Bama's Mark Ingram puts crazy week behind

TUSCALOOSA — Mark Ingram’s Heisman Trophy sits on his mother’s kitchen table — and it may stay there awhile.

Not only because she’s so proud of Alabama’s sophomore running back, who earned the school its first Heisman last Saturday night.

“That thing is heavy,” Ingram said after the Crimson Tide returned to the practice field Saturday for the first time since the Tide’s rout of Florida in the SEC championship game.

“It’s not just something that you pick up,” the running back said. “Unless you’re going to move it to another spot, I wouldn’t recommend picking it up just for fun.”

It’s been a whirlwind week for Ingram — and it started around 8 p.m. last Saturday night in New York. He heard his name called and went to the stage to give an emotional, memorable speech.

He then went to talk to Chris Fowler, looked at his cell phone and noticed he had 237 text messages.

“That was from the time my name was announced to the time I walked off the stage,” he said. “And it just kept coming all night. And they’re still coming.”
It’s been two weeks of accolades for Alabama, which started preparations for the BCS national championship game against Texas.

Ingram’s Heisman, which came in the award’s 75th year, is the highlight, of course. But Alabama had six first-team All-Americans, including the Butkus Award and Lambert Trophy winner Rolando McClain at middle linebacker. Nick Saban is up for several coach of the year awards. Defensive coordinator Kirby Smart won the Broyles Award as the country’s top assistant.

“It’s been a crazy last couple weeks,” Mike Johnson — one of those All-Americans — said after practice. “Everybody’s had their pats on the back. ...
“It was nice to get back around everybody today. Coach Saban talked about it a little bit. He pointed out that some of those awards are team awards and you don’t really get recognized unless your team is doing good.”

Saban said was proud of every player who earned individual recognition.

“I think everybody on our team should be proud of the part they played in helping those players have success,” Saban said. “I think all of our players were very generous in sharing the awards when they received them.”

Ingram’s Heisman speech was a highlight.

Johnson said, as promised, he was “on a couch” and looking on.

“Man, I just about went through the roof when they called his name,” the left guard said. “I was calling everybody. All the offensive linemen were texting me. I got three or four right at the same time from William Vlachos and Drew Davis. We were all just so proud of him. He did a great job with his speech. I’m just real proud of him.”

Quarterback Greg McElroy was having a Heisman party at his home in the Dallas suburb of Southlake, Texas, last Saturday.
“We went crazy,” McElroy said.

Placekicker Leigh Tiffin, another All-American, was watching it at home, too.

“I thought the speech was great,” Tiffin said. “It showed how emotional he was about it. He was very humble. I thought he did a great job with it. ... They gave it to the right guy.”

Ingram called the week “crazy, exciting.”

“A great experience I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” he said. “Just the TV shows, the pictures and autographs and meeting a lot of different people has been special.

“I’m just enjoying it,” he said. “But I’m ready to play some football, I can tell you that much.”

Ingram said he was glad to get back to work.

“The fact I’m back with my teammates and with my coaches and we’re all just focused on winning this game and we’re preparing for this game — that’s what I’m most excited about,” he said.