I know he lined up everywhere, but wasn’t he primarily a safety?
Yep. He played a lot of star in our nickel package, which we tended to run more than our base defense at that time.
Minkah may be the most versatile player that Bama has had on defense under Saban…
It was almost natural for him walking up as a LB..
The three “On field coaches” that stand out to me are Minkah, Hightower, and McClain. All three had such a high football IQ. I remember one of his teammates saying of McClain that he was just like Saban but bigger and could play.
I thought Ryan’s reasoning for putting Spears on the list was great!
“I have to work with him and he knows where I live!”
While he did play for Saban at Alabama, Mike Shula landed Andre Smith.
I agree 100% with the offense.
Defensively Marcus Spears was LSU, why is he on the list?
Replace him with I’ll say Daron Payne.
Then at CB, Dre Kirkpatrick. No one was a bigger Dre fan in college than I, but he does not belong on this list. Give me Marlon Humphrey, Dee Milliner, or Javier Arenas. I get it, Javier wasnt a great pro, but meant a lot to those early Saban Bama teams
Spears is on this list because it is an “All Saban” list and he played for Saban.
I’m pretty sure it says all Saban Alabama offense/Defense..
The actual espn article is an all Saban list, and discusses Spears from LSU. SDS screwed up by saying it’s all Alabama.
That defense would absolutely dominate. The quality of players that bama attracts is pretty amazing.