Mark Ingram would later become Nick Saban’s first Heisman Trophy winner when he claimed the award in 2009 at Alabama. However, before that achievement, Saban had an awkward moment during a recruiting visit to the Ingram family home, unsure of who he was meeting.
Saban, who had recently retired from coaching Alabama, shared this anecdote on The Triple Option podcast, hosted by Ingram and Urban Meyer. Early in his tenure at Alabama, Saban had targeted Ingram as the top running back prospect.
“I watched Mark on high school film and thought, ‘This guy is one of the best backs in the country,’” Saban recounted. He was impressed with Ingram’s running skills, including his change of direction and burst out of cuts. “He was our top priority.”
Saban had a connection to the Ingram family because Mark’s father had played at Michigan State while Saban was an assistant coach there in the mid-1980s. Part of Saban’s duties included monitoring players’ academic progress, and he remembered that Ingram Sr. and wide receiver Andre Rison were sometimes difficult to track down.
“They weren’t always easy to locate,” Saban said. He managed to solve the problem by getting in touch with Ingram’s girlfriend, who helped him keep tabs on the players.
Decades later, Saban found himself at the Ingram home in Flint for a recruiting visit. However, he was unsure if the woman he was speaking with was the same person he had contacted years earlier. Not wanting to ask directly, he hoped the issue wouldn’t come up.
Eventually, Ingram’s mother put Saban at ease by revealing the connection with a laugh. “At the end of the visit, she said, ‘I was the girl you used to call,’” Saban recalled with relief.
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