1. Amari Cooper (2012-14)

Throughout the 2014 season Nick Saban has been regularly asked about junior wide receiver Amari Copper and what he brings to the University of Alabama football team.

Actually, the coach has gotten so many questions about him that he’s run out of descriptive words to use with reporters. “Outstanding” was the staple for much of the season and by midseason Saban started using “phenomenal.”

After the 55-54 victory over Auburn, during which Cooper established numerous program records while helping lead the Crimson Tide’s dramatic comeback, not even that was sufficient. The only thing he could say was that Cooper was a player without peer, which may be the greatest compliment of all.

“Amari is not worthy of anyone comparing him to anybody else,” Saban said. “He is Amari Cooper. He has his own style. He’s a very competitive guy who works really, really hard. Has really good speed getting in and out of breaks. Works hard in the game to get open. Does a good job of executing, has made a lot of really big plays for us this year.”

During that Auburn game – when Cooper wore a brace to protect a knee bruise sustained the previous week — he tied the Alabama single-game record for touchdowns (three), and broke his own single-season record (14). He had topped the Crimson Tide career mark as a sophomore.

With 224 receiving yards he tied his own single-game record for yards, set against Tennessee earlier in the season, and established a new Iron Bowl record as well. It was also his 14th career 100-yard receiving game, the most in Alabama history.

“Great player,” junior center Ryan Kelly said. “No matter what circumstances are thrown at him, he’s going to make great plays. It’s never about him, it’s all about the team. He’s always been a team player ever since he’s been here. I think that’s what makes him so special.”

“I’d have the whole defense on him,” senior tackle Austin Shepherd quipped, but that’s the kind of respect Cooper earned.

With every reception he adds to his other Crimson Tide records, and now has 103 catches for 1,573 yards for the season, and 207 receptions for 3,313 yards and 29 touchdowns over his career – all Alabama records.

He’s second on both the Southeastern Conference season and career all-time yards lists. Cooper trails only Josh Reed’s 1,740 for LSU in 2001, when he too had Saban as a head coach, and Vanderbilt’s Jordan Matthews set the career mark over four years with 3,759 (2010-13).

2. Julio Jones (2008-10)

He was one of those players in which there was little or no doubt about how good he could become the moment he first stepped on the Capstone.

As a key part of the recruiting Class of 2008, which would launch the Alabama dynasty with Nick Saban, Julio Jones was a favorite before he even arrived and then did nothing to disappoint Crimson Tide fans.

Perhaps his most impressive stretch occurred during the 2010 season when less than two weeks after having surgery to repair a fracture in his left hand he set the Alabama single-game receiving record with 221 yards at Tennessee.

“I’m not surprised anything that Julio does,” said junior running back Mark Ingram, who had also seen his teammate play through shoulder, knee and wrist injuries along with a sports hernia. “He’s a warrior. He just goes out and gives his all every time he steps on the field. If he can play, he’s going to play. If he hurts little bit, he’ll play through the pain.”

Actually, Jones doesn’t consider the Tennessee game his best in college because he had to scale down his blocking a little. He had initially sustained the fracture after making his first reception at South Carolina, when his stiff-arm got caught up in the defender who basically tried to rip his head off.

“I knew after that play because I went to the sideline and my hand started hurting,” Jones described. “I pressed down on my hand and it was moving, the bone was moving. I didn’t tell the trainers but I told the strength coach, Scott Cochran: ‘I think I just broke my hand, don’t tell nobody. I’m going to wait until halftime.’ I didn’t want to make it a big issue.”

Somehow, Jones remarkably finished with eight receptions for 118 yards and one touchdown. The only thing that hurt worse than making a catch was trying open his palms like he would to field a kick, thus he was pulled from special teams. The next day doctors cut into the outer part of his hand below the ring finger.

“There are six screws in there,” he said pointing to the scar, in addition to the plate.

Jones followed up the Tennessee game with 10 receptions against LSU, and went on to set school single-season records with 78 catches for 1,133 yards and added seven touchdowns.

In 40 games over three seasons he caught 179 passes for 2,653 yards with 15 touchdowns, and accumulated 3,084 all-purpose yards. His 179 receptions ranked second all-time at Alabama, while his 2,653 receiving yards were second in school history.

“Julio obviously is a special talent,” Saban said.

3. Ozzie Newsome (1974-77)

Coach Paul W. “Bear” Bryant called him “the greatest end in Alabama history and that includes Don Hutson. A total team player, fine blocker, outstanding leader, great receiver with concentration, speed, hands.”

