Score one for those who believe defense wins championships.
That was certainly the case in our 16-man bracket to determine the greatest Alabama football player of the modern era. No. 3 seed Derrick Thomas won the title, handily beating No. 1 seed DeVonta Smith in the championship round, scoring 66% of the vote.
Thomas, who played at Alabama from 1985-88, is the school’s all-time record-holder in sacks with 52, as well as tackles for loss with 74. His senior season is the stuff of legend, with an unofficial NCAA record 27 sacks (sacks were not an official statistic in college football until 1999) and 39 tackles for loss on the way to claiming the Butkus Award as the top linebacker in the country.
Thomas went on to a Hall-of-Fame career with the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs before his career (and his life) were tragically cut short after a car accident in January 2000. He was paralyzed from the neck down and died a few weeks later at 32.
Thomas easily outdistanced the competition in all four rounds of voting, and in the championship beat out a Heisman Trophy winner and two-time national champion in Smith. (He also bested Heisman winner and national champion Derrick Henry in the semifinals.)
Unlike many of the others in the bracket, Thomas never won a national championship as a player. But his individual accomplishments stand above the rest.
