Nick Saban’s best players at Alabama

Hard-nosed football was always a staple of Nick Saban’s offenses, and opponents always found it hard to stop the Crimson Tide’s run game.

Derrick Henry best exemplifies this, as he was a beast during his time at Alabama. At 6-foot 3 inches, 247 pounds, Henry was nearly impossible to take down, and it led to one of the single greatest college football seasons ever. Henry won the Heisman Trophy after rushing for 2,219 yards and 28 touchdowns. During that 2015 season, Henry was backed up by Kenyon Drake, Damien Harris, and Bo Scarbrough. Alabama running back depth charts tended to be stacked with NFL talent, and that is why legends like Trent Richardson and Eddy Lacy didn’t even make this list.

Mark Ingram and Najee Harris were the other running backs who did make ClutchPoints’ All-Alabama team under Nick Saban.

Ingram was also a Heisman winner. He was the first of four to win college football’s most prestigious award under Saban. Ingram ran for 1,658 yards and 17 touchdowns in his best season, but it was Najee Harris who holds most of the career records for the Crimson Tide. His 3,843 yards and 46 touchdowns on the ground are the best marks in Alabama history.

WR: DeVonta Smith, Amari Cooper, Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley

Similar to how his running back rooms were incredibly deep, Nick Saban also always seemed to have stacked depth at the receiver position.

His best individual performer when it came to catching passes was DeVonta Smith. Smith was yet another Heisman Trophy winner, and he did it with 1,856 yards on 117 catches to go with 24 total touchdowns in 2020. Smith had arguably the best single half of play ever when he had 12 catches for 215 yards and three touchdowns in the National Championship Game before missing most of the second half with injury.

DeVonta Smith wasn’t the only legend to come out of Alabama, though. Amari Cooper and Calvin Ridley have both become some of the premier route runners in the NFL. During their time under Saban, Cooper had 228 catches for 3,463 yards, and Ridley had 224 catches for 2,781 yards. Julio Jones had the best NFL career of all of them because of his jump-ball ability.

Henry Ruggs III, Jerry Jeudy, Jameson Williams, and Jaylen Waddle all had impressive collegiate careers, too.

TE: O.J. Howard

The tight end position was perhaps the weakest for Alabama under Nick Saban. O.J. Howard was the biggest name to come out of Alabama during the Saban era. Howard never put up crazy numbers in the regular season, but he always stepped his game up in the College Football Playoff. In back-to-back National Championship Games, Howard had a combined 314 yards and three touchdowns. Irv Smith Jr. also deserves a shout-out for his solid career at Alabama.

OL: Barrett Jones, Andre Smith, Ryan Kelly, Chance Warmack, Alex Leatherwood

The reason Alabama was so often successful is because they would win in the trenches. Andre Smith was Saban’s first great offensive lineman. Smith protected Alabama’s quarterbacks in Saban’s early days in Tuscaloosa, and he set the precedent for years to come for how the Crimson Tide would play on the offensive line.

Barrett Jones is considered to be one of the greatest offensive linemen in college football history, and Saban was able to play him all over the line. Ryan Kelly was arguably the best pure center Saban ever had, and Chance Warmack could claim that title for the guard position. Alex Leatherwood didn’t work out in the pros, but he was a great blindside protector in college.

DL: Jonathan Allen, Quinnen Williams, Marcell Dareus

Alabama continuously had the best defenses in the nation when Nick Saban was coaching the team, and that was largely in part due to the big boys up front.

Jonathan Allen had 44.5 tackles for a loss during his career, and he was succeeded by Quinnen Williams as Alabama’s stud on the defensive front. Williams had 19.5 sacks during his sophomore season. Like Williams, Marcell Dareus also only played two seasons with the Crimson Tide, but he was incredibly productive in his short time on the field, and it led to him being taken with the third overall pick in 2011, a draft class that is widely regarded as one of the best ever.

EDGE: Will Anderson, Dallas Turner, Courtney Upshaw

The edge rusher spot is often considered the most important position on the defensive side of the football, but it was not usually a strong point for Nick Saban. Still, Saban produced Will Anderson, a sack artist who was one of the best edge rushers in recent memory. In his best season, he had 31 tackles for a loss en route to 101 total tackles, an absurd amount for someone who predominately rushed the passer. He won the Nagurski Trophy twice and has a case for Saban’s best player ever on defense. Courtney Upshaw wreaked havoc in opposing backfields in Saban’s early days in Tuscaloosa, and Dallas Turner is the only player on Saban’s All-Alabama team who played in Saban’s final year of coaching. Turner is a likely first-round pick in 2024.

LB: C.J. Mosley, Rueben Foster, Dont’a Hightower

C.J. Mosley was the ultimate leader in the middle of Saban’s defenses. The linebacker had 319 tackles over the course of his collegiate career. Dont’a Hightower was extremely versatile, as he could rush the passer, stop the run, and drop into coverage when need be. Rueben Foster had all of the talent in the world, and it was only off-the-field issues that limited him in the NFL.

CB: Patrick Surtain II, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Dre Kirkpatrick

Defensive backs are Nick Saban’s specialty, and that is evident by the players he has produced at the position. Saban coached DBs for six different football teams, but the best talent at the position came out of Alabama when he was the team’s head coach. Patrick Surtain II has quickly become one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL since being drafted ninth overall in 2021. Surtain is a true lockdown cornerback with rare physical traits for someone his size, and he was just as dominant at Alabama as he has been for the Denver Broncos.

Minkah Fitzpatrick spent time at safety, guarding slot receivers, and on the outside, and he was brilliant regardless of where Saban lined him up. Dre Kirkpatrick had nine pass breakups in the BCS National Championship Game against LSU in 2011.

S: Landon Collins, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Mark Barron

Safeties in Nick Saban’s system had to thrive both in coverage and against the run. Landon Collins, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, and Mark Barron were all able to do this. Collins and Barron were two of the hardest-hitting players to come out of Alabama. Clinton-Dix was known by many for his unique name, but he was dominant on the field as well.