Who are we to argue?

The 6-foot-4, 210-pound player from Muscle Shoals, Ala., set numerous Crimson Tide records as a four-year starter. He caught 102 passes for 2,070 yards, with an average gain per pass of 20.3 yards, a conference record. Newsome also caught 16 touchdown passes and may have been as good of a blocker in Alabama’s wishbone offense as a receiver.

The Crimson Tide’ record each year with Newsome was 11-1, 11-1, 9-3 and 11-1, with three Southeastern Conference championships and a No. 2 finish in 1977 when voters leapfrogged Notre Dame up from No. 5 after it defeated Texas. He was twice named All-SEC, and an All-American his senior year. The Atlanta Touchdown Club and the Birmingham Quarterback Club named Newsome the Southeastern Conference’s Lineman of the Year in 1977, when he was also Alabama’s co-captain.

Newsome went on to have an even better NFL career as a premier tight end for the Cleveland Browns. He needed only two seasons to earn All-Pro honors and he eventually retired as its all-time leading tight end in receiving with 662 receptions, 7,980 yards, and 47 touchdowns – which at the time was fourth overall.

Additionally, he won the NFL Players Association’s Byron “Whizzer” White award for community service in 1990, four years after being presented the Ed Block Courage Award for continuing to play in spite of injuries.
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Newsome subsequently joined the Cleveland front office, and on November 22, 2002, became the league’s first black general manager when the franchise (which had since moved and renamed the Baltimore Ravens) promoted him from vice president of player personnel. The franchise has since won two Super Bowls.

Newsome has been enshrined into four prominent halls of fame: Pro Football (inducted 1999), College Football (1994), NCAA (1994), and Alabama (1995).

4. Don Hutson (1932-34)

The way they explain Don Hutson in Green Bay is to say that he was Jerry Rice 50 years before Jerry Rice was Jerry Rice.

Considered the first great wide receiver in NFL history, Hutson helped revolutionize receiving during an era football was still almost exclusively considered a running game.

He’s the pioneer of modern pass patterns, the first to perfect the techniques of catching a pass “in traffic,” and made the end-around a potent weapon.

“For every pass I caught in a game, I caught a thousand in practice,” Hutson once said.

Hutson and Millard “Dixie” Howell became football’s most celebrated passing combination in the 1930s, and in 1934 he was named an All-American. When Hutson had six receptions for 165 yards against Stanford in the Rose Bowl the West Coast writers hailed him “the greatest pass-catching speed merchant end.”

“Don had the most fluid motion you had ever seen when he was running,” said the other end on that team, Paul W. “Bear” Bryant. “It looked like he was going just as fast as possible when all of a sudden he would put on an extra burst of speed and be gone.”

During his illustrious 11-year career with the Packers (1935-45) Hutson was named All-Pro nine times, led the league in pass receptions eight season, led the league in scoring five times, and was twice named the league’s most valuable player (1941-42). He finished his pro career with 488 pass receptions, more than 200 more than the next best player during that span.

His 99 career touchdown receptions stood as a National Football League record for more than four decades, and his 29 points in a game has yet to be broken. When he retired, Hutson held 18 NFL records.

When the Packers built their indoor practice facility in 1994, it was named in his honor, the Don Hutson Center.

“I don’t know if there is such a thing as royalty in professional football, but this is the closest I’ve ever come to it,” Packers general manager Ron Wolf said at the dedication ceremony.

5. David Palmer (1991-93)

The thing that made “The Deuce” so dangerous was that no one quite knew where No. 2 would appear next.

Always looking for ways to take advantage of his dynamic ability, Coach Gene Stallings lined him up all over the field and was always looking for ways to get him the ball.

As a receiver, Palmer had 61 receptions for 1,000 yards his junior season, which at the time was a Crimson Tide record. But he also took handoffs, lined up at quarterback and handled returns, to help lead Alabama to the SEC Championship game. Overall, he tallied 1,961 all-purpose yards and placed third in Heisman Trophy voting, which at the time was Alabama’s best showing to date.

The breakthrough season, though, was a couple of years in the making. One of several true freshmen to make an immediate impact during the 10-1 1991 season, he set an Alabama record by returning four punts for touchdowns. Against defending national champion Colorado in the Blockbuster Bowl, which the Tide defeated 30-25, he opened the scoring with a 52-yard return and was won the “Brian Piccolo Award” as the game’s most valuable player.

