Think about how good one has to be to play at Alabama. Of the thousands upon thousands of high school seniors each year, take the top 250. Now take 25 out of those 250, with the bulk of those 25 coming toward the top.
Repeat that process four times, and you've just created the Alabama roster.
Now imagine how good you have to be to play at Alabama. Everyone around you is the best of the best of the best of the best, and you have to be better than them to see the field.
This group stands above them all.
Nick Saban signed approximately 450 players across his 18 recruiting classes. This is my attempt to identify the 25 best among those 450.
Before we begin, a few disclaimers:
* The rub on all these lists is how one defines "best." Are you ranking the most talented or the most accomplished? Sometimes those circles overlap; oftentimes they don't. This list will toggle between the two at times. Deal with it.
** This list considered Alabama players only. Flowers to all the great Spartans and Tigers, but y'all did not rip off the greatest run of championships in college football history.
*** While I was an interested observer and part-time historian of Saban's Crimson Dynasty, I readily admit I am not the world's leading subject matter expert. I'd love to see any of the Alabama beat writer's lists.
**** Just like in real football, the goal will be to get the best 11 on the field in both sides of the ball. We won't cheat and put 14 players on offense and 13 on defense. That means our offense will come out in 20 personnel. Somewhat uncommon in real life, but Alabama did not have a consensus All-American tight end under Saban, so our offense will hit the field without one.
OFFENSE
QUARTERBACK: Tua Tagovailoa
Arrived: No. 22 player in class of 2017 via Honolulu, Hawai'i | Left: No. 5 pick in 2020 draft
I realize we're beginning this list by leaving off the only Alabama quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy, but Tua won the Maxwell, Walter Camp and Sporting News player of the year awards in 2018, and a national championship in 2017. That's pretty good, right? Maybe it's because I'm a lefty, but I've seen very few college QBs spin a better ball than Tua, so he's my quarterback.
RUNNING BACK: Derrick Henry
Arrived: No. 12 player in class of 2013 via Yulee, Fla. | Left: No. 45 pick in 2016 draft
The easiest developmental job Saban ever had, in that Henry would've been an elite running back no matter where he played. He set the national high school rushing record at Yulee High, won the 2015 Heisman, and this season passed Herschel Walker for the second-most lifetime yardage.
ALL-PURPOSE BACK: Najee Harris
Arrived: No. 2 player in class of 2017 via Antioch, Calif. | Left: No. 24 pick in 2021 draft
The 2-time national champion and 2020 Doak Walker Award winner was one of the best pass-catching running backs I've ever seen... and he was pretty good on the ground, too. The 2020 offense had almost limitless options, but no one scored more touchdowns than Harris.
WIDE RECEIVER: Julio Jones
Arrived: No. 3 player in class of 2008 via Foley, Ala. | Left: No. 6 pick in 2011 draft
Julio didn't put up the numbers of later Alabama receivers, but that's partially because he provided the proof of concept that Bama was a worthwhile choice for elite high school receiving talent. Even for this list, Julio was among an ultra-rare club to be among the best players on the team the moment he arrived on campus.
WIDE RECEIVER: Amari Cooper
Arrived: No. 45 player in class of 2012 via Miami | Left: No. 4 pick in 2015 draft
For Bama's 2014 SEC championship team, Cooper accounted for 43% of the receptions, 44% of the receiving yards, and 50% of the passing touchdowns. Everyone in the building knew the ball was going to No. 9 and they were all helpless to stop it. For my money, the most complete receiver to ever play at Alabama, Cooper could truly do it all.
WIDE RECEIVER: DeVonta Smith
Arrived: No. 62 player in class of 2017 via Amite, La. | Left: No. 10 pick in 2021 draft
On a loaded 2020 offense, Smith zoomed past his peers to put up numbers that are truly video game-like: 117 catches for 1,856 yards and 23 touchdowns, in the process becoming the only wideout since 1991 to win the Heisman. On this team of elites, Harris, Jones and Cooper would make the most catches, but Smith would make the catch.
LEFT TACKLE: Cam Robinson
Arrived: No. 4 player in class of 2014 via West Monroe, La. | Left: No. 34 pick in 2017 draft
Alabama had half a dozen left tackles earn All-American status, but the nod goes to the one who was enough of a dude to become the first (and only?) true freshman to start from his first day on campus. One of seven tackles or center to win the Jacobs Blocking Trophy as the SEC's top lineman and a national blocking award -- that mean's we're leaving three of them off this list -- Robinson was a two-time All-SEC honoree, a unanimous All-American, and a national champion in 2015.
LEFT GUARD: Chance Warmack
Arrived: No. 409 player in class of 2009 via Atlanta | Left: No. 10 pick in 2013 draft
The lone "true" guard to make the team, Warmack was a three-time national champion and a unanimous All-American as a senior in 2012.
CENTER: Ryan Kelly
Arrived: No. 233 player in class of 2011 via West Chester, Ohio | Left: No. 18 pick in 2016 draft
Also won of the seven Saban linemen to win the Jacobs Blocking Trophy, Kelly also won the Rimington Trophy on Bama's 2015 national title team.
