Monday we discussed a legendary play from the first ever meeting between Alabama and Florida in the SEC Championship, Antonio Langham's pick-six which sealed the win for Alabama. Wednesday Langham himself was on hand for Alabama's practice as the Tide prepare to once again face off against Florida in an SEC Championship.
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Langham will be honored along with several other former SEC Championship MVPs (including Blake Sims and Derrick Henry) at halftime of this years game, so he stopped by practice to check in on his former team.
Saban told reporters he was happy to have Langham around and he was glad so many former players were set to honored. He then delved into a relationship with Langham all his own, one of a Cleveland Browns assistant and scout (Saban) and a future Browns draft pick (Langham),
"I remember coming here to work all those players out, from that team when I was with Cleveland," Saban said Wednesday evening according to 247sports. "You know, Antonio didn't run a great time at the combine and everyone was worried about his speed."
"I think this is a great lesson for a lot of players. There's a lot of speed in our league. I think there were five or six first-round draft-pick wide receivers that played at Tennessee, Florida, all over this league. What convinced us that he could run fast enough was he covered all of those guys — and those were the same guys that he was going to have to cover in the NFL because they were all first-round picks."
"Really, he played just one year while I was there, but he played really, really well and did a great job for us. He's been a good friend, and I certainly appreciate all that he did as a player to help us be successful, especially the '94 defensive team that was really pretty good."
Saban and the current Tide administration have never been shy about welcoming back former players to campus. Unlike some schools Alabama does a good job keeping a solid relationship with its former stars. It will be great to see Langham on the sidelines Saturday.
