Alabama Football alum Will Anderson Jr wins Defensive Rookie of the Year

Will Anderson Jr continues to add to the Alabama Football program's long list of accolades by becoming the program's third player to win Defensive Rookie of the Year. Anderson joins his Head Coach DeMeco Ryans and Derrick Thomas as the only winners in program history.

The award is well deserved for one of the players who most exemplified what it meant to play for the Alabama Football program. The award also adds to Anderson's decorated Rookie campaign with Pro Bowl Honors and was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team.

Despite missing time with an ankle injury and dealing with injuries all season, Anderson recorded seven sacks and 29 tackles in the regular season, adding a sack and four tackles in the postseason. The Texans made a massive bet in trading up to land Anderson, and so far it's paid off with Anderson becoming a key piece of their team.

Heading into 2024, Anderson will look to take a jump to a double-digit sack level as one of the league's premier edge rushers. He has all the talent in the world to pair with an incredible work ethic, as we saw in his time at Alabama, so this is truly just Anderson scratching the surface.

Alabama Football achievements will be fun to track post Nick Saban

As the Alabama Football program loses Nick Saban, it will be fun to start to count how many players he has coached that reach incredible marks. Nick Saban has had a former player win Offensive Player of the Year, both Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year, and countless pro-bowlers.

It will be fun to see if any of Saban's former players can reach MVP status and Defensive Player of the Year status, giving Saban a player that won every award. We're still decades away from having the final tallies on players Saban coached, but it'll be fun to see where things end up.

Note: Stats via ESPN