Alabama plays at LSU on Saturday night, a game that has often been personal for several players on the Crimson Tide roster.

Recent Alabama teams have been peppered with Louisiana natives, many of whom enjoyed excellent performances against their home-state school. Such connections have added spice to a rivalry that has gone a long way toward determining the SEC and even national championships over the years.

There was a mere trickle of star players from Louisiana through most of the Alabama program’s history, but it turned into an absolute flood once Nick Saban became head coach in 2007. That stands to reason, given that Saban was LSU’s head coach from 2000-04 and hired several staff members/recruiters with Louisiana ties (notably Burton Burns and Bo Davis, and later Karl Dunbar, Pete Golding and Karl Scott) during his tenure in Tuscaloosa.

Here’s a look back at 10 of the more notable Alabama players from Louisiana through the years, plus some honorable mentions (hometown in parentheses):

1. Terry Davis, QB, 1970-72 (Bogalusa)

The original “Wizard of the Wishbone” was Alabama’s starting quarterback on SEC championship teams in 1971 and 1972 under Paul “Bear” Bryant, and thus played a major role in victories over LSU both seasons. He ran for 41 yards and the Crimson Tide’s lone touchdown — a 16-yarder in the third quarter — in a 14-7 win in Baton Rouge in 1971. The next year, Davis ran for 96 yards and a touchdown and passed for 157 more and two scores in a 35-21 victory in Birmingham. The performance landed him on the cover of the following week’s edition of Sports Illustrated. Davis was the SEC Player of the Year in 1972 and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy balloting, compiling a record of 21-3 as Alabama’s starter.

2. Tommy Wilcox, DB, 1979-82 (Harahan)

Wilcox was a state champion quarterback at Bonnabel High School just outside New Orleans, but wound up playing safety at Alabama. After redshirting as a true freshman, he became an immediate starter for the Crimson Tide in 1979. He was twice named second-team All-SEC, twice first-team All-SEC and was a consensus All-American in 1981. Wilcox’s Alabama teams went 3-1 against LSU. He was part of a 3-0 shutout in the rain at Tiger Stadium in 1979, a game in which the eventual national champion Crimson Tide held the Tigers to just 164 yards of total offense. Alabama won 28-7 in Tuscaloosa in 1980 and 24-7 in Baton Rouge in 1981, but lost 20-10 in Birmingham in 1982 — snapping an 11-game winning streak in the series. Wilcox finished his college career 253 tackles, 21 pass breakups and nine interceptions, and earned a spot on Alabama’s All-Century Team in 1992.

3. Eddie Lacy, RB, 2009-12 (Geismar)

Lacy’s commitment and signing with Alabama was a definite shot across the bow as to how things were going to be different with Saban in Tuscaloosa. He grew up in New Orleans and went to high school just outside of Baton Rouge, where he was a four-star recruit at Dutchtown High School. Lacy signed with Alabama the same year as five-star running back Trent Richardson, and redshirted during the Crimson Tide’s 2009 national championship season. Lacy worked as the third-stringer behind Richardson and Heisman winner Mark Ingram in 2010, then split time with Richardson the following year before becoming the feature back in 2012. A first-team All-SEC pick as a junior, Lacy ran for 1,322 yards and 17 touchdowns. Lacy’s Alabama teams went 3-2 vs. LSU, losing in 2010 and during the 2011 regular season before beating the Tigers 17-0 in the BCS national championship game in January 2012 and 21-17 in Baton Rouge during the 2012 regular season. Though fellow running back TJ Yeldon scored the winning touchdown in the latter game, Lacy ran for 83 yards and a score on 11 carries. Lacy jumped to the NFL after leading Alabama to a second straight national championship in 2012 — he scored two touchdowns in a 42-14 rout of Notre Dame in the BCS title game — finishing his career with three championship rings.

4. Landon Collins, DB, 2012-14 (Geismar)

If Lacy’s commitment to Alabama was a sign of things to come, Collins’ was an act of war — not just toward LSU, but within Collins’ own family. The No. 1 player in the Louisiana and a top 10 recruit nationally at Dutchtown High School, Collins announced his commitment during ESPN’s broadcast of the Under Armour All-American Game in January 2012 — just days before Alabama and LSU met in the BCS national championship game. In what became an instant viral moment, Collins’ mother, April Justin, was visibly upset at her son’s decision, saying she preferred he go to LSU. Nevertheless, Collins was an immediate contributor on another national championship team as a true freshman at Alabama, and started at safety for the Crimson Tide in 2013 and 2014 before leaving for the NFL. He was an All-American as a junior, finishing with 103 tackles, three interceptions and seven pass breakups for the SEC champions. Collins was 3-0 vs. LSU, including a fumble recovery in a 38-17 win in Tuscaloosa in 2013 and seven tackles during a 20-13 overtime victory in Baton Rouge in 2014.

