Best Alabama football players: Modern-era Mount Rushmore – From Derrick Thomas to Tua

The best Alabama football players of the modern era, including Derrick Thomas and Tua Tagovailoa, make up the Crimson Tide’s Mount Rushmore.

In the modern era of Alabama football — and truly the entire history of the Crimson Tide program — greatness has been a way of life. Over the past 40 years since the 1980 campaign, there have only been five losing seasons for Alabama. And since Nick Saban took over in 2007 and the team went 7-6 in that year, the Tide have not won fewer than 10 games in a season.

To get all those wins, capture SEC Championships and consistently be in the mix to win the National Championship, it’s not just been legendary coaches like Saban and Paul “Bear” Bryant patrolling the sidelines but also the players that they’ve brought into the program who have then become stars in their own right.

Amidst all this team greatness, though, it’s an interesting question to ponder of who the greatest players to ever suit up in Tuscaloosa have been. More specifically, if we were going to make a modern-era (since 1980) Alabama football Mount Rushmore, which four players would make the cut?

We have our four but, before we get to the Mount Rushmore, let’s take a look at a few all-time Crimson Tide greats who just missed the cut.

While Shaun Alexander never enjoyed the team success that teams of the Nick Saban era have. However, the dynamic running back and All-American for the 1999 season still rushed for 3,565 yards and 41 touchdowns in his career, both of which were Alabama football records when he left school.

One claim to fame that Mark Ingram will always have in Crimson Tide history is being the first Heisman Trophy winner in the history of the program as he rushed for 1,658 yards and 17 touchdowns in his award-winning 2009 season. Even leaving for the NFL as a junior, Ingram is still in the top four of career rushing yards in the history of the program.

Frankly, it came down to one other linebacker and Cornelius Bennett for a spot on the modern-era Mount Rushmore for Alabama football and Bennett just missed the cut. He was a three-time All-American in Tuscaloosa with 287 tackles and 21.5 sacks in his career while also winning SEC Player of the Year in 1986. That he isn’t on the mountaintop isn’t a slight to him.