Written by nxojkt | 29 January 2010

Part Five in our series of saying goodbye to the seniors will take a look at three guys who spent their careers as role players and the son of a legend who lived up to his last name.

Chris Rogers – DB – Lakeland, FL

The thing that you need to know about Chris that most appropriately tells of his commitment to the team deals with a jersey number. When Julio Jones became the secondary return man for kickoffs and subbed for an injured Javier Arenas on punt returns, it created a bit of problem. Jones and Chris Rogers shared the #8, and both guys could not be on the field at the same time. The simple solution was for one of the guys to change numbers. And Chris, a senior, changed the number he had been wearing for four and half years, without complaint.

That might not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, but it sends of a very clear signal to his team mates that the team’s needs are greater than his personal ones. There have actually been recent cases in recruiting where a player has made his decision based on whether or not his preferred jersey number is available. Yet Chris changed his number without even so much as a peep of discontent, in his 43rd game played.

He’s not a guy that will be remembered by many people, simply because he didn’t play that many snaps in his career. He was, simply put, a career backup. His biggest career highlight was returning a blocked punt for a touchdown against Tulane. He was a stalwart on Bama’s kick and punt coverage teams for all four years in his career, and those guys don’t typically get a lot of headlines. But he averaged nearly a tackle per game played in his career, which should tell you how active he was on special teams.

He was three times selected to the SEC Academic Honor Roll, and he has his degree from the University of Alabama.

Career Stats – 43 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 2 fumbles recovered, 1 interception, 1 pass broken up

Ali Sharrief – DB – Stevenson, AL

Ali started his career at Alabama has a running back before he made the move to defense prior to his sophomore season – the first at Alabama for Nick Saban. While most fans didn’t see the potential in Sharrief as a defensive back, the Alabama coach – a defensive back specialist – spotted it right away.

In his junior and senior seasons he saw the bulk of his time in Alabama’s dime package at the “money” position. He was typically used as a safety that walked up close to the line of scrimmage to provide help against the run. His toughness and strength at the point of attack made him one of the best tacklers on the team, and was likely the reason that he held on to role, despite some younger players being more suited to the position.

He also spent a great deal of time on special teams, working on Bama’s kick and punt coverage teams. The consummate role player, Sharrief was a guy who quietly went about his business, acting as a leader, both on and off of the field. After the 2009 spring practice session he was given the Derrick Thomas Community Service Award.

Career Stats – 6 rushing attempts for 38 yards, 73 tackles, 3 ½ for a loss of 8 yards, 6 passes broken up, 7 quarterback hurries

Leigh Tiffin – K – Red Bay, AL

It’s tough being the son of a legend, especially when you play the same position. That becomes even more difficult when your first big exposure to Alabama fans is a disastrous outing in Arkansas that sees you have three opportunities to win the game, only to miss on all three kicks.

For some Bama fans Leigh never recovered from that day in Fayetteville. He was, admittedly inconsistent in his time as Alabama’s kicker, and that led to some of concern for those Bama fans. But the bottom line is that Leigh is leaving the University of Alabama as the most statistically prodigious kicker in school history.

He holds the school record for field goals made and points scored. He also holds the two highest single season records in each of those categories. He also earned a first team All-American honor during the 2009 season.

Kickers typically suffer through a love/hate relationship with the fans, so Leigh’s career was really no different than most. As Bama looks to find a new kicker for the 2010 season, after three solid years with Leigh, I think Tide fans will likely begin to appreciate what they had.

During his senior season Leigh missed two of the 26 field goals he attempted inside of 40 yards. In fact, his field goal percentage of 85.7% (30-35) is the highest in school history with more than 20 made kicks.

There have been 21 made field goals in Alabama history of 50 yards or more, and Leigh made five of those. Only nine of those kicks were made without the kicking tee that was abolished in 1986, and Leigh made more than half of them. His 54 yarder in Bama’s 2008 opener against Clemson was the 3^rd longest in school history (his dad’s 57 yarder is the record), and 2^nd longest without the tee. He also had just one field goal blocked in 111 career attempts.

Basically, he was way better than most people ever gave him credit for. And he will be among the toughest of these seniors to replace.

Career Stats – 83 of 111 on FGs (74.8%), 386 career points

Tyrone King – DB – Birmingham, AL

It seemed appropriate to me that the final defensive play of 2009 season for Alabama ended up being an interception by Tyrone King. After all, this was a kid who left a scholarship behind at Grambling to walk on at Alabama - a clear case of a kid wanting to be a part of something bigger than himself. His father Tyrone, Sr. had won a national championship under Bear Bryant in 1973, and Tyrone, Jr. came to Tuscaloosa with the same goal in mind.

He would have been a star at Grambling, but settled for being a role player at Alabama. He saw some action in Bama’s defensive backfield, but the vast majority of his time came on special teams. But his production there, plus his hard work off of the field earned him a scholarship prior to his junior season. In the spring of 2009 he was given the Jerry Duncan “I Like to Practice” Award. That was after he had already been awarded his scholarship. It's easy for a guy to work hard when he's trying to earn a scholarship, but to continue to work that hard after the fact... that says a lot about the character and leadership of the individual.

Career Stats – 38 tackles, 3 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 pass broken up, 1 ½ sacks for a loss of 10 yards, 1 quarterback hurry, and 1 interception that iced the National Championship.

The final seniors – Roy Upchurch, Lorenzo Washington, Justin Woodall

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