Who Is The Best Bama Player That You Can Remember?

[ihatefulmer]

Cornelius Bennett . PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!!! DT had more sacks than CB but that guy hustled. I've seen him rush the qb then end up on the tackle on a wr 25 yards down field. Now that is HEART!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[GA_Tide]

I remember the first game Pro played. Seems like he didn't get in until the second half. They tried to get him the ball on a screen and nothing really happened. But there were 2 plays were ran across the field and I would say he blocked somebody, but it was more like he packaged up all the possible kinetic energy available and destroyed the person in front of him.

I turned to my wife and said "I don't know if that guy is ever gonna be a playmaker, but he just became my favorite player on the team".

If you could transplant his attitude into all our football players we'd be champions next year.

 

[FitToBeTide]

The question was for the best (singular) player. I punted on just one. Thus my personal choices for:

Best technician/tactician: Trammell
Most fun to watch: Musso
Most talented: Namath

All 3 provided me with a lot of football enjoyment.

 

[Moon Winx]

It's fun to think back about all the players who have worn the Crimson. I have seen a lot of outstanding players at Bama over the years. My choices would be the Snakeman from Foley, Leroy "If they stay in bounds he'll get em" Jordan, and Dennis "Snake throws it too far sometimes but He'll catch it anyway" Homan.

 

[LCN]

I forget WILLIE (OR WON'T HE) SHELBY and WILBUR JACKSON

"... stud ." - CPBB

 

[Ugobama]

Shaun Alexander and Tyrone Prothro.

 

[crimson_blood]

Shaun Alexander and Tyrone Prothro.

Prothro was awesome...and he is in IMO a sad case of what COULD HAVE been. He was playing about as well as anyone I can remember that year up until the play he got hurt in the UF game. I still cringe when I think about it. I cringe even more when I think about how good he would have been and how he could have helped us win those last 2 games. Shoulda, woulda, coulda...

 

[JDCrimson]

1) Derrick Thomas - probably the most all-around gifted athlete we have ever had on campus
2) Cornelius Bennett - same description only slightly bigger.
3) David Palmer
4) Chris Samuels
5) Shaun Alexander - I did not truly recognize how good he was while at Bama until I saw him put similar production in the pros.

 

[BAMA1979]

1) Derrick Thomas - probably the most all-around gifted athlete we have ever had on campus
2) Cornelius Bennett - same description only slightly bigger.
3) David Palmer
4) Chris Samuels
5) Shaun Alexander - I did not truly recognize how good he was while at Bama until I saw him put similar production in the pros.

This list looks pretty good. I wasn't around to watch the teams of the 60's and 70's so these guys are about the best I've seen.

 

[califbamafan]

There are so many it is hard to pick just 1 or 2 but here goes

1. Leroy Jordan
2. Joe Namath
3. Johny Musso
4. Snake
5. Derrick Thomas:BigA:

 

[Bama63]

Defense: Lee Roy
Offense: Joe Willie

RTR

 

[Boclive]

Tyrone Prothro.

 

[CrimsonBleedRed]

What really brings a :biggrin: and a tear to my eye, is that Alabama has had some many truly great/special players to come through the university that it is hard to put who's the greatest.

Offense:
Snake/Broadway/Starr/Shaun/Bobby Humphrey and Ozzie Newsome are my greatest offensive players of all time.

Defensive:
Thomas/Griffin/Teague/Ryans/

K/P
Bearden/Tiffin/Proctor

Those would be my greatest players in history at the University.

 

[bama61]

Man, there are so many, but just to name a few,

RB Bobby Marlow – tough, mean, and fast. Bobby Dodd and Shug Jordan each said he was the best back they’d ever coached against, he was one of my very favorite players.

Lee Roy Jordan – The most intense player I ever saw or met. A far better athlete than many realize, he was a single-wing tailback in high school. I was once told by a guy who had played against Lee Roy that “he hurts you every play…”

Billy Neighbors – he came to play. Funny as hell off the field, there was nothing funny about him when he played.

Pat Trammell – simply a natural leader and gifted athletically. Trammel was MVP of the state basketball tournament in high school and an excellent defensive back when he played both ways as a sophomore.

Namath – the pre-knee injury Namath was as smooth an operator on the option as one could ask for and could play DB if he was called on to do so. Did I mention he could chunk that pigskin too?

