The greatest players in Alabama football history
It isn’t easy to deliver a condensed list of the best players in the storied history of Alabama football. We did it anyway. Listed in chronological order, here are our 25 greatest football players to ever suit up for the Crimson Tide. (All statistics and all-time leaders are accurate through the 2021-22 season.)
Brown was the star of Alabama’s first recognized national championship team from 1925. Known for his blistering speed, Brown scored twice during the Crimson Tide’s upset victory over Washington in the Rose Bowl that season. The win secured Alabama’s national title and essentially opened the door for college football teams from the South to be taken seriously. Though Brown earned a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame, he might be best known as one of Hollywood’s most prominent western film stars of the time.
Sington was an All-American in both 1929 and ’30. During the 1930 season, he helped the Crimson Tide win their third NCAA-recognized national championship. He was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1955.
among the greatest running backs in Alabama history, which is a big deal considering three of the school’s four Heisman Trophy Award winners were running backs. Musso ran for 2,741 yards (the first in school history to reach 2,000), averaged nearly 4.8 per carry, and scored 34 touchdowns during his three-year collegiate career. Musso also caught 61 passes for 495 yards with four receiving touchdowns.
an underrated element that is associated with Cook on a national level. During his time with the Crimson Tide, Cook recorded 15 sacks and forced 10 fumbles. He recorded 200 tackles, including 27 for loss, but his post-Alabama playing career was overshadowed by the NFL success of former Tide teammates like E.J. Junior, Barry Krauss, Bob Baumhower, Woodrow Lowe, and Marty Lyons.
Jeff Mezydlo has written about sports and entertainment online and for print for more than 25 years. He grew up in the far south suburbs of Chicago, 20 minutes from the Mascot Hall of Fame in Whiting, Ind. He’s also the proud father of 11-year-old Matthew, aka “Bobby Bruin,” mascot of St. Robert Bellarmine School in Chicago. You can follow Jeff at @jeffm401.
