It’s somewhat laughable to consider that one of the Crimson Tide’s all-time great and future NFL MVP was at one time an afterthought, a mere prospect, the third-string back on a team that featured the power running game upon which head coach Gene Stallings leaned.
But that is exactly what Shaun Alexander was on the bus trip to Baton Rouge on November 9, 1996. He was a vaunted prospect to be sure, but a prospect nonetheless, locked on the depth chart behind lead-horse Dennis Riddle and the oft-injured-but-well-regarded veteran Curtis Alexander. However, that night the aura of “prospect” dissolved, as he stepped on the big stage and savaged a stout LSU defense in a record-setting performance that would serve to presage his future greatness at Alabama and beyond.