His sophomore year he caught five passes for 101 yards in the first SEC Championship game to help lead a 28-21 victory against Florida. Consequently, No. 2 Alabama was invited to play defending national champion Miami in the Sugar Bowl, where the Hurricanes were considered a sizable favorite.

“Everyone says we can’t beat Miami, but we are not just anybody, we are Alabama,” Palmer said.

Of course, Alabama handily won, 34-13, to win its 12th national championship.

After finishing behind Florida State quarterback Charlie Ward and Tennessee quarterback Heath Shuler for the Heisman, but ahead of Marshall Faulk of San Diego State, Palmer announced his decision to turn pro early after Alabama’s 24-10 victory against North Carolina in the Gator Bowl.

“I’ve tried to look at all sides, but the bottom line is I have to fulfill the needs of me and my family,” Palmer said at a news conference.

The 5-foot-9-inch, 170-pound junior said he had reached his primary goal by helping Alabama win the national championship and called his third-place Heisman finish: “One of the highlights of my career.”

6. Ray Perkins (1964-66)

Although most fans today know of him from being a successful coach, Perkins was an All-American in 1966 and named to the Tide’s team of the decade. The split end finished his career with a record of 30-2-1, with two national championships and three SEC titles.

As a sophomore, his touchdown reception from Joe Namath, along with Ray Ogden’s 108-yard kickoff return, keyed a 21-14 victory against Auburn, which in addition to Notre Dame’s loss to Southern Cal propelled the Tide to No. 1 in the final polls (which were held before bowl games that year). The following season, with polls holding the final voting at the end of the postseason, Perkins scored two touchdowns to help lead a 39-28 victory against Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, as Alabama successfully defended its title.

His senior year, with Kenny Stabler behind center, Perkins had 33 catches for 490 yards. He capped his career with a remarkable six catches for 178 yards against Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl, a 34-7 rout in Alabama’s favor.

7. Wayne Wheeler (1971-73)

Wheeler is best remembered by Crimson Tide fans for the 80-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Gary Rutledge on the first snap against unbeaten Tennessee. He went on to be named an All-American, with Lynn Swann the other consensus selection at wide receiver.

Despite playing in a wishbone offense that didn’t pass much, Wheeler caught 55 passes for 1,246 yards and 11 touchdowns over three seasons. The lead the Crimson Tide in receiving in both 1972 and 1973, and still holds Alabama yards per catch records of 27.9 for a season (minimum 15 catches) and 22.7 for his career (minimum 50 catches).

8. DJ Hall (2004-07)

He was the model of consistency and had most of the Alabama receiving records that Amari Cooper eventually broke. Among them were single-game receptions (13), career receptions (194), career yards (2,923), and 100-yard performances (13).

Hall was the first player in school history to produce a pair of 1,000-yard receiving seasons, and he was second in career touchdowns with 17.

In 48 games at Alabama, Hall started 39 times. On 215 touches, he finished his career with 3,177 all-purpose yards, an average of 66.19 all-purpose yards per game.

9. Dennis Homan (1965-67)

The split end was Kenny Stabler’s favorite target in 1967, when he caught 54 passes for 820 yards and nine touchdowns to be a consensus All-American. Also an Academic All-American, Homan caught 87 passes during his three-year career, for 1,495 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Homan went on to be a first-round draft choice of the Dallas Cowboys, and after three years briefly played with the Kansas City Chiefs. His career NFL numbers were 37 catches for 619 yards and two touchdowns. Finally, Homan played two seasons with Birmingham in the World League of American Football, and was the team’s leading receiver both years. In 1974, he had 930 yards and eight touchdowns, and in 1975 accumulated 18 catches for 277 yards after the offense became more run-oriented.

10. Holt Rast (1939-41)

During his All-American season, end Holt Rast made 13 receptions for 207 yards and three touchdowns, and had a 10-yard interception return for a touchdown against Texas A&M to be named co-MVP of the 1942 Cotton Bowl. His other standout performances included a 59-yard touchdown pass from Jimmy Nelson against Georgia in 1941, and he blocked a kick and scored a touchdown against Georgia Teach in 1940.

He was drafted by the Chicago Bears, but instead served in the Army during War World II and was twice wounded. He was awarded the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Silver Star. He was elected to serve in the Alabama House of Representatives from 1958 to 1966.

Honorable mention: Al Lary, Freddie Milons, David Bailey, Tyrone Prothro and Joey Jones.