42 day before kickoff
Major Ogilvie, Don McClain, Lee Ozmint , Myron Pope, Paul Pickett, Juwan Simpson, Adrian Hubbard, Keith Holcombe any many others share the 42 jersey but today we salute Eddie Lacy.
#42 Eddie Darwin Lacy, Jr. a running back for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He was a member of three BCS National Championship teams, and was drafted by the Packers in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft.
Lacy attended and graduated from Dutchtown High School in Geismar, Louisiana. Backfield partner Trent Richardson told reporters that Lacy's spin move is what separates him from other backs: "It's the nastiest spin move ever." The move has earned Lacy the nickname "Circle Button" based on the button on PlayStation's video games that triggers a spin move.
It has been 11 years since Katrina ripped away the only life Eddie Lacy and his family knew, and some wounds still haven't healed for him. "I never really talk about it. Ever.” "I just don't like to. Why would I?" Asked to keep it forward-looking, Lacy reconsidered. Somewhat.
"Oh, you want to talk about the positive stuff?" he asked. There is a good ending, after all.
Lacy, 26, has done his best to tuck away his teenage memories about that Sunday night in 2005 when wind, rain, terror and fear ripped through the family's Gretna, La., house and left it for naught.
The house's foundation cracked. Furniture was ruined. Mold made its way up the walls. Water took down everything in its wake. The few valuables that were inside and not packed in a pinch, including Lacy's change-filled piggybank, were taken by looters. The people who could afford the least had suffered the most.
"Having your life taken from you in a matter of hours, everything gets left behind …" he said, his voice trailing off. "I hate reliving it."
Lacy's family did what it could to survive, and though the family moved dozens of times to wherever it could safely stay for a while – going as far as Texas to have a temporary roof over its heads. The family was not going to let a storm push it away from the place it knew was home. The family finally received a FEMA trailer.
Through college scholarships and national championships, a signing bonus and NFL rookie of the year award, the trailer provided a roof over his family's head and little else. Even after the Packers made him rich, Eddie Jr. slept on the sofa. When he visited his parents during the offseason, all 5-foot-11, 230 pounds spread out each night inside their cramped trailer. Comfort was unattainable.
From the day he received his signing bonus, Eddie Jr. urged his parents to find a house. He asked every day, in every way. Their only hesitancy was timing. Wait until a second contract, his mother told him.
Finally, he gave them no choice. Either his parents would start the house hunt, or he'd do it himself
In late August 2014, Wanda and Eddie Sr. moved into their new home in Geismar, about 20 miles south of Baton Rouge. Eddie Jr, the third of four Lacy children, insisted on paying for his parents' home. On the day they hired a building contractor, Wanda thanked her son over and over until Eddie Jr. asked her to stop thanking him. Then she thanked him some more. The house meant more than four walls and a roof. For the Lacys, it brought back long-lost peace. When his parents moved into their home. They sent pictures, too many pictures to count, so many pictures he had to ask them to stop. He wanted to leave some surprise for the first time he saw the house in person.
"Now our home is able to be open and offered to the family should someone need somewhere to stay," Wanda says. "People were able to do that for us, family and new friends that we met. So now we're in a position. Should that happen, the doors are always open."
Wanda thinks about the past ten years. The valleys, the winding paths in their road. They only made this new reality even sweeter.
"I feel as though the Lord blessed us with double our troubles," she says. "We had a nice, three-bedroom home, and now this one is even bigger. Little by little, He's replacing everything that we lost, and that's through our son. We're so grateful that he can have a peace about it. He can know that, 'I can build new memories here. My parents can build new memories here.' Not to forget the old, because you never want to forget your past, but you build from that."
Her voicemail is a beacon of hope. In a cheerful tone, Wanda starts off traditionally enough. She asks for name, number and message — the usual.
Before signing off, Wanda offers a message herself.
"Remember," she says, "God is able. There's never a situation that is too hard for him. Only believe."
41
Shannon Felder and Roman Harper are honored to have worn the 41 jersey but Courtney Upshaw is the man of the day.
https://youtu.be/F1mtQLZ3dEA
#41 Courtney Upshaw an All American linebacker from Eufaula, Alabama..
In the 2012 BCS National Championship Game, Upshaw was named the defensive MVP with his seven tackle performance, which included one sack and one tackle for a loss.
Upshaw was taken by the Baltimore Ravens with the third pick of the second round (35th overall) in the 2012 NFL Draft.
Courtney Upshaw once lived in a house with no electricity or running water. He slept some nights on a worn couch that barely contained his growing frame. He arrived at the University of Alabama with little more than the clothes he was wearing.
April 26, 2012 was supposed to be the night Upshaw would be rewarded for his perseverance. Yet as he sat in Radio City Music Hall in New York City, surrounded by friends and family, Upshaw fought back tears. He watched four of his college teammates become first-round draft picks. Upshaw kept waiting but his name wasn't called that night.
"I had high hopes and honestly I got teary-eyed," Upshaw said. "We went back to the hotel and we really prayed and we were hoping that Baltimore would draft me. It was a really tough night."
