Alabama Football: Crimson Tide ‘Greatest-Ever’ Linebacker

Alabama Football can lay claim to many of the greatest college football linebackers of all-time.

Other schools make claims of being LBU (Linebacker University) but Alabama football fans know better. What we have trouble deciding is among all the great Crimson Tide linebackers,who was the greatest. Valid opinions vary.

A couple of years ago, Bama Hammer, Contributor, Ronald Moody provided a carefully evaluated ranking of the best Crimson Tide Linebackers of the last 30 seasons. More recently another Bama Hammer, Contributor, Jonathan Waldrop selected the Tide’s best-ever, Inside and Outside Linebacker.

The names on the two lists not listed as ‘the best’ are nonetheless impressive. DeMeco Ryans, Keith McCants, Dont’a Hightower, Rolando McClain, Reggie Ragland, Rashaan Evans and Reuben Foster.

The No. 1 in the, then last 30 seasons, chosen by Ronald Moody was Derrick Thomas. Jonathan Waldrop chose Courtney Upshaw as the Crimson Tide’s best-ever outside linebacker and C.J. Mosley as the best-ever inside linebacker.

There is no worthwhile argument about any of those selections. Instead of disagreeing, building on the earlier work is in order. This review considers all the great players mentioned above and three more. We go back more than 30 seasons to the early Paul Bryant years.

The more lengthy period includes two Crimson Tide players who are Alabama football’s only three-time All-Americans. It also includes players in our Ten Crimson Tide records that will never be broken.

In this review, the finalists for the Greatest Alabama Football Linebacker of all-time are Derrick Thomas, Woodrow Lowe, Cornelius Bennett and Lee Roy Jordan. All four are members of the College Football Hall of Fame.

Every Alabama football fan knows about Derrick Thomas, who holds the college football career record of 52 sacks.  Thomas played for Ray Perkins and Bill Curry in the 1985-1988 seasons. He finished 10th in the Heisman voting and was the No. 4 pick in the 1989 NFL Draft.

Cornelius Bennett was a teammate of Thomas in 1985 and 1986. He began his Crimson Tide career in Ray Perkins’ first season, 1983. Bennett is one of the pair of three-time Crimson Tide All-Americans. Bennett finished 7th in the Heisman voting and was the No. 2 selection in the 1987 NFL Draft.

The other three-time All-American was Woodrow Lowe. Lowe played for Bryant in the 1972-1975 seasons. Woodrow Lowe is the Crimson Tide record-holder for 134 tackles in the 1973 season. Lowe was drafted in the 1976 NFL fifth round. He had an 11 season career with the San Diego Chargers playing in 164 games and starting in 151 games.

There is no suspense left. The one remaining player is the choice for the Greatest Alabama Football Linebacker of all-time. He is Lee Roy Jordan. Jordan had a 14-season NFL career, at linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys. That was light duty compared to playing for the Crimson Tide. Jordan rarely left the field in an Alabama football game, playing both linebacker and center.

In the ‘never to be broken records’ referenced above, Jordan is recognized for his 31 tackles in the 1963 Orange Bowl, against the Oklahoma Sooners. Defensive stats from the 1960s are difficult to find. Not confirmed, but claimed multiple times, is Jordan having 28 tackles against Auburn in that same season. That means in Lee Roy’s last two Crimson Tide football games he made 59 tackles, while also playing center. That earns Jordan Crimson Tide GOAT linebacker status if nothing else does. Better records for Jordan’s 1960-1962 Crimson Tide career might show him challenging Lowe’s single-season tackles record.

Jordan finished fourth in the Heisman voting in 1962 and was the No. 6 selection in the 1963 NFL Draft.

Last spring Si.com did 10 seasons of number crunching and determined the Alabama football program is LBU. We knew that well before SI, but it’s always good to have a shared opinion.