RIP: Linnie Patrick

He got better after Coach Bryant got his mind right but he didn’t become the superduperstar he had the chops to be. Still a hell of a back at his best, had memorable runs late in the 315 game in the Iron Bowl.

Yep, He hopped, skipped, and jumped for about 30 yards on a great run when the game was on the line.

From a little Googling, he worked for a trucking company in Midfield for a long time, coached youth football, had two sons who were pretty fair players and expressed that he wished he could do his Bama career over again knowing what he knew as a grownup.

IMO he’d have done better going to an I team where he could be “the man” rather than a wishbone team where ninety-leven people were going to carry the ball.

1981

I was so thrilled when he signed with us. RBs of his stature never signed with Coach Bryant because of the Wishbone.
Linnie broke that pattern and committed to us. I was sure he would win a Heisman at Alabama, but alas.
RIP Linnie you died too young.

I played against Linnie twice in HS.He torched us for about 360 yards in thatgame his Sr years. One of his long runs he smoked me at the LoS and I tacked nothing but air. I played with him at Alabama and got to see both the good and bad sides of Linnie. He stayed in Coach Bryant's dog house for much of his Soph and Jr years.

Last scrimmage of camp before the season started, Coach Bryant and Jim Goosetree gave him a chance to earn his way back on the field, his last chance. He had to run two laps of stadium steps around Bryant Denny holding a cinder block in each hand. He did it, his fingers were bloody and his calves were cramping but he fought his way back onto the field. This was his second suspension in about 8 months. He missed the bowl game after his earlier issue.

This is the link to his sister’s Facebook page where she announced it. I’ve not seen any other media outlet pick it up. How soon they forget.

LINK

Crimson Crazy,during the Fall of 1981 thru Summer of 1982, Coach Bryant had to deal with an unusual number of serious issues that involved several frontline players. 4 or five were kicked off of the team and sent home for a time.The majority of them earned their way back onto the team.

Two were involved in "discharging" a shotgun at a couple of law school students after a trafic issue. They were handled internally as Coach Bryant said they did not break any "team rules". There were several who had issues with Mary Jane and also issues with missing or being late for team meetings There was also a car being shot in the parking lot of SideTrack with a sawed-off shotgun late one night during pre-season camp. The owner of the car had a confrontation in the club with the player that peppered the car. All of this took place the year before Coach Bryant's final season.

I dont think he was into practice. Bo Jackson was the same way at the barn, but Pat Dye knew he would show up on game day, so he told his assistant coaches to back off of him in practice.