A Quarter Century of Great Tide Tailbacks

When your noted as a running program it's kind of hard to earn that label without having a bevy of hard nosed, hard running, talented tailbacks.

Alabama has had just that in the last quarter century. Guys like Bobby Humphrey, Siran Stacy, Kenneth Darby, Shaun Alexander, Kerry Goode, and the names go on, and on...

Some were more darters, guys like Sherman Williams who played for the Tide in the early 90's. He was the type of back that even though he didn't have blessed size and vertical speed he seemed to have that gift of horizontal quickness in the hole. He could pick his way through a tight spot between the tackle and guard and do a nice little two step into the endzone.

Of course Williams was also noted for his "Sherman Shake" a little dance he did with each TD he scored. He did it 27 times in his career at Alabama, while rushing for nearly 2,500 yards in his time at the Capstone.

Derrick Lassic came along around the same time as Williams, but the difference in their styles of play was years apart. Lassic always stuck me as a blue collared type of back that made his yards not off an abundance of talent, but rather his work ethic. Whether he was catching a pass out of the backfield or grinding yards out in the Tide's rushing attack, he was a productive back for coach Gene Stallings.

In the 80's, most discussion of great backs at Alabama began and ended with the name Bobby Humphery.

Humphery was one of those rare backs who could run through you, past you, around you, or right over the top of you. He had speed to burn and a toughness to his style of toting the rock that left linebackers feeling black and blue on Sunday mornings. He carried the ball 615 times for 3,420 yards, second in Alabama history. Humphery's 33 touchdowns was good enough for third in the record books. After graduating he went on to be named Rookie of the Year in the NFL, while playing for the Denver Broncos.

Dennis Riddle was an absolute workhorse for Coach Gene Stallings, particularly in Coach Stallings last year at the Capstone. Totaling 612 carries for nearly 2,650 yards, Riddle was consistent throughout his entire career. On top of his dependability, you could also rely on the fact he was going to show up big in big games.

Riddle is perhaps best remembered for scoring the winning touchdown on a swing pass in the final minute of the 1996 Iron Bowl, giving Alabama the win and Coach Gene Stallings a victory in his final game as Coach of the Tide.

There were other guys who didn't have long careers at the tailback position, but it didn't mean they didn't have the talent necessary for it to happen. Bad luck injury wise shortened the half back careers of Gene Jelks and Kerry Goode.

Goode opened the 1984 season as a young stud at tailback. He had a powerful yet smooth looking athletic build. He was shifty when it was time to be shifty, a power runner when power was called for, and at least one step quicker than anyone on the field. Bama fans were salivating at the potential this young back had, picturing him as the next Herschel Walker or Bo Jackson.

For one half in Alabama's opener against BC, Goode lived up to the expectations, garnering 297 yards of total offense. His totals included taking the second half kickoff back for an Alabama touchdown.

Unfortunately for him, and for Alabama, he caught his cleat in a seam of Legion Field's crappy old artificial turf, totally destroying his knee and ending what could have been a very exciting and likely profitable career for Goode.

Jelks suffered a similar fate just two years later.

In 1985, he was a fresh faced true freshman out of Gadsden who had an extra gear that others just could not keep up with. Even defensive backs who seemed to have an angle on Jelks would soon find themselves embarrassingly trailing him into the endzone, when the play was over.

The buildup for Jelks reached a peak at the 1985 Iron Bowl, with Alabama coming away with a last second win on a 52-yard Van Tiffin field goal.

The back story to the game though was the true freshman Jelks out rushing senior Bo Jackson by a large margin. Jelks went for 192 yards in the game despite not being the starter. Unfortunately for Jelks he also blew his knee out to open the '86 season. By the time he had returned from surgery and rehab, he had lost his starting job to Bobby Humphrey. Jelks later moved to the secondary under new Alabama coach Bill Curry.

Then you have Shaun Alexander, who owns nearly every rushing record in the books at the University of Alabama.

When he came out of Florence Kentucky, former Auburn coach Pat Dye mumbled in between a few bourbon fueled sounding coughs that tailbacks from Kentucky never lived up to their billing in the SEC. Alexander never seemed the kind of person to take something like that personally, but irregardless, his career with Alabama left Dyes' statement looking incredibly foolish.

Alexander didn't start as a freshman, instead getting only spot duty in his first couple seasons at the Capstone. He showed what brilliance he was capable of though; when as a redshirt freshman he rushed for 291 yards and four touchdowns on the road leading the Tide to a 26-0 victory over the LSU Tigers.

Still it wasn't until his junior year that he managed to take over the starting job making the most of it rushing for 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns on the year, while adding 379 yards receiving on 25 receptions.

Alexander didn't let up his senior year having his most productive season yet and leading the Tide to a SEC Championship.

Perhaps the moment most Alabama fans will remember him for was against the Florida Gators in the Swamp when Alexander took a handoff in overtime carrying it the distance into the endzone for the touchdown nearly untouched. Alexander totaled nearly 1,400 yards of rushing with 19 rushing TD's throwing in another 323 yards receiving and four receiving TD's.

Alexander finished his career No. 1 in total yards rushed with 3,565. He also had more carries 727. Probably biggest of all though, was his number of career rushing touchdowns where Alexander totaled 41 in his career.

There were lots of other productive backs during that time period.

So many there won't be time to cover them all here. Guys like Siran Stacy, Kenneth Darby, Shaud Williams, Ahmadd Galloway, Glenn Coffee, and Santonio Beard.

With current guys like Mark Ingram, Roy Upchurch, and true freshman phenoms Trent Richardson and possibly Eddie Lacy; it appears as though Alabama's tradition of running the ball remains in good hands for the coming season.

Will Ingram maintain his strong running from his freshman year? Will Upchurch finally remain injury free and fulfill the promise he's shown in limited playing time at Alabama? Can Richardson or Lacy hope to live up to the near super hero type hype being placed on them by Alabama fans for the coming year?

One thing is for sure, Alabama is going to run the ball, so we're going to find out who steps up and makes a run at placing their name among the greats of the last quarter century listed above.