Alabama Football: A Crimson Tide history of unparalleled excellence

Talking about Alabama Football’s past does not carry much urgency with a new season starting soon. Also, college football fans in general are prone to a ‘what have you done lately’ perspective.

Lately, for Alabama football fans, has not been good enough. That our annual expectations are insanely high provides no comfort. Greatness often comes with a price. For Alabama, if that price is any season, not ending in a National Championship is a failure – so be it.

The flip side of such a standard is not always treasuring the past. A few days ago I saw the tweet below. It got my attention in an odd way. Not because the list of eight teams included Boston College and BYU, but because so many ‘elite’ programs did not qualify.

I cannot confirm the accuracy of the tweet for teams other than Alabama. I also have no reason to believe the others are not accurate.

BYU proudly and rightfully proclaims its eight winners of the Heisman, Outland, O’Brien and Walker awards.

Using rolltide.com and Sports Reference I compared the numbers for Alabama football players. Inexplicably, the Alabama site does not list the Tide’s Davey O’Brien winners. Nonetheless, the total for the four national player honors, won by Crimson Tide players is 15.

It would be interesting to calculate how Ohio State, Penn State and Texas compare. I’ll save that task for later.

For some added perspective, many Alabama football winners of major national awards are listed below. The list only includes the awards in which the Crimson Tide has two or more winners.

Alabama Football Heisman Winners

• 2009 – Mark Ingram
• 2015 – Derrick Henry
• 2020 – DeVonta Smith
• 2021 – Bryce Young

Chuck Bednarik Award

• 2016 – Jonathan Allen
• 2017 – Minkah Fitzpatrick
• 2022 – Will Anderson Jr.

Fred Biletnikoff Award

• 2014 – Amari Cooper
• 2018 – Jerry Jeudy
• 2020 – DeVonta Smith

Butkus Award

• 1988 – Derrick Thomas
• 2009 – Rolando McClain
• 2013 – CJ Mosley
• 2016 – Reuben Foster

Walter Camp Award

• 2016 – Jonathan Allen
• 2018 – Tua Tagovailoa
• 2020 – DeVonta Smith

Lombardi Award

• 1986 – Cornelius Bennett
• 2016 – Jonathan Allen
• 2022 – Will Anderson Jr.

Maxwell Award

• 2013 – AJ McCarron
• 2015 – Derrick Henry
• 2018 – Tua Tagovailoa
• 2020 – DeVonta Smith
• 2021 – Bryce Young

Bronko Nagurski Trophy

• 2016 – Jonathan Allen
• 2021 – Will Anderson Jr.
• 2022 – Will Anderson Jr.

Outland Trophy

• 1999 – Chris Samuels
• 2008 – Andre Smith
• 2011 – Barrett Jones
• 2016 – Cam Robinson
• 2018 – Quinnen Williams
• 2020 – Alex Leatherwood

Rimington Trophy

• 2012 – Barrett Jones
• 2015 – Ryan Kelly
• 2020 – Landon Dickerson

Jim Thorpe Award

• 1993 – Antonio Langham
• 2017 – Minkah Fitzpatrick

Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award

• 1994 – Jay Barker
• 2013 – AJ McCarron
• 2020 – Mac Jones

Davey O’Brien Award

• 2020 – Mac Jones
• 2021 – Bryce Young

Doak Walker Award

• 2011 – Trent Richardson
• 2015 – Derrick Henry
• 2020 – Najee Harris

Not to be an overly boastful Alabama Crimson Tide fan, but surely no other college football program comes close.