RIGHT GUARD: Barrett Jones
Arrived: No. 159 player in class of 2008 via Ridgley, Tenn. | Left: No. 113 pick in 2013 draft
Jones started at right guard for Alabama's 2009 team, so he counts. Then he won the Outland Trophy as a left tackle on the Tide's 2011 team. And then he won the Rimington Trophy as the nation's top center on the 2012 team. Each of those teams won national titles. Jones also won the Wuerffel Trophy as college football's top community servant, and the William V. Campbell Trophy as the game's top scholar. In addition to being a 3-time All-SEC player and a two-time All-American. Not the most talented guy, but there's going to be a spot for a Barrett Jones on any team, even the most talented team in college football history.
RIGHT TACKLE: Alex Leatherwood
Arrived: No. 4 player in class of 2017 via Pensacola, Fla. | Left: No. 17 pick in 2021 draft
We're cheating a bit putting Leatherwood on the right side when he played on the left, but the alpha dog of every Bama O-line (and, indeed, every O-line) played on the left side. A blue-chip from stem to stern, Leatherwood saw action in the 2017 national title game. He started full-time at left tackle beginning in 2019, where he earned 2-time All-SEC honors and won the Jacobs Blocking Trophy and the Outland Trophy in 2020 while collecting unanimous All-American honors.
DEFENSE
DEFENSIVE TACKLE: Quinnen Williams
Arrived: No. 155 player in class of 2016 via Birmingham | Left: No. 3 pick in 2019 draft
Williams only started one year, but his peak was higher than any of his peers, becoming the only Saban defensive tackle to win the Outland Trophy. He tied for second among all SEC players in 2018 with 20 tackles for loss, and finished fifth in the conference with eight sacks. His performance against Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl that season was as dominant as I've seen since Ndamakong Suh.
DEFENSIVE TACKLE: Terrence Cody
Arrived: No. 30 player in juco class of 2008 via Perkinston, Miss. | Left: No. 57 pick in 2010 draft
Cody didn't pile up a ton of stats from his nose guard position, but he was a two-time consensus All-American in his two years in the program and made the first massive play of the Saban era, blocking Tennessee's game-winning field goal to keep the march to the 2009 national championship alive.
EDGE: Jonathan Allen
Arrived: No. 15 player in class of 2013 via Ashburn, Va. | Left: No. 17 pick in 2017 draft
The most decorated defensive player of the Saban era, Allen was a three-time All-SEC honoree and in 2016 won every award he was available to win: the Nagurski, the Bednarik, the Hendricks, the Lombardi, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, and unanimous All-America honors.
EDGE: Will Anderson, Jr.
Arrived: No. 17 player in class of 2020 via Hampton, Ga. | Left: No. 3 pick in 2023 draft
The collector of a ridiculous 17.5 sacks, Anderson should've beaten out teammate Bryce Young to win the 2021 Heisman Trophy. Alas, he was forced to settle for claiming back-to-back SEC Defensive Player of the Year awards, back-to-back unanimous All-American honors, and back-to-back Bronko Nagurski Awards as the top defensive player in the country.
INSIDE LINEBACKER: Dont'a Hightower
Arrived: No. 312 player in class of 2008 via Lewisburg, Tenn. | Left: No. 25 pick in 2012 draft
This list is about college production, but given that Hightower went on to become a 3-time Super Bowl champion and a member of the All-Belichick Team, Hightower beats out more decorated peers to earn his spot on the All-Saban Team.
INSIDE LINEBACKER: CJ Mosley
Arrived: No. 79 player in class of 2010 via Theodore, Ala. | Left: No. 17 pick in 2014 draft
Mosley was a two-time national champion, a two-time All-SEC honoree, a two-time All-American, an SEC Defensive Player of the Year, and a Butkus Award winner.
CORNERBACK: Patrick Surtain II
Arrived: No. 6 player in class of 2018 via Fort Lauderdale, Fla. | Left: No. 9 pick in 2021 draft
How's this for rarified air? Established in 2002, Surtain is one of two cornerbacks -- and the only Crimson Tide member -- to win the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, as he did for the 2020 title team.
NICKEL: Minkah Fitzpatrick
Arrived: No. 30 player in class of 2015 via Jersey City, N.J. | Left: No. 11 pick in 2018 draft
The only Saban defensive back to win the Thorpe Award as the nation's best defensive back, Fitzpatrick is the All-Saban Team's Swiss Army knife. He's the one guy I would pick that could play all five positions in the secondary -- boundary and field corner, free safety, strong safety or nickel. Considering Saban's expertise, that's the highest of high praise.
SAFETY: Landon Collins
Arrived: No. 7 player in class of 2012 via Geismar, La. | Left: No. 33 pick in 2015 draft
A run-and-thump safety, Collins patrolled the back end for two seasons, earning unanimous All-America honors in 2014.
SAFETY: Caleb Downs
Arrived: No. 6 player in class of 2023 via Hoschton, Ga. | Left: TBD
Calling my shot here, Downs is the lone current Tide player worthy of a place among the elders. He led the team in tackles in his first game as a collegian, and it was clear from the jump this year that it was only a matter of time before he was the best player in the secondary, the best player on the team, one of the best players in the country and, if the stars align, one of the all-time greats.
CORNERBACK: Dee Milliner
Arrived: No. 14 player in class of 2010 via Millbrook, Ala. | Left: No. 9 pick in 2013 draft
Like Surtain, Milliner was an end-to-end stud, a guy who entered and left as one of the very best players in the nation. He was a unanimous All-American in 2012 and a two-time national champion.
And there you have it. Disagreements are expected and welcome, but with one rule: to talk someone on to this team this, you've got to argue someone else off