Alabama football players share significance of their jersey numbers

Alabama offensive lineman Michael Carroll. Photo | Alabama Athletics

At Alabama football’s Media Day, a handful of Crimson Tide players shared the significance behind the jersey number they will wear this season.

Jersey numbers are arguably the most identifiable part of a football player when they’re on the field dressed head to toe in football equipment. That’s the reason why the numbers are there to beginning with, but for some athletes, these numbers represent things on their heart and minds.

From honoring loved ones and friends to having a reoccurring vision about what number to wear, these Alabama players broke down the why behind the numbers they sport on the front and back of their jersey.

When Alabama defensive back Bray Hubbard was a kid chasing his dreams, he wore No. 18 because his grandfather donned this number, and he wore No. 18 until high school when someone else had the number. Little did he know he would have an opportunity in the future to wear his grandfather’s number on Saban Field in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

“I wore it as a kid, and it was actually my grandfather’s number,” Hubbard said. “So, I carried it on. I carried it up until high school. In high school, I wore No. 5. There was an older guy that had No. 18 at the time, and I was like, ‘This is no big deal.’ When I got here [Alabama], I was like ‘I wanna be like I was as a kid chasing dreams’, so I got back to No. 18.”

For sophomore wide receiver Lotzeir Brooks, when No. 3 opened up on the offensive side of the ball, he switched from No. 17 to No. 3 to honor a close friend from his high school days.

“My friend, who’s a close friend, he played with me in high school, and he wore No. 3,” Brooks said. “He passed away, so that’s why I wear No. 3.”

One of the best explanations came from offensive lineman Michael Carroll. He wears No. 64, and when asked why, he painted a picture of a vision he had one day when he was in high school.

“I had a vision,” Carroll said. “I was wearing No. 55 my first two years of high school, but then, I transferred and I was like just having a vision of myself. I just kept having this vision. I was wearing No. 64 and getting drafted to the Bears. It just kept popping up in my head. So, I was like, you know, let’s rock with No. 64.”

Players like defensive back Ivan Taylor and EDGE Yhonzae Pierre don the numbers of former Alabama players they’ve had the chance to be around over the past few seasons.

Taylor wears No. 13 because of former Alabama defensive back Malachi Moore, who currently plays on the New York Jets.

“Really going off of Malachi Moore,” Taylor said. “I see what he did here. I was just trying to be like him and grow from him. I ask him questions all the time. Any time he’s in town, I want to work our him. So, just making sure I just try to not be him, but be like him and have the same type of staple he had here.”

When it comes to Pierre, he is one of the few people that can say they’ve worn the No. 0 for the Crimson Tide as wearing this number was not allowed in college football until the NCAA made a rule change in 2020 that No. 0 could be worn on the gridiron.

Former Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson was No. 0 last season, and Pierre will sport it this year. Pierre believes this is a number that could be passed down in the Alabama football program from one defensive leader to another.

“[Deontae Lawson] wore it last year, and being a vet and a pretty good guy, he did his job and made plays,” he said. “So, it wouldn’t be bad to take over that, you know, keep it going.”

Alabama football is in the middle of fall camp, and the Crimson Tide will have a few practices next week before closing out the week with the first scrimmage of fall camp.