Al.com's Alabama's Greatest 100 Football Players: 2016 Season Update

After I got to #85 AJ McCarron I quit looking..What AJ did on the college level was as impressive as any one player has ever accomplished & he has the rings to back that up..Plus..His NFL career is far from over & he hasn't yet finished that chapter of his life..AJ at #85 is laughable..

The list has way too much emphasis on the Pro-career yet in other places the College career is over-inflated. I was just looking at it by 'Athletic/Skill' position rankings:

Quarterbacks:
Cam Newton
Joe Namath
Ken Stabler
Bart Starr
Pat Sullivan
Harry Gilmer
Jameis Winston
Riley Smith
Philip Rivers
AJ McCarron

Newton #1 All-Time......AJ dead last....LOL...are you kidding me?

Running Backs:
Bo Jackson
Tucker Frederickson
Derrick Henry
Shaun Alexander
Johnny Musso
Mark Ingram
Joe Cribbs
]William Andrews
Trent Richardson
Stephen Davis
Cadillac Williams

Shaun should be #2 and Henry and Ingram #3-4.......WHERE is BOBBY HUMPHREY???!!!! Or Ken Darby Or T.J. Yeldon?? or Even Lacy??

Wide Receivers:
Don Hutson
Terrell Owens
John Stallworth
Terry Beasley
Julio Jones
Roddy White
Amari Cooper

Coop is dead last? Are you SERIOUS. He's the best WR I've ever seen at Alabama or Auburn. WHERE is DJ HALL??? or David Palmer??

Linebackers:
Derrick Thomas
Maxie Baughan
Cornelius Bennett
Lee Roy Jordan
Kevin Greene
DeMarcus Ware
Robert Brazile
Ronald McKinnon
DeMeco Ryans
Robert Mathis
C.J. Mosley
E.J. Junior
Rolando McClain
Takeo Spikes
Adalius ThomasE

Maxie Baughan ahead of Biscuit??!! LOL?? McClain being near the bottom?

Defensive Backs:
Hanford Dixon
Carlos Rogers
Eric Davis
Cortland Finnegan
Landon Collins
Wes Hopkins
Antonio Langham
Speedy Duncan
Bobby Hunt

WHERE are Jeremiah Castille, George Teague, Mark Barron, Roman Harper, Robert Lester, Dre Kirkpatrick and Dee Milliner....OR John Mangum and Steve Higginbotham???????

tusks_n_raider said:

The list has way too much emphasis on the Pro-career yet in other places the College career is over-inflated.

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This is exactly what I was thinking. Henry seems to have been graded high because of college production(since hes done very little in the NFL) but AJ is ranked low seemingly because he hasn't done much in the NFL? while he didn't get a Heisman he still had a hell of a career. Any list like this is hard though. Even ranking RBs under Saban is borderline impossible. Completely depends on whatever arbitrary criteria you choose.

Yeah, David Palmer being left off the list is particularly egregious.

That's NOT how I would RANK the Top/Greatest Alabama football players. A lot of this is opinion and my opinion would be different from whoever did this ranking.

I only wish Bo Jackson had gone to Bama! I think he may have been the best athlete to ever come out of the state of Alabama.

Since we can't have a Pro day with all of them present in their PRIME, I find it difficult to rank them.

One question: would Maxie Baughan have played for GT if Coach Bryant had been at Bama a few years earlier?

Yep! Julio is way too low. Another question: where did Ed Dyas go to medical school?

Al A Bama said:

That's NOT how I would RANK the Top/Greatest Alabama football players. A lot of this is opinion and my opinion would be different from whoever did this ranking.

I only wish Bo Jackson had gone to Bama! I think he may have been the best athlete to ever come out of the state of Alabama.

Since we can't have a Pro day with all of them present in their PRIME, I find it difficult to rank them.

One question: would Maxie Baughan have played for GT if Coach Bryant had been at Bama a few years earlier?

Yep! Julio is way too low. Another question: where did Ed Dyas go to medical school?

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I think all of us Alabama fans would admit that about Bo. I think he should be #1 on the entire list. He was an absolute freak mode beast. I know the list is just about football but he was also and amazing Baseball player.

