Alabama Football Wins Big in Arkansas, Graduates 11 Athletes Mere Hours Later

The Crimson Tide hopped right on the plane immediately following the 52-3 victory to get the graduates back in Tuscaloosa for graduation

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — While Alabama football’s 52-3 victory at Arkansas was certainly impressive, what it was able to pull off in the hours following the game was even more so.

Just after 2 p.m. CT on Saturday after the final seconds ticked off of the clock in Fayetteville, the Crimson Tide immediately showered, changed into street clothes and headed to the plane at the local airport for a quick flight back to Tuscaloosa.

Next on its agenda: graduation.

The team made it back to campus with plenty of time to spare for the 6 p.m. CT ceremony, where 11 players were able to walk across the stage to receive their diplomas.

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— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) December 13, 2020

The effort to get the players back in time for graduation is certainly admirable. Alabama coach Nick Saban has stressed throughout his tenure that graduation is one of the most important aspects for college athletes, and he certainly backed up his word on Saturday afternoon.

“We’re always pleased and proud of our guys when they graduate,” Saban said. “You’ve heard me say this many times before: it’s why you go to college, preparing yourself for the day you can’t play football. Certainly this is a great example when we have guys that graduate, it meant something to those guys to be able to walk.”

After the Arkansas game was pushed back to Dec. 12 from Dec. 5 due to the LSU game being rescheduled from Nov. 14, Saban said that his players were a little disappointed that they would most likely not be able to walk across the stage.

With the announcement that the game would be an 11 a.m. kickoff — the only morning game for Alabama this entire season — Saban said that he and his team were pleased.

“They were going to be a little disappointed when they heard we were going to play and they might not be able to,” Saban said. “So having an early game allowed them to do that, and I was very pleased and happy — we all were — that they had the opportunity to do that. I think it means a lot to them and their families, and it certainly means a lot to us and we’re very, very proud of each one of those guys.”

Among the 11 players graduating was redshirt-junior quarterback Mac Jones, who received his master’s degree in sports hospitality on Saturday. Jones also graduated last December, earning his undergraduate degree in business communications.

According to Jones, the entire game day experience in Arkansas coupled with graduation made for an interesting day.

“It was definitely a cool experience,” Jones said. “Just a big shout-out to Alabama for getting all that done to play the game and then be back for graduation. Obviously we all got to kinda walk together one after another so just being able to be there and watch some of my teammates graduate was really cool and definitely a great experience.”

In total, Alabama athletics graduated 30 athletes from various teams this past weekend, with two teams in football and soccer producing double-digit numbers of degrees.

While the Crimson Tide is shifting its focus to Florida and the SEC Championship Game, Saban couldn’t be more proud of his players that crossed the stage this past weekend.

“We’ve had tremendous success here in terms of graduation rate and how our guys have done academically, which is obviously contributed to by a great academic support team and the university community as a whole giving us the information that we need so we can help our players so they can graduate,” Saban said.

Here is the full list of Alabama football graduates for the fall 2020 semester:

• Mac Jones, quarterback

• Dylan Moses, linebacker

• Najee Harris, running back

• Christopher Allen, linebacker

• Phidarian Mathis, defensive lineman

• LaBryan Ray, defensive lineman

• Brian Robinson Jr., running back

• Slade Bolden, wide receiver

• Hunter Brannon, offensive lineman

• Kendall Randolph, tight end/offensive lineman

• Major Tennison, tight end