There is still a profile for Tana Patrick on the Chicago Bears site from when they signed him as a free agent. It is one of those residual pages that floats around the interwebz until a webmaster needs the bandwidth. The interesting aspect is the one fragmented sentence bio with a big exclamation point at the end:
Appeared in 40 games during four-year career at Alabama (2010-13), recording 39 tackles, defended 2 passes and forced 1 fumble...
“Forced 1 fumble”! And what a fumble!
Patrick was a can’t-miss 4-star linebacker out of North Jackson High School in Stevenson, AL. He was boasted as one of the cornerstones of the famous Alabama recruiting Class of 2009 that included such blue-shippers as Trent Richardson, Dre Kirkpatrick, D.J. Fluker, AJ McCarron, and Eddie Lacy. However, something just didn’t translate to playing time and Patrick found himself on the bench buried behind stalwarts such as Dont'a Hightower, Courtney Upshaw, C. J. Mosley and Nico Johnson.
He eventually, found a place on special teams and occasional depth at linebacker. It was in his senior year in which the coaching staff found a use for him in which he excelled: goal line defense. In 2013, Nick Saban often turned to Patrick in big moments. None more so than on November 9, 2013 against LSU.
The Crimson Tide was 8-0 and ranked #1 in the nation and came out a little flat. The Tigers were #13 and ticked off after an embarrassing upset to Ole Miss.
After LSU forced an Alabama punt on their first possession, Zach Mettenberger and Terrence Magee were having their way with the Tide defense driving 83 yards to the three-yard line. On 2nd and goal, Mettenberger handed off to wrecking ball J.C. Copeland who seemed to have an unimpeded path to the end zone. The Tigers quarterback was famously caught prematurely celebrating the first score of the day when #11 in crimson fought off future Oakland Raiders guard Vadal Alexander and closed on the LSU fullback, swatting the ball loose from his grip and onto the turf where Landon Collins picked it up.
Alabama went on to win 38-17 but things could have been a lot different had the Tigers scored first and got a little swagger going. For this one play, Tana Patrick is forever in our hearts.
Poll
Where were you when this happened?
This poll is closed
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21%
I was at the game screaming my head off!
(149 votes) -
75%
I was at home watching on TV screaming my head off!
(529 votes) -
0%
I was at DisneyWorld (this should get only one vote; you know who you are and what you did).
(7 votes) -
2%
Other (Really? What other answer could there be?)
(18 votes)