David Palmer Ranked #100 Best Bama Football Player?!?!

Tidewater

Hall of Fame
Mar 15, 2003
22,401
13,177
287
Hooterville, Vir.
You had to SEE him play and the affect he had in games when our offenses were VERY conservative and average at best. He never had close to the type of surrounding talent we have had lately. He was ELECTRIC and sparked not only the crowd but the team.
For the young'uns (or those with bad memories).
Man, he was fun to watch.
 

teamplayer

Hall of Fame
Jul 31, 2001
7,571
2,329
282
cullman, al, usa
Palmer coming back in 1994 is one of the great what ifs of my lifetime. I do think he puts us over the top against Florida. As for winning an NC? Well you had Penn State obligated to the Rose Bowl to play Oregon. That still would have occurred. Nebraska, as part of the Bowl Alliance (Big Ten and Pac Ten weren't members) could have gone to the Sugar Bowl to play Alabama. Maybe Selma can help here. I think Alabama was ranked #3 going into that Florida game. That ranking would have held with a win. I think the Sugar Bowl would have been #2 Nebraska, and #3 Alabama. I'm not sure we could have beaten the Huskers. But this wasn't the juggernaut Nebraska that crushed Florida the next season, so maybe we would have had a shot. I think we would have garnered at least a share of the title if Penn State had also beaten Oregon as they did in reality.

As for this ranking, I agree Palmer should be higher. But as electric and exciting as he was, I'm not sure he should be top 10. Just from off the top of my head, I'd rank Amari Cooper, Julio Jones, Derrick Henry, Cam Newton, Bo Jackson, Shaun Alexander, Chris Samuels, Barrett Jones, Derrick Thomas, and Cornelius Bennett higher than The Deuce. But he'd be at least top 25, IMO.
I agree with top 25-30 range because he was electric, but there are so many great players who have played in this state. As for him coming back in 94, I think he would have either put us over the top to win another title or would have been a distraction off the field who caused problems. I did enjoy watching that video, Tidewater, so thanks for that. Those were during my days at the Capstone. I still remember going to Birmingham to play La. Tech in the rain, and I told friends we were going to watch two really good defenses and see Palmer, who was returning from one of his DUI suspensions. I nailed the predictions because our great defense shut them out, and their very solid defense held us to 13 points, and 7 of those came on a Palmer punt return TD and extra point. We won 13-0 on a rainy fall day in the old grey lady. Good memories!
 

BamaMoon

Hall of Fame
Apr 1, 2004
20,932
15,935
282
Boone, NC
He was electric. I was there at LF and saw him rip out the Vol's heart when they thought they had finally ended one of our long streaks against them.

I asked this in another thread, but I can only imagine how CLK might have used him in his offense. With today's player development and Kiffin's brilliance, he could have been another Cooper or Ridley.
 

gamersfuel

All-American
Jan 20, 2008
4,174
89
72
Auburn/near a cow pasture
that guy was so fun to watch. i recall several times, he would make 2-3 defenders miss tackles within 1 yard of each other. it was like watching a comedy sketch. he's the shiftiest, quickest cutting player i have ever seen. truly amazing.
 

bama2112

All-American
Nov 19, 2006
2,016
290
107
Cobb County, Ga.
I wonder if the Birmingham News is hurting that much financially, the crap thats on the AL.com site is a joke , its bout the best and worst of Alabama. I stopped clicking on the list after I saw the first 20, and I refuse to read anything written by Scab anymore. It seems the content from the paper has taken a nose dive in the past 6 months. I never pick up a copy of the print version, I would hope it not as bad.
 

Chukker Veteran

Hall of Fame
Feb 6, 2001
10,594
5,067
287
I'm trying to put myself if Scab's position. He's been covering the same sports beat for years now. I would imagine coming up with something new to discuss during the off-season, year after year, could be a challenge.

He's written plenty of stuff that I don't like but occasionally he will write something that makes sense. Trying to rank Bama's players on a top 100 list is simply impossible...or even making a list that 75% of Bama fans would agree with seems equally impossible. But it certainly kicks off a lively (and extremely fun for Bama fans) debate about the merits and accomplishments of the top players we've been blessed with over the years.

Watching the Palmer highlight clip Tidewater was kind enough to post...I have to admit it gave me chill bumps remembering how well Palmer could play...our first game can't kickoff soon enough. If Scab's goal was to decide on a definitive ranking list that was going to be an uphill climb. But if his goal was to ramp up excitement and anticipation about the pending football season, I think he did a good job.
 

RTR91

Super Moderator
Nov 23, 2007
39,407
6
0
Prattville
I'm trying to put myself if Scab's position. He's been covering the same sports beat for years now. I would imagine coming up with something new to discuss during the off-season, year after year, could be a challenge.

He's written plenty of stuff that I don't like but occasionally he will write something that makes sense. Trying to rank Bama's players on a top 100 list is simply impossible...or even making a list that 75% of Bama fans would agree with seems equally impossible. But it certainly kicks off a lively (and extremely fun for Bama fans) debate about the merits and accomplishments of the top players we've been blessed with over the years.

Watching the Palmer highlight clip Tidewater was kind enough to post...I have to admit it gave me chill bumps remembering how well Palmer could play...our first game can't kickoff soon enough. If Scab's goal was to decide on a definitive ranking list that was going to be an uphill climb. But if his goal was to ramp up excitement and anticipation about the pending football season, I think he did a good job.
First, Kevin didn't do this list by himself. Several writers for al.com created a criteria/ranking system and went off it to rank the players.

Second, the list isn't solely about UA players. It's about football players that either were from Alabama and played at an out of state school or players that played for an Alabama college.
 

Chukker Veteran

Hall of Fame
Feb 6, 2001
10,594
5,067
287
First, Kevin didn't do this list by himself. Several writers for al.com created a criteria/ranking system and went off it to rank the players.

Second, the list isn't solely about UA players. It's about football players that either were from Alabama and played at an out of state school or players that played for an Alabama college.
Thanks for the clarification.

I do think the point I was getting at still is on target. The ranking list was intended to spur excitement about the upcoming season rather than make a definitive list.
 

Alasippi

Suspended
Aug 31, 2007
12,875
2
57
Ocean Springs, MS
I'm not even going to look at the list and I'll rank my top ten:
(1) Bo Jackson
(2) Kenny Stabler
(3) Joe Namath
(4) John Hannah
(5) Derrick Thomas
(6) Johnny Musso
(7) Pat Sullivan
(8) Terry Beasley
(9) Derrick Henry
(10)Tucker Fredrickson
 

formersoldier71

All-American
May 9, 2004
3,829
152
87
53
Jasper, AL
For the young'uns (or those with bad memories).
Man, he was fun to watch.
I have to comment on two of those plays.

At the 1:18 point in the video, the TD run against the barn, I was in the 3rd row down by the goal line on that side of the field. Amazing play to be that close to; I couldn't believe he got into the end zone.

On the 2-point run against the vols, as the stadium erupted and people started hollering and jumping around, it seemed like it was raining coca-cola. I smelled like a distillery afterwards from all of the umm, augmented coke that had splashed on me. And the state of the vols fans leaving Legion Field was priceless.
 

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