Who’s No. 1 in Alabama Football History? Welcome to the Bama Hammer Bracket Vote!
By David Wasson
Cast YOUR votes every day starting Dec. 5 as part of a 64-person bracket to decide who is truly the best Alabama football player of all time!
It’s an argument held around water coolers and card games and dinner tables around the state of Alabama: Who is the best Alabama football player of all time?
Finally, BamaHammer.com is here to help!
Starting Dec. 5 and running to the day of the CFP National Championship Game on Jan. 9, 2017, YOU CAN DECIDE in daily bracket-style voting to determine the best Crimson Tide football player of all time!
As you can imagine, actually whittling down the list to 64 players is tough enough – Alabama football has 20 College Football Hall of Famers and 115 first-team All-Americans over the years. The Bama Hammer staff worked off that list, added a couple and subtracted a few, to get to a first-draft list of 120 (!!!) players – which included an incredible 50 offensive/defensive linemen.
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Taking those 120, we split them into four bracket options – Playmakers (QB-RB), Great Hands (WR-TE-DB), Front Lines (OL-DL) and Disruptors (LB-S-other). It was TOUGH, and certainly the case can be made NCAA Tournament-style that someone deserving was left out of the final 64, but we had to stop it somewhere. The final step saw us seeding the 16 players in each bracket to determine the matchups.
There were a couple of unique decisions. For example, legendary coach Paul W. Bryant is in the Great Hands Bracket due to his play as the “other end” with Don Hutson in the early 1930s. And there is only one active player – defensive end Jonathan Allen – among the final 64.
VOTING BEGINS MONDAY, DEC. 5 with No. 1 vs. No. 16 first-round matchups in the Playmakers, Great Hands, Front Lines and Disruptors brackets. You can vote as often as you’d like while the poll is live. Once the poll is completed, we will update the story in which the poll is embedded with the final results from that poll.
And now, the list of 64 Alabama Crimson Tide players that made the field (note: the below players are NOT in seeded order …)!
PLAYMAKERS (QB-RB)
RB Mark Ingram (2008-2009)
QB Joe Namath (1962-1964)
RB Shaun Alexander (1996-1999)
HB Harry Gilmer (1944-1947)
RB Derrick Henry (2013-2014)
QB Kenny Stabler (1965-1967)
HB Millard “Dixie” Howell (1932-1934)
HB Johnny Mack Brown (1923-1925)
QB A.T.S. “Pooley” Hubert (1922-1925)
QB AJ McCarron (2010-2013)
QB Steve Sloan (1963-1965)
RB Bobby Humphrey (1985-1988)
QB Riley Smith (1933-1935)
QB Pat Trammell (1959-1961)
QB Jay Barker (1991-1994)
RB Trent Richardson (2009-2011)
GREAT HANDS (WR-TE-DB)
TE Ozzie Newsome (1974-1977)
SE Don Hutson (1932-1934)
HB Johnny Musso (1969-1971)
DB Javier Arenas (2006-2009)
WR Julio Jones (2008-2010)
WR David Palmer (1991-1993)
SE Dennis Homan (1965-1967)
WR Amari Cooper (2012-2014)
DB Dre Kirkpatrick (2009-2011)
DB Antonio Langham (1990-1993)
DB Jeremiah Castille (1979-1982)
DB Don McNeal (1977-1979)
RE Paul Bryant (1933-1935)
DB Bobby Johns (1965-1967)
HB Bobby Marlow (1950-1952)
SE Ray Perkins (1964-1966)
FRONT LINES (OL-DL)
OG John Hannah (1970-1972)
OL Billy Neighbors (1959-1961)
DT Marty Lyons (1976-1978)
C Vaughn Mancha (1944-1947)
C Sylvester Croom (1972-1974)
DL John Copeland (1991-1992)
OT Fred Sington (1928-1930)
OT Don Whitmire (1941-1942)
OL Barrett Jones (2009-2012)
OT Chris Samuels (1996-1999)
DE Eric Curry (1990-1992)
DE Jonathan Allen (2013-present)
OT W.T. “Bully” VandeGraaff (1912-1915)
DT Jon Hand (1982-1985)
C Dwight Stephenson (1977-1979)
DL Terrence Cody (2008-2009)
DISRUPTORS (LB-S-ETC.)
LB Lee Roy Jordan (1960-1962)
LB Woodrow Lowe (1972-1975)
LB Derrick Thomas (1985-1988)
LB Cornelius Bennett (1983-86)
LB Keith McCants (1988-1989)
LB Barry Krauss (1976-1978)
S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (2011-2013)
LB DeMeco Ryans (2002-2005)
K Van Tiffin (1983-1986)
S Landon Collins (2012-2014)
LB Dont’a Hightower (2008-2011)
S Mark Barron (2008-2011)
LB Dwayne Rudd (1994-1996)
LB Rolando McClain (2007-2009)
S Tommy Wilcox (1979-1982)
S Rashad Johnson (2005-2008)