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College football’s first coach to win a national title at multiple programs, four-time champ Nick Saban has earned his place inside the game’s pantheon of greatness.
Sporting News took a position-by-position glance at Saban’s best players — including a plethora of All-Americans, a Heisman winner, countless first-round picks, etc. — during his three-stop head coaching career and selected an all-star team, a who’s who list of the best.
Here’s a few of the notables from the ‘All-time Saban-coached team’ by Sporting News. You can view the full lineup, here:
QB: A.J. McCarron (2009-13) — Directed the Crimson Tide to a pair of BCS National Championships during his tenure and went 36-4 as a starter. McCarron is the school’s all-time leader in passing touchdowns and yards.
RB: Mark Ingram (2008-10) — Alabama’s first Heisman winner in 2009, Ingram exited Tuscaloosa as the school’s record-holder for rushing touchdowns (42).
RB: Trent Richardson (2009-11) — The heir apparent to Ingram under Saban, Richardson recorded the most yards ever (1,679) by a Crimson Tide ballcarrier in 2011 as college football’s Doak Walker winner.
WR: Josh Reed, LSU (1998-01) — Ranked No. 1 in our All-Time Top 25 SEC WR Rankings, Reed left Baton Rouge as the SEC’s all-time leader in receiving yards as the Tigers’ go-to threat.
WR: Plaxico Burress, Michigan State (1998-99) — He only played two seasons in East Lansing, but Burress was named All-Big Ten both years and posted consecutive 1,000-yard, 10-plus touchdown campaigns.
DE: Marcus Spears, LSU (2001-04) — The current SEC Network analyst was a fierce pass rusher during his day, managing 19 career sacks and 34.5 tackles-for-loss as a Tiger.
LB: Roland McClain, Alabama (2007-09) — A first-round pick in 2010, McClain won the Lambert and Lombardi award’s as the nation’s best defensive player in addition to SEC Defensive Player of the Year honors as a junior in 2009. He’s one of the Crimson Tide’s best linebackers in program history.
