Alabama Football: Redemption for Leigh Tiffin

Redemption

I saw a headline in the Birmingham News about the incoming Alabama Crimson Tide kickers having a “big role to fill” and took a moment to reflect on the rise of the now former record setting place-kicker for the Tide, Leigh Tiffin.  I lived by the practice fields during the 2006 season and remember after the infamous game against Arkansas that year the amount of obscenities yelled by passing cars directed towards the young kicker, who almost certainly could not feel any worse than he already did about his on the field performance.  For those of you who do not remember the game, Tiffin was unable to execute multiple opportunities to end the game with a field goal, and missed an extra point in overtime to end the game.  Some friends of mine that went described the storm drenched ride home as the “longest drive ever,” though complimented the stadium’s Jumbotron and hot dogs. While many fans were upset with Tiffin as well as some coaching decisions that put him in that spot to begin with, most of us rational folks knew he was young and still showed great promise.  And when it comes to a big role to fill, one can only imagine the weight on the shoulders of dynasty players like Leigh Tiffin.  Would he ever be in a Daniel Moore painting like his father?

I enjoyed watching the young kicker grow as a player.  I never like seeing anyone get boo’d by their own fans (okay, maybe sometimes), but I stayed faithful that Tiffin would earn his respect with the fans.  And sure enough, game after game he climbed his way into the good graces of the fan base to the point I actually felt the need to remind people at the beginning of this article why he was disliked to begin with.  Tiffin won enough games over his career at Alabama that unfortunate September day in 2006 is nearly forgotten.  It also should be mentioned Leigh Tiffin kicked the game winning field goal the week prior to that game against Vanderbilt.  He went on to be a 1^st-team All-American and Alabama’s all-time leading scorer.

While Leigh Tiffin is the obvious example in a story about redemption, he is of course just one of very many.  Two seasons ago, quarterbacks seemed to go after whoever Marquis Johnson was covering.  They were often successful.  But last year, Marquis Johnson was tested again and again, most notably when Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks attempted three consecutive fades to the end zone, all unsuccessful.  All year people tried to attack him, and all year he stood strong and was a critical member of Alabama’s defense.  So it is important for us all to remember to keep faith in the young players of our beloved teams, as well as ourselves.  I would like to avoid finishing this with a particularly trite sentiment, but it is true that all who have achieved greatness have had times like the players mentioned above, but it is the ones who continue on their path and persist who end up getting written about in an article like this one.

Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, give’em hell Alabama!

D. Fence