In March, Courtney signed a one year contract with Atlanta. Upshaw will be trying to stop Carolina Panthers and former Auburn quarterback Cam Newton.
In their only Iron Bowl meeting, Upshaw sacked Newton three times as he led Alabama with 10 tackles. Newton had the last word in that game, even though of the players in the Crimson Tide's defensive statistics that day, seven are now NFL starters, two are reserves and two more are on practice squads. The Iron Bowl victory keep Auburn marching on its way to the BCS national championship for the 2010 season.
Upshaw said he's exciting about playing in the Georgia Dome again. "I've played in some big games there and won. It'll be great to play in front of my family and Bama fans every week."
Career information
High school: Eufaula (AL)
College: Alabama
NFL draft: 2012 / Round: 2 / Pick: 35
Career history
Baltimore Ravens (2012–2015)
Atlanta Falcons (2016–present)
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
Super Bowl champion (XLVII)
First-team All-American (2011)
First-team All-SEC (2011)
2× BCS national champion (2009, 2011)
SEC champion (2009)
40 days until kickoff
"My favorite moment as an Alabama player was when Greg Richardson caught a pass, tried to get out of bounds, but he didn't," Wright said. "Our field-goal team rushed onto the field, Van Tiffin kicked the winning field goal from about 50 yards in Legion Field and we beat Auburn. That was my best moment."
There's something else Wright will never forget - not a "best," but certainly a life-changing moment in more ways than he realized at the time.
... After his Alabama career, Wright was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the seventh round in 1988. He spent two years with the Bills and another with the Indianapolis Colts before joining the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League as a running back/linebacker. He was back in Mobile visiting his parents after the Storm won the 1991 AFL championship when he was shot.
"Dec. 19, 1991, I'll never forget," Wright said. "I was talking to this guy in a car. I knew him, but I didn't know the guy in the passenger's seat. When I turned to walk away from the car, I took about six steps and - pow! -- a shot went off. It hit me in the back of the leg and came out right there.
"I was in the hospital for 31 days. Some people get shot in the leg and go home the same day. I've got scars all over my body, all up my stomach, all up my leg."
Though he could still walk, Wright's football career was over.
"That was a tough pill to swallow," he said. "It's like a surgeon who uses his hands to do operations, and he wakes up in the morning and, all of a sudden, his hands, he can't use them. That was me. I was an athlete. My team was world champions. I came home to visit my parents, and, in the twinkling of an eye, I was shot in the leg for no apparent reason. I had been gone for eight years. I really didn't know a whole lot of people around there, and he said he was trying to shoot on the side of me to scare me."
"It took my life," Wright said of the shooting. "I went into a state of depression. I started feeling sorry for myself. I started dabbling in some drugs, the street life. Life just went whew. My life took a turn for the worse."
"But when I was in the NFL, I didn't have Jesus in my life. My point is: My life now is better than when I was playing for the Buffalo Bills. People don't believe it. They can't fathom that in their minds. But it's the God's honest truth. My life today 2014 is better now than it was in 1988 when I was playing for the Buffalo Bills. That's amazing. And it's all because of God and his son, Jesus."
"I thank God, because through all of that misery and pain and uncertainty, I got to know who my Lord and Savior is."
Which is why Wright said he'd take his life now over the one he had before he was shot.
Wright now works with disadvantaged youth to help show them a better path in life.
39 days until kickoff.
We honor Ester James Junior, III was born in Salisbury, North Carolina, and grew up in Nashville, Tennessee Maplewood high school. The former All American linebacker spent thirteen seasons during the 1980s and 1990s in the NFL. He was selected in the first round of the 1981 NFL Draft, and played professionally for the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Dolphins,Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Seattle Seahawks.
Former Alabama running back Bobby Humphrey and for...mer Tide linebacker E.J. Junior are among 75 players and six coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision placed on the 2017 College Football Hall of Fame Ballot.
The SEC Defensive Player of the Year as a senior in 1980, Junior earned consensus All-America honors and was a Lombardi Award finalist in his final campaign for the Tide. A member of Bear Bryant's final two national championship squads, Junior ended his career with 39.0 tackles for loss, which was the Alabama career record at that time.
"We had a great, great group of guys at Alabama," Junior said during an appearance on Wednesday on "The Johnny 'Ballpark' Franks Show" on WNSR-AM 560 in Nashville. "When you think about Barry Krauss, Tony Nathan, Ozzie Newsome, Bob Cryder, Jim Bunch, Don McNeal, Dwight Stephenson – it's humbling to know that I played with all these great guys. To be considered a Hall of Fame-type player, you have to look at the people that were surrounding me.Other teams would run away from those guys and run to me, and I'd make a tackle now and then." Those guys made me look good. I'd say 95 percent of the time they made me look real good. All I had to do was just do my job."
"I got my chance to come to the University of Alabama, to see the campus," Junior said. "And then Coach Bryant shot straight from the hip. He said, 'I can't promise you playing time. I can't promise you'll ever play. But I promise you'll get a quality education.' That's what got me."
