NEW ORLEANS, LA – FEBRUARY 03: Head coach John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens celebrates with the VInce Lombardi Championship trophy after the Ravens won 34-31 against the San Francisco 49ers during Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on February 3, 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
NCAANFLBy Stacey Mickles on

If you take a look at the Baltimore Ravens’ current and past rosters, you will see that they have one thing in common: lots of Alabama players.

As of now, the Ravens have four former Crimson Tide players on their roster including veteran cornerback Marlon Humphrey and defensive tackle Marcel Dareus.

Over the years, the Ravens have signed at least 15 former Alabama players and head coach John Harbaugh explained why the team loves Alabama rookies.

According to Harbaugh, Alabama is built like an NFL team.

“There are certain college football programs that are built like NFL programs,” Harbaugh said according to Michael David Smith with Pro Football Talk. “Alabama is one, Michigan is the other one. The two top ones, I would say. Those are the ones I’m thinking of off the top of my head. So those guys generally come in and they know what to expect. It’s a little flatter for those guys in terms of practice and understanding how it works.”

You can’t argue with success. Nick Saban had two more players taken in the first round of the NFL Draft two weeks ago. Overall since he has been at Bama, the Crimson Tide has had 41 No. 1 draft picks, the most by any coach in the country.

Traditional powerhouses like Auburn and Texas had zero players picked in the first round of the NFL Draft this year. The Tide is expected by many to have the overall No. 1 and No. 2 draft picks in next year’s draft with Will Anderson and Bryce Young.

{Saturday Down South}

About Stacey Mickles

Stacey is a 1995 graduate of the University of Alabama who has previously worked for other publications such as Sportskeeda and Saturday Down South.

View all posts by Stacey Mickles