Cornelius Bennett/Derrick Thomas – Wow….just wow! Redefined the position. I mention them together because it almost seemed like one took up where the other left off. What a pair of hitters!

E.J. Junior – Could have starred at nearly any position, he was that damned good. Nuff said.

Tommy Wilcox – Despite rave reviews, he was under rated in terms of what he contributed to my way of thinking. When a big play was needed, more often than not he came up with it. May have been the deadliest ever on the safety blitz, he made a real “impression” on some opposing QBs.

Ozzie Newsome – he earned that sobriquet of the “Wizard of Oz”. People forget that his blocking was as good as pass catching. It was the wishbone days and blocking was his vocation, pass catching his avocation. He didn’t slack off on either one in the pros.

John Hannah – no one ever did it better.

Johnny Musso – somehow he managed to play even better than his numbers said he could. Has anyone ever put more of themselves into their performance?

David Palmer – made big plays become routine, Palmer was almost an offense all by himself.

Tyrone Prothro - sadly we all only got a glimpse of where he was taking the game before his career was cut short. I truly believe the best was yet to come.

And a few from sitting and watching the old coaching films in the university’s AV library years ago:

Millard “Dixie” Howell – need I mention that someone was throwing all those passes that Don Hutson caught? He was a triple threat tailback in the Thomas’s Notre Dame box and a dangerous runner and good punter as well as being a fine passer. He also did kick returns, and according to my parents, was a better baseball player than football player. I can’t address that part, but judging from the films, the ol’ Hartford Howitzer could get it done.
Don Hutson – certainly one of the best of all time to pull on the ‘Bama jersey. He played defense and blocked about as well as he caught passes. They also ran the “End Around” a lot in those days and Hutson had sprinters speed.

Harry Gilmer – one of my favorites from the Saturday matinee sports reels, this guy had a whole generation of kids running to the right (or left) and firing (well trying to fire) jump passes. Getting to actually watch the coaching films of him was a treat and an enlightenment. Gilmer was an excellent punter and a mercurial runner. What a dangerous kick returner he was also…

Paul Bryant – my dear old mother lied to me! She always spoke of what a nice person “Paul” was, but watching those films told an entirely different story. On the field at least, that man was large and overtly hostile. Definitely fitted the old Jake Gaither dictum of “agile, hostile, and mobile”, he played hard and took no prisoners.

There are at least as many more that should be mentioned but this is already way too long. I’ll add one sentimental favorite though:

Bimbo Melton - an HB, Melton played half a season with a broken jaw, the upper and lower jaw wired together as was the usual treatment in that era. He wore a clear plastic face mask that covered the lower part of his face which I believe earned him a nickname from some sportswriters of “the man from mars”. A pretty good ball player and definitely long on guts to still play with an injury for which the treatment put you at risk of strangling to death if you ever got nauseated.

 

[RedWave]

Too tough to narrow them all down to just one, so I will just a few at the top, in no particular order.

Offense: Jay Barker, Major O., David Palmer, Tyrone Prothro, John Hannah
Defense: Derrick Thomas, Biscuit, George Teague
Heart: Lane Bearden

 

[wishbonedays]

This is tough, but here's the short list:

Johnny Musso
Terry Davis
Derrick Thomas
Tyrone Prothro
Brodie Croyle
Steve Whitman
Keith McCants
Cornelius Bennett
Kerry Goode (pre-knee surgery) just watching him in practice was unreal
David Palmer
David Smith (maybe not the best, but I loved watching him matriculate the ball down the field)

 

[OldManFan]

What a fun question to mull on. The players I saw who seemed most blessed with unnatural talent, and who must have been the best at their positions the years they played were:

1st place tie between Namath and Hannah.

2nd place tie between Newsome and Bennett.

3rd place tie between Thomas and Samuels.

Honorable mention: Palmer and Stephenson.

 

[Rik450]

I'm going to vote ... based strictly on heart and guts alone .. for Lane Bearden. Dude was booming punts with a shredded knee. That's enough to make a grown man pee his pants just thinking about it.

I completely agree......the guy was a freak of nature. Lane Bearden play with heart, determination and guts and hit people like he was a freight truck.......I can't remember what game...but I think they replayed on the highlights his tackling of someone running down the sideline and it had the hit of the week. He was an ANIMAL!!!! Prothro also is very good......although he didnt get to play as long as the others and his time was only shown during the plays thrown to him......but I also thought if you threw it to him....he was gonna catch it no matter what. He could also lay some crazy blocks for other receivers.

