Since Nick Saban’s arrival to Tuscaloosa in 2007, Alabama has not only become a team that has created a dynasty winning national championships, but it also has become a program that sends players to the NFL every year.
With the 2020 NFL Draft happening in less than a month, it’s the perfect time to start a new series in which we will go over all of the Tide’s 29 first-round draft picks. The first player we went over was Andre Smith, who finished his career at Alabama with 15 awards and honors and was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals as the No. 6 pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. The second player we went over was former Alabama star linebacker Rolando McClain who would not only win many incredible awards while at Alabama, but was drafted by Oakland Raiders as the No. 8 pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. The 3rd Alabama player drafted in the first round for the Tide was Kareem Jackson who would go on to be drafted by the Houston Texans as the No. 20 overall pick in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft. The 4th player to become drafted under Nick Saban was Marcell Dareus. Number 5 was Julio Jones who has spent his entire career in Atlanta after being the 6th overall pick in the 2011 Draft by the Falcons. The 6th first round draft pick under Nick Saban was James Carpenter who was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks with the 25th overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft.
This time, we will be focusing on another former Alabama football star, running back, Mark Ingram.
National champion ✅
Heisman ✅
First Round Draft Pick ✅@markingram21Mark Ingram is the 7th of Nick Saban’s 29 First Round draft picks at Alabama.#29andCounting #BamaFactor pic.twitter.com/nI5gjOlUHi
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) March 31, 2020
As a freshman at Alabama in 2008, Ingram racked up 728 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns. His 12 touchdowns set an Alabama freshman school record.
In 2009, the year Alabama won it’s first national championship under Saban, Ingram continued to impress. Not only did he win the Heisman Trophy, he was the youngest player ever to do so. For the season, Ingram rushed for 1,658 yards and 17 touchdowns, and also had 334 receiving yards with 3 touchdowns
As a junior in 2010, he finished his junior season with 875 yards on 158 carries with 13 touchdowns as well as 282 yards receiving and 1 TD.
The New Orleans Saints drafted Mark Ingram with the 28th overall pick of the 2011 NFL Draft where he played from 2011-2018. While at New Orleans, he was a two time pro-bowler (2014 and 2017) and recorded 6,090 rushing yards and 50 TD and also recorded 1,598 yards and 5 touchdowns receiving
On March 13, 2019, Ingram signed a 3 year, $15 million contract with the Baltimore Ravens. Not only was he a pro-bowler again in 2019, he also had an impressive season with 1,018 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns as well as 26 receptions for 247 receiving yards and 5 receiving touchdowns.
In his career, Ingram has over 7,000 rushing yards, 1,800 receiving yards and has a total of 70 touchdowns.
