Alabama Wins Football National Championship With 56 Track Athletes

Alabama Wins Football National Championship With 56 Track Athletes

By Travis Miller (@ttmill) of MileSplit.com The Crimson Tide earned their 16th national championship in a thrilling 45-40 battle that came down to a despera

Jan 13, 2016 by Taylor Dutch
Alabama Wins Football National Championship With 56 Track Athletes
By Travis Miller (@ttmill) of MileSplit.com

The Crimson Tide earned their 16th national championship in a thrilling 45-40 battle that came down to a desperate onside kick attempt by Clemson in the final seconds of the game. Why does this matter for high school track & field? The days of single sport specialization are becoming obsolete and Alabama is leading the way with multi-sport recruits.

Recruiting Football and Track Stars

I searched the MileSplit database for all 118 members of the Alabama roster listed at rolltide.com and found that 56 athletes (47%) also competed in track and field in high school. The list includes some of the best athletes to come out of their respective events. Freshman Kendall Sheffield was the nation's best hurdler last year and third leg of the Fort Bend Marshall US #7 All Time 4x200m team. Marlon Humphrey holds a national title in the 400H and is just a few tenths off the US Top-10 all time list in that event. The roster has no shortage of state champions, including star quarterback Jake Coker who won the Alabama state javelin title in 2011.

Position Analysis

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A breakdown of the number of Alabama athletes (by position) who competed in track and field in high school.

The above chart breaks down the number of athletes by position who were track and field athletes in high school. As would be expected, there are a higher number of DB,RB, and WR's due to the tight connection between those positions and high school sprints. Adding to that, it's common for football players to to live in the throwing circles during the spring.

The pie chart to the right illustrates the percentage of athletes by position who were track and field athletes in high school. Defensive hold a slight edge with the highest percentage of 66.67%. The defensive and offensive line are the only other positions over 50%.

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