 

[mailman]

Very True

1. Joe Namath
2. Snake Stabler
3. Leroy Jordan ("If he stays in bounds, Leroy will git him." CPBB)
4. John Hannah... None better at his position
5. Ozzie Newsome... best hands of all time or (Don Hutson?)

Ditto, but one is missing, no one ran harder and with more want to than Johnny Musso. His films should be required viewing for several past classes of running backs at the capstone! Granted our line blocking has been average at best, I still think J. Musso and the running back on the 92 team from New York I think, [ his name escapes me] hit the hole harder than anyone that comes to mind.

 

[mailman]

Man, there are so many, but just to name a few,

RB Bobby Marlow – tough, mean, and fast. Bobby Dodd and Shug Jordan each said he was the best back they’d ever coached against, he was one of my very favorite players.

Lee Roy Jordan – The most intense player I ever saw or met. A far better athlete than many realize, he was a single-wing tailback in high school. I was once told by a guy who had played against Lee Roy that “he hurts you every play…”

Billy Neighbors – he came to play. Funny as hell off the field, there was nothing funny about him when he played.

Pat Trammell – simply a natural leader and gifted athletically. Trammel was MVP of the state basketball tournament in high school and an excellent defensive back when he played both ways as a sophomore.

Namath – the pre-knee injury Namath was as smooth an operator on the option as one could ask for and could play DB if he was called on to do so. Did I mention he could chunk that pigskin too?

Cornelius Bennett/Derrick Thomas – Wow….just wow! Redefined the position. I mention them together because it almost seemed like one took up where the other left off. What a pair of hitters!

E.J. Junior – Could have starred at nearly any position, he was that damned good. Nuff said.

Tommy Wilcox – Despite rave reviews, he was under rated in terms of what he contributed to my way of thinking. When a big play was needed, more often than not he came up with it. May have been the deadliest ever on the safety blitz, he made a real “impression” on some opposing QBs.

Ozzie Newsome – he earned that sobriquet of the “Wizard of Oz”. People forget that his blocking was as good as pass catching. It was the wishbone days and blocking was his vocation, pass catching his avocation. He didn’t slack off on either one in the pros.

John Hannah – no one ever did it better.

Johnny Musso – somehow he managed to play even better than his numbers said he could. Has anyone ever put more of themselves into their performance?

David Palmer – made big plays become routine, Palmer was almost an offense all by himself.

Tyrone Prothro - sadly we all only got a glimpse of where he was taking the game before his career was cut short. I truly believe the best was yet to come.

And a few from sitting and watching the old coaching films in the university’s AV library years ago:

Millard “Dixie” Howell – need I mention that someone was throwing all those passes that Don Hutson caught? He was a triple threat tailback in the Thomas’s Notre Dame box and a dangerous runner and good punter as well as being a fine passer. He also did kick returns, and according to my parents, was a better baseball player than football player. I can’t address that part, but judging from the films, the ol’ Hartford Howitzer could get it done.
Don Hutson – certainly one of the best of all time to pull on the ‘Bama jersey. He played defense and blocked about as well as he caught passes. They also ran the “End Around” a lot in those days and Hutson had sprinters speed.

Harry Gilmer – one of my favorites from the Saturday matinee sports reels, this guy had a whole generation of kids running to the right (or left) and firing (well trying to fire) jump passes. Getting to actually watch the coaching films of him was a treat and an enlightenment. Gilmer was an excellent punter and a mercurial runner. What a dangerous kick returner he was also…

Paul Bryant – my dear old mother lied to me! She always spoke of what a nice person “Paul” was, but watching those films told an entirely different story. On the field at least, that man was large and overtly hostile. Definitely fitted the old Jake Gaither dictum of “agile, hostile, and mobile”, he played hard and took no prisoners.

There are at least as many more that should be mentioned but this is already way too long. I’ll add one sentimental favorite though:

Bimbo Melton - an HB, Melton played half a season with a broken jaw, the upper and lower jaw wired together as was the usual treatment in that era. He wore a clear plastic face mask that covered the lower part of his face which I believe earned him a nickname from some sportswriters of “the man from mars”. A pretty good ball player and definitely long on guts to still play with an injury for which the treatment put you at risk of strangling to death if you ever got nauseated.

Great post bama61, you should have kept going. Couldn't agree more with your assessment.