Nick Saban details impact of Jackson Roby, other walk-ons on team

If you head over to Jackson Roby’s Alabama bio, it’s more than apparent he hasn’t seen the field at all during his five-year Alabama Crimson Tide career. While his playing career will be over after this season, his contributions on the practice field over the past five years hasn’t gone unnoticed to head coach Nick Saban.

During his weekly SEC Teleconference Wednesday afternoon, Saban discussed Roby, and the rest of the walk ons in Tuscaloosa and how important they are to the team’s annual success.

“I think walk-ons – and Jackson Roby’s been in the program for a long time. He’s invested a lot,” Saban said. “These guys that are on the scout team all the time work hard and they get very little positive self-gratification. They don’t get to play in the games. Sometimes they don’t even get to dress for the game. And I think the players on the team really appreciate what they do. Even though you’re an offensive lineman, you’re over there playing against the defensive players, they appreciate the fact that you’re helping them get better.

“And on the other hand, the players at your position are all rooting for you because they wanna see you get some positive self-gratification for all that you do. But you couldn’t have a really good program, because it impacts the way you practice, if you didn’t have a good number of guys like Jackson Roby who help the team prepare for each and every game and they don’t get a lot of positive self-gratification – externally. We try to recognize them internally, but externally, they don’t get a lot of accolades.”

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Nearly a quarter of the way through his final season playing football, Saban’s praise of Roby and his walk-on counterparts are long overdue. Every walk-on athlete strives to prove their worth on the field and given the chance, earn that coveted scholarship.

At a program like Alabama, the odds are stacked against you as a walk-on, as no matter the level of seniority, Saban and company will always bring in top talent to come in and take the place of the outgoing blue-chippers. That leaves no room for athletes like Roby, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re forgotten about.