Agree about Julio being waaaay to low as well. But I also think Cooper is waaaay to low. I'm probably in the minority but I think Coop is actually better than Julio as a pure WR. Coop has the better college career and his 1st two NFL seasons are almost identical to Julio's except for TD's.

I know Julio is considered the 'best' WR in the NFL right now.....and that's probably true. He's a freak no doubt....But I won't be shocked if Cooper surpasses him at some point barring any injury. Coop just EMBARRASSES DB's in the NFL already. Just flat breaks their ankles on route moves. I love both guys though.

TideEngineer08 said:

Yeah, David Palmer being left off the list is particularly egregious.

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Bobby Humphrey being left off is just as egregious and mind boggling.

I just CANNOT believe Humph isn't on the list??? Had almost 4,000 career all-purpose yards and 40 TD's for us.....THEN...He became Denver's 1st ever back-back 1,000 yrd rusher his 1st 2 seasons before his career derailed. He actually would have been ROTY in 1989 if not for Barry Sanders.

IMHO he was our Best RB ever until Shaun arrived. He's STILL gotta be Top 4-5. He's #3 in career Rushing yards, #4 in single season Rushing yards. Has 3 games over 200 yards rushing which is more than anyone. The only place he's not Top 5 is Total rushing TD's. He's 7th with 33. Though the difference between 4th and 7th is 4 TD's.

Darby and Hall should not be on that list.

Frankly, neither should Lacy or Yeldon.


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RTR91 said:

Since the list appears to be awards-based, how does Nick Fairley get ranked 76 with this bio?

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Plus he played in West Georgia.

CrimsonProf said:

Darby and Hall should not be on that list.

Frankly, neither should Lacy or Yeldon.


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Hall is 2nd All-Time in receptions, 2nd All-Time in yards, and 3rd All-Time in TD's for us......Sr season work ethic aside he has the resume.

Darby is mainly lacking TD's on his resume. But he's also 4th in All-Time rushing yards playing behind Shula offensive lines. He's at least an Honorable Mention

Yeldon is 5th in All-Time Rushing yards in 1 less season than Darby, Humphrey, and Shaun. The difference between 5th and 1st is less than 300 yards. He's also 4th in rushing TD's. He's ahead of Trent in both categories in equal 3 year spans.

Lacy is the only one I can't make a strong case for. For us he was sort of a One-Hit wonder in 2012....and mainly at the end of that season. His NFL career still has promise.

Of those 4 specifically though Hall and Yeldon deserve spots.

Bo Jackson was a great athlete but he is ranked just about right, maybe a bit too high. Much of the thought about him is potential, which he did not reach because of injury. He doesn't come close to John Hanna, Derrick Thomas or especially Don Hutson who was the Babe Ruth of the NFL and STILL has numerous NFL records and until Jerry Rice had many more. That was almost 60 years after Hutson retired. Unbelievable. He's still regarded as the greatest Packer of all time.

Cam Newton is ranked FAR too high.

IMO, Bobby Humphrey's exclusion is the greatest travesty, then the WAY too low ranking of Julio and Amari.

There are several old timers who are way too high, especially AU ones.I guess they tried to even things out with Bama. It was hard to do: Bama ended up with about a 47-28 advantage and most of the top selections. That was one area they got right . The advantage should be greater though.

Did someone say Duron Carter????? LOL

Humphrey should be on the list, for sure. Julio was way too low and I think Bo should be #1.

tusks_n_raider said:

I think all of us Alabama fans would admit that about Bo. I think he should be #1 on the entire list. He was an absolute freak mode beast. I know the list is just about football but he was also and amazing Baseball player.

Agree about Julio being waaaay to low as well. But I also think Cooper is waaaay to low. I'm probably in the minority but I think Coop is actually better than Julio as a pure WR. Coop has the better college career and his 1st two NFL seasons are almost identical to Julio's except for TD's.

I know Julio is considered the 'best' WR in the NFL right now.....and that's probably true. He's a freak no doubt....But I won't be shocked if Cooper surpasses him at some point barring any injury. Coop just EMBARRASSES DB's in the NFL already. Just flat breaks their ankles on route moves. I love both guys though.

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I love Cooper and he is and will continue to be a great WR. But Julio has a physical skill set that Cooper will never have and that will probably keep Cooper from ever being as good as Julio.