Alabama Football: Mark Ingram’s Heisman forged his future

Homecoming for Mark Ingram meant reflecting on being built by Alabama football. The star running back for the New Orleans Saints shows the path to daylight.

The first Heisman Trophy winner to ever grace the gridiron with Crimson Tide colors put his journey into perspective, not only for the history buffs but for the current and future Alabama football players as well. Mark Ingram spent some time recording his thoughts about the University of Alabama in his own words for the Players Tribune, which was released three days ago.

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“It’s home,” was one of the biggest messages.

After watching the video, one cannot help but feel that Ingram’s time with Alabama was like being a part of a family. Whether on the football field or in the classroom, the Crimson Tide is a group of people coming together to create “the right environment to be a champion.”

According to Ingram, the expectation to win and the responsibility to live up to “the standard that has been set here” is everywhere. “It’s in the air.”

Ingram played for the Crimson Tide from 2008 to 2010, racking up 3 261 yards rushing , 670 yards receiving, and 46 total touchdowns. He went in the first round of the 2011 NFL draft to New Orleans, where he has earned 5 044 yards rushing,1 225 yards receiving, and 44 total touchdowns in seven seasons.

Yet, like a fine wine during this year’s Thanksgiving, Ingram’s getting better with age. He is having his best season ever as a pro, earning 5.2 yards per carry and eight touchdowns with much of the season left to go.

Much of that success was built by Bama, according to Ingram. His alma mater agrees:

When he found himself seventh on the depth chart for running backs in his freshman year at training camp, Ingram said to himself, “Nah, this isn’t what it’s about to be like.” Ingram did not let anything discourage him, because the standard that has been set at Alabama was like growing up at home with his mother and father. Their advice to him was that “you always work harder than the next man.”

Some people have said that Alabama’s football program is not for everyone. That is very true; it is not for people who want the easy road. Success can be obtained but it cannot be sustained by talent, alone. Only the strong will that a family forges inside someone can sustain it. Alabama’s community atmosphere provides that environment.

Iron sharpens iron.

Every player, every coach, every academic part of the University of Alabama works to win, which feeds everyone else’s drive to reach the standard of excellence. No matter the field, Ingram and other Crimson Tide students are taught never to give up and be disciplined enough to stay on the right path.

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Sometimes, students fall short of that mark. Often, it is because they did not embrace the standard, like Ingram did. He saw who came before him, who won championships and individual trophies. He recognized that the personal accolades are merely other ways to show respect to the school that built players into better men.

When Ingram says that to “repay Alabama with an award is very special to me,” one can feel his sincerity in his words: “I feel like my team helped me with that Heisman […] I was just a part of it.”

Football is the ultimate team sport, because it is a family. The extended family is the student body, the coaches, the teachers, and everyone who supports the players becoming better people. The love of that family galvanizes the commitment in the individual to succeed in any endeavor. Ingram felt so strongly in that family that he pulled himself from the bottom of Alabama’s depth chart and, within a few years, gave back to the school with a national championship and its first Heisman Trophy.

Ingram’s success is the blueprint for any Alabama student to use. Whether it be football or whatever else, starting from the bottom just means the sweeter that victory will be at the end.

That kind of victory only breeds more success. For Ingram, the Heisman led to being a first round draft pick in the NFL. It led to seven seasons of grinding on a team that used to think of throwing the ball more than running it. It led to imposing the running game on the Saints’ coaching staff this season. Ingram is dominating over NFL defenses, when many other running backs would have given up and either retired or wanted a trade.

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Ingram is proud and thankful of his Alabama family for building him tough enough to handle success and teaching him what it means to give back. It means constantly learning to better oneself, because the personal success represents the love that the family fostered.