Name your favorite player from each team of the Saban era.

I'm gonna do one on offense and one on defense for each team.

2007: DJ Hall/Wallace Gilberry
2008: Julio Jones/Javier Arenas
2009: Mark Ingram/Mount Cody
2010: Greg McElroy/Mark Barron
2011: Trent Richardson/Dont'a Hightower
2012: AJ McCarron/Dee Milliner
2013: AJ McCarron/CJ Mosley
2014: Amari Cooper/Landon Collins
2015: Derrick Henry/Jonathan Allen
2016: OJ Howard/Reuben Foster
2017: Damien Harris/Minkah Fitzpatrick

That's alot of players to sift through but i will say this though. Blake sims is a sentimental favorite.

My least favorite would have to be AJ.

07: Hall and Javy (his punt return vs LSU is still one of my all time favorite moments in BDS).
08: Rashad Johnson and Julio
09: Rolando
10: late-season Upshaw
11: Hightower, Barron, Chapman, and Nick Gentry
12: The entire offensive line
13: CJ Mosley
14: Amari Cooper
15: Jonathan Allen, Reggie Ragland, and Mullinax.
16: Reuben Foster
17. Damien Harris and Minkah
18. Tua

I had to order my "favorite players" list by when they entered the program and lowered the boom on CFB:

2008 - BJ Scott/Tyler Love/Melvin Ray/Alonzo Lawrence
2009 - Mike Marrow
2010 - Keiwone Malone/Alfy Hill
2011 - Duron Carter/Brent Calloway/Corey Grant
2012 - Chris Black/Caleb Gulledge/Tyler Hayes
2013 - Parker McLeod
2014 - David Cornwell
2015 - Desherrius Flowers/Adonis Thomas/Mekhi Brown/Kendall Sheffield/Blake Barnett
2016 - Ben Davis/Shawndarius Jennings/BJ Emmons

2007: Rolando McClain
2008: Rolando McClain
2009: Mark Ingram
2010: Julio Jones
2011: Barrett Jones
2012: Dee Milliner
2013: AJ McCarron
2014: Blake Sims
2015: Derrick Henry
2016: Reuben Foster
2017: Rashaan Evans

at all the people mentioning DJ Hall. He was a cancer.

Too lazy to go year by year, but 2 of my all time favorites from the Saban era are Javier Arenas and Rashaan Evans.

Arenas was known for his punt return abilities, but my favorite thing about him was his ability to tackle in the open field. Pound for pound I don't think I have ever seen someone tackle so well in the open field. If he got a hand on you, it was over. His corner blitz was a thing of beauty

Evans impressed me when he chose Alabama. To grow up in Auburn your entire life and be an Auburn fan, have both parents attend AU and raise you in the shadow of the stadium, to choose Bama and use your head over your heart had to be difficult. From reading several articles, when Auburn was recruiting him the main thing they kept telling him was he would start immediately. Bama explained how he was perfect for their system and how he would fit into it. Also, that with the right work ethic etc, what his likelihood of moving into the NFL would be. Paid off for him too.

As a passionate Bama fan, it would be sooooo hard for me to spurn what my heart was telling me vs what made sense in your brain. So happy to see him come, flourish, and make it to the NFL.

quote:

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Arenas was known for his punt return abilities

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The crazy thing was he was recruited to Alabama to be a RB by Shula. He played sparingly in '06 but ran his first couple of punts back for TDs toward the end of the season. Despite this, he was thinking about transferring when newly-arrived Coach Saban convinced him to stay and play defensive back.

Not only did he become perhaps one of the most prolific punt returners in the history of the SEC, but he was also one of the best DBs of the Saban Era as well. People forget he was an All-American CB his last season at Alabama.

Just from scanning this thread, my underappreciated team is:

Kevin Norwood
DJ Fluker
Eddie Jackson
JK Scott
Trent Richardson
Eddie Lacy
Marcel Dareus
Ha-Ha Clinton Dix
Vinnie Sunseri