Brandon Ivory's Star Quality Won't Be Overlooked Again at Alabama

Larry Burton (Panama City Beach, Fla.) When you're 6'3" and 330 pounds and a great football player, it's hard to believe you could get lost in the shuffle, but that's just what happened to Brandon Ivory, from Memphis, Tennessee.

In fact, he was lost in almost everybody's shuffle.

He was one of those "late bloomers" that didn't make it on to every coaches must watch list in his junior year. But what a difference a year makes. By his senior campaign, he was an unstoppable force on the defensive line, but about the best offer he got was from the local school who knew about him, Memphis.

But now, he is now part of Alabama's 2010 signing class. Ivory didn't have many offers until the Tide found out about him and got him to drop his commitment to Memphis and new coach there Larry Porter.

Saban projects him as a natural "Cody" type nose guard and as important as that position is to the to the Crimson Tide's defensive scheme, you can't have enough great talent there.

So how did he go from off the radar player to someone Saban was pleased to get?

Actually several people played key roles in getting Ivory dead centered on Saban's radar. The first were some coaches that called Saban.

“We found out about Brandon Ivory because some coaches in the area called us this season, and this is one thing that makes it much more difficult. Guys who develop when they are seniors and play very well their senior year can very much get overlooked because seldom do you even go back and look at them,” Saban said.

“A coach we know called and said, ‘Man, I played (against) this guy, he’s a big guy, he’s very agile and athletic and we couldn’t block him,’ and this is a pretty good program and a pretty good school,” Saban said.

“So we got the film and looked at him and by the time we’re looking at the film, they’re having an all-star game there in West Tennessee. Coaches called from the all-star game and even a player that played in the all-star game, (UA signee) Keiwone Malone, called and said, ‘Do you know about this guy? This guy is a really good player. He’s big, he’s fast, this and that.’ So we looked at the film some more, then I went up and actually watched him practice basketball to see how he moved. I’m thinking, ‘This is too good to be true,’ watching the film and all that.” Saban recounted.

“The guy moved around the basketball floor pretty good and dunked it and could touch the rim and all that kind of stuff,” Saban said. “I said a guy that weighed this much and moves that well and plays that well on film, and we have a need for big-bodied people. And our criteria for nose guards is a little bit different maybe that someone else looking at just a defensive lineman. He seemed to fit the criteria and we felt like we had to justify our dietitian, some kind of way here, since Cody’s leaving." he concluded.

Right now Ivory has Josh Chapman and Kerry Murphy in front of him, but he is working hard in the weight room to get himself ready.

Clearly the late offer from Alabama made Ivory happy but he was sad to break his commitment to coach Porter and Memphis. When he finally made his reasoning clear, he said, " I fit in better at Alabama. I am pretty much made for Mount Cody's position."

"He's a good kid." said his high school coach Marcus Wimberly. "He didn't want to make a public announcement about Alabama until he had a chance to tell Coach Porter the news himself. He's just that kind of guy."

A great player with great character, you can count he won't be lost in the shuffle again.

Thanks to Chase Goodbread for acquiring two of the quotes used in this piece.