"It was by God's grace that I played that long," he said. "But I had an ace in my pocket because I still had my education.
"That's what Coach Bryant stressed. That's what I stress to my players. I tell them you need that degree. You can star in the NFL, but the biggest enemy any professional athlete has is too much time and money. It creates a void in your life." The former Bama great is in his second year on the Delaware State staff. In addition to serving as the Hornets’ defensive line coach, he has been assigned as Director of Player Development.
38 days
This was a tough call. The hardest hitting defensive in Alabama history Vernon Wilkerson and a player that walked away from the NFL to become a paratrooper assigned to Army Ranger School, which trains elite soldiers, Glenn Coffee. Sorry gentlemen, make room for my home boy.
#38 Patrick Stephen Hape from Killen Al. Brooks High School is a former fullback and tight end for the Denver Broncos, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Houston Texans of the NFL. Patrick was drafted in ...1997 / Round: 5 / Pick: 137.
Hard work and a willingness to do the little things paid off big for Patrick Hape during his playing days. The former Brooks and Alabama football standout now works as a financial advisor for Merrill Lynch in Birmingham.
“I get to work sometimes at 3:30 in the morning,” Hape said. “Some people I work with compare me to the Will Smith character in ‘The Pursuit of Happyness.’ I wasn’t the most talented player, so I had to work hard and do the little things to make it and that’s what I trying to do now.” Hape said his parents taught him to work hard. That work ethic was also influenced by his coaches at Brooks.
“When I was young I worked on a hog farm and in a junkyard, so I learned to work hard,” “I went to a camp at Alabama before my senior season,” Hape said. “My high school coach, Coach Willis had always stressed doing the little things, so that’s what I was determined to do at the camp. When he were catching passes and doing drills I was sprinting back hard every time and really working hard.
“After camp, Coach (Gene) Stallings wanted me to join him in his golf cart. He told me he wasn’t sure if I could play a lick of football, but with the way I worked they could make a football player out of me. He said they had 20 scholarships to give out, but it was only 19 now because one of them was mine. That sold me on Alabama.”
“Whenever I talk to Coach Stallings he always kids me,” Hape said. “He tells me I’m his claim to fame because if he was able to get me to play in the NFL then he must have been a heck of a coach.
“I was really lucky my entire football career. I was always just in the right place at the right time.”
Now 41, Hape lives in Birmingham with his wife, Jennifer, seven-year-old son Carson and four-year-old daughter Taylor.
Hape still enjoys watching football and has been able to stay close to the game through his job. One group he works with includes several college and NFL coaches, which has allowed him to attend events such as the NFL Scouting Combine and the Senior Bowl.
“It is fun being around the game again,” he said. “It’s funny, but I even enjoy being around those smells again. Most people would think that is a bad smell, but I enjoy it because it brings back a lot of great memories for me.”
It’s kinda like the quote from movie Apocalypse Now. “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” We football players love the smell of stinky pads and fresh cut grass. It’s time for 2 a days to start.
We may see that picture surface again in 25 days :cool2:That nr 12 guy looks familiar. But I just can't place him. :wink:
37 days of training camp before kickoff
Kevin Lee, Robert Lester, Shaun “The Great” Alexander and Rory Turner are a few players to wear the 37 in Crimson.
There was little to smile about for the University of Alabama football team in 1984. The Crimson Tide’s first losing season in 27 years. Until the Auburn Tigers came to town for the Iron bowl.
... With 3:27 to play and Auburn trailing 17-15, the ball went to Brent Fullwood on that fourth-and-goal play from the 1. Bo Jackson, who misheard the call, ran left while the play went right. A freshman safety from Atlanta, whose nickname was “The Black Assassin”, made what proved to be a game-saving tackle when he nailed Auburn’s Brent Fullwood for a three yard loss.
Turner, like many observers, was surprised that the Tigers didn’t try a field goal on the play. “I was thinking field goal all the way,” he said. “But I’m sure coach Dye and his staff had a lot of faith in their front line. “They knew what they were doing. We were just able to stop them.”
On the play in question, Jackson was supposed to be the lead blocker for Fullwood, but went the wrong way. Tide cornerback Vernon Wilkinson made the initial hit on Fullwood, then Turner applied the coup de grace.
“I took advantage of the hole and just waxed the dude (Fullwood).” Tuner said. “I tried to take his head off. Click Here to relive the moment , https://youtu.be/W5dtXW-PolE
“When we were in the huddle, we said a little prayer. And when the play came my way, I knew it was just something I had to do and that was it. After the play, I took time to thank God again.”
It's been 30 years since the 1984 Iron Bowl and "Wrong Way Bo" is still one of the most memorable episodes in the series, along with "Punt, Bama, Punt" in 1972, Kenny Stabler's run the through the mud in 1967, Bo Over the Top in 1982, Van Tiffin's game-winning kick in 1985, The Cam-back in 2010 and Chris Davis' Kick 6.
Ask Rory Turner and he’ll say, “This is the sweetest victory we’ve ever had.” “It’s good to go out and end the season on a winning note. We wanted it and I’m sure that had something to do with it.”