No one thought the day would come, but we have arrived where the names of Nick Saban and Alabama will no longer be married together in song along with the course of the two-word phrase, National Championships.
Per Chris Low at ESPN as of yesterday afternoon, Saban is retiring after 17 years and six national championships as the head coach of the Crimson Tide, leading the team with some of the best recruiting classes in the nation during that time. Some of those recruiting classes included some of the best blue chippers from Florida.
At FloridaHSFootball.com we looked at the best blue chippers that Saban recruited from Florida. To determine who were the best athletes that Saban recruited from Florida we looked at all the athletes that Saban recruited from Florida, we took a look at the database of commitments from On3.com which has easily tracked the averages from all national recruiting news services and includes On3, 247Sports, ESPN, and Rivals to form a composite ranking to help us organize who should be on the list.
As such these this was the overall criteria, we looked at these specific factors:
- Composite ranking from On3 Sports
- Must have been recruited directly by Nick Saban at Alabama out of high school and not because of a transfer or readmittance to the program.
- Commitments had to enroll at Alabama and complete their college playing career at Alabama.
- Given that a playing career usually lasts three years before a declaration to the NFL Draft can be made only signing years from 2007 until 2020 are considered.
- Excludes athletes from IMG Academy as many IMG Academy athletes were already being recruited from a previous school before those athletes finished their high school career at IMG Academy.
- That leads to a formula that includes star rating, composite rating from On3 Sports, years played, total games played, and round selected in the NFL Draft to come up with a ranking that would give us an idea of who the best recruits were for Nick Saban from Florida.
1. Calvin Ridley, WR, Monarch
On3 Composite Rating: 98.20
Stars: *****
Class: 2015
Years Played: 3
Arguably one of the best athletes to be recruited by Nick Saban out of Florida who finished his college career with Alabama before declaring for the draft, was a first-round pick by the Atlanta Falcons in the 2018 NFL Draft. He had 2,781 yards receiving and 19 touchdowns in the three years he played with the Crimson Tide from 2015 through 2017.
2. Patrick Surtain II, CB, American Heritage (Plantation)
On3 Composite Rating: 98.92
Stars: *****
Class: 2018
Years Played: 3
Surtain who was a shut down corner in high school continued that in his career at Alabama with 116 total tackles and four interceptions along with 24 pass breakups in his playing career from 2018 until 2020. Surtain was a first-round pick by the Denver Broncos in the 2021 NFL Draft.
3. Derrick Henry, RB, Yulee
![RB Derrick Henry [University of Alabama via CollegePressBox.com]](https://floridahsfootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/henry_derrick_5-807x600.jpg)
FHSF Rating Value: 140.55
On3 Composite Rating: 98.22
Stars: *****
Class: 2013
Years Played: 3
How is King Henry, not No. 1 on this list? I even asked myself that after running the formula and the numbers, that is sometimes how it works when you are trying to be objective as much as possible with data. With that said Henry was a second-round pick to the Tennessee Titans in the 2016 NFL Draft after rushing for 3,591 yards and 42 touchdowns in his career with the Crimson Tide.
4. Trent Richardson, RB, Escambia
On3 Composite Rating: 99.12
Stars: *****
Class: 2010
Years Played: 3
Before Derrick Henry, there was Trent Richardson who shined with the Crimson Tide for three years rushing for 3,130 yards and 35 touchdowns in the three seasons he played for Nick Saban. Richardson would go on to be drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft.
5. Jordan Battle, S, St. Thomas Aquinas
On3 Composite Rating: 95.79
Stars: ****
Class: 2019
Years Played: 4
Battle played in games in all four years he was with the Crimson Tide, marking one of the very few athletes on this list to play at least four seasons under Nick Saban. Battle racked up 252 total tackles, six and a half tackles for loss, six interceptions, and 10 pass deflections in his career at Alabama. Battle was drafted in the third-round in the 2023 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals.
6. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, S, Dr. Phillips
On3 Composite Rating: 97.38
Stars: *****
Class: 2011
Years Played: 3
Clinton-Dix was part of a package deal alongside teammate Dee Hart who signed out of Dr. Phillips as part of the 2011 class. As time passed, Clinton-Dix ended up having a better career and finishing his college career with Nick Saban in the process. In the three years with the Crimson Tide, Clinton-Dix racked up 98 tackles, along with four tackles for loss and seven interceptions, while being a huge weapon in the defensive backfield. Clinton-Dix was drafted in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers.
7. Amari Cooper, WR, Miami Northwestern
On3 Composite Rating: 95.50
Stars: ****
Class: 2012
Years Played: 3
Another wide receiver who had great production in Florida and did so with the Crimson Tide as well, playing three for years under Nick Saban before declaring for the NFL Draft. In his career, Cooper had 3,463 receiving yards with 228 receptions and 31 touchdowns making him one of the best receivers in Alabama history. Cooper would be drafted in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders.
8. Alex Leatherwood, OT, Booker T. Washington (Pensacola)
On3 Composite Rating: 99.14
Stars: *****
Class: 2017
Years Played: 4
One of the best offensive tackles to come from the Sunshine State in the 2017 class that was not at one of the top programs in the state, Leatherwood is another of the rare athletes on this list who spent four years with Nick Saban. In all, that extra year paid off for Leatherwood who was drafted in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft by the Las Vegas Raiders.
9. Ronnie Harrison, S, Florida High (Tallahassee)
On3 Composite Rating: 92.16
Stars: ****
Class: 2015
Years Played: 3
Harrison was an effective weapon for the Crimson Tide seeing action in all three seasons with the Crimson Tide, racking up 174 total tackles, with seven tackles for loss, three-and-half sacks, seven interceptions, and 17 pass deflections plus two fumble recoveries. Harrison declared for the NFL Draft after his junior year and was drafted in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
10. Jerry Jeudy, WR, Deerfield Beach
On3 Composite Rating: 97.49
Stars: *****
Class: 2017
Years Played: 3
You can tell Nick Saban loved getting skill position players from Florida and to cap off this list is just that, another skill position player at the receiver position. Jeudy, who played three seasons for the Crimson Tide had 159 receptions for 2,742 yards and 26 touchdowns. In 2020, Jeudy was drafted in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos.
