Since Nick Saban’s arrival to Tuscaloosa in 2007, Alabama has not only become a team who has created a dynasty in winning national championships, they’ve also become a program that has continued to send players to the NFL each and every year.
With the upcoming 2020 NFL Draft happening in less than a month, it’s the perfect time to start a new series where we will go over all of the Tide’s 29 first round draft picks, starting with Alabama offensive tackle, Andre Smith.
Since Nick Saban took over as Head Coach at Alabama, he has had 29 players selected in the 1st Round of the @NFL Draft. With 29 days until the 2020 Draft, today starts the countdown.
First up: Andre Smith – 1 of 29 @BigSmitty71 #29andCounting #BamaFactor pic.twitter.com/wXGwCySZsn
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) March 25, 2020
Smith began a big name for the Tide, even as a freshman. As a freshman, he started all 13 games at left tackle, becoming only the fourth true freshman offensive lineman to start for the Crimson Tide. In 2007 as a sophomore, he was chosen to be on the first team All-SEC team after starting every game at left tackle. But that was truly just the beginning of Smith’s success.
In 2008, he voted an unanimous All-American in 2008, and was also chosen as the 2008 Outland Trophy winner.
He finished his career at Alabama with 15 different awards and honors.
He was the No. 6 overall draft pick in the 2009 NFL Draft after being drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals where he played from 2009-2015, again in 2017, and then finally from 2018-2019.
He also played for the Minnesota Vikings in 2016, Arizona Cardinals in 2018, and most recently for the Baltimore Ravens where he has been since 2019.
In his NFL career, he has played in 116 games, starting in 98 of them.
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