5. Tim Williams, LB, 2013-16 (Baton Rouge)

Williams played his high school football literally across the street from the LSU campus at University Lab, but spurned his home state school to sign with Alabama as part of the 2013 class. A four-star recruit, Williams played only sparingly his first two years with the Crimson Tide before blossoming as a pass-rushing specialist in 2015. He totaled 19.5 sacks and 29 tackles for loss his final two seasons, helping Alabama to a national championship as a junior and a College Football Playoff berth as a senior. Williams went 4-0 vs. LSU, totaling a half-sack in a 30-10 win in Tuscaloosa in 2015 and four tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a half-sack in a 10-0 shutout of the Tigers in Baton Rouge in 2016.

6. Cam Robinson, OT, 2014-16 (West Monroe)

With Collins and a few others, Robinson is on the short list of Louisiana recruits who stung LSU fans the most when he signed with Alabama. The Tigers definitely had their hearts set on landing Robinson, a two-time all-state pick at West Monroe High School and a 5-star recruit rated the country’s top offensive tackle in the 2014 class. But Robinson chose Alabama, bringing close friend Laurence “Hootie” Jones — a four-star safety out of Neville High School in Monroe — along with him. Robinson started all 14 games as a true freshman, becoming the first Crimson Tide offensive tackle to start the season-opener since Andre Smith in 2006. In three seasons at Alabama, Robinson was part of teams that went 30-4, won three straight SEC championships, played in the College Football Playoff three times and won the 2015 national title. He was a two-time All-SEC pick and a first-team All-American in 2015, when he won the Outland Trophy as the country’s top lineman and the SEC’s Jacobs Blocking Trophy. Alabama also went 3-0 vs. LSU during Robinson’s tenure.

7. Irv Smith Jr., TE, 2016-18 (New Orleans)

The son of a long-time NFL tight end who spent most of his career with the New Orleans Saints, Smith was a bit under the radar when he signed with Alabama as a three-star recruit out of Brother Martin High School in 2016. He redshirted as a true freshman, then caught 14 passes for 128 yards and three touchdowns for the Crimson Tide’s 2017 national championship season. Smith blossomed as a redshirt sophomore in 2018, earning second-team All-SEC honors after catching 44 passes for 710 yards and seven touchdowns as Alabama reached the College Football Playoff title game for the fourth straight year. He then gave up his final two seasons of eligibility to enter the NFL draft. Smith scored touchdowns in both of the games in which he played against LSU, snagging a 4-yarder from Jalen Hurts in the first quarter of a 24-10 win in Tuscaloosa in 2017 and a 25-yarder from Tua Tagovailoa just before halftime in a 29-0 victory in Baton Rouge in 2018.

8. Dylan Moses, LB, 2017-20 (Baton Rouge)

Moses made national headlines when he committed to LSU while still a freshman at Baton Rouge’s University Lab High School in 2013, but flipped to Alabama during his senior season after transferring to Florida’s IMG Academy. A five-star recruit and Top 35 national prospect in the 2017 signing class, Moses contributed as a true freshman on a national championship team and was one of the top players on another title team as a senior. Despite missing the 2019 season due to injury, Moses ended his career with 196 tackles, 23 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks and two interceptions in 39 games with the Crimson Tide. He was a second-team All-American as a sophomore in 2018 and a first-team All-SEC pick on Alabama’s undefeated national championship team in 2020. Moses’ Crimson Tide teams went 3-0 vs. LSU (he missed the 2019 loss while injured). He had two tackles and 1.5 sacks vs. the Tigers in 2017, six tackles in 2018 and three tackles and a pass breakup in a 55-17 rout in Tuscaloosa in 2020.

9. DeVonta Smith, WR, 2017-20 (Amite)

Smith grew up about an hour from Baton Rouge, but was actually committed to Georgia before Mark Richt was fired as head coach. Bulldogs player personnel director Sam Pettito, who had been a key part of Smith’s recruitment, wound up at Alabama shortly thereafter. So it was not a coincidence that Smith — a 5-star recruit rated the top player in Louisiana — signed with the Crimson Tide as part of a 2017 class that also included Tagovailoa, running back Najee Harris and fellow receivers Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs. Smith caught just eight passes as a freshman at Alabama, though two of them were game-winners — a 26-yarder from Hurts with 25 seconds left to beat Mississippi State 31-24 and then of course the 41-yard bomb from Tagovailoa to give the Crimson Tide a walk-off, 26-23 overtime win over Georgia in the CFP championship game. Smith went on to set Alabama single-season and career records for receptions, receiving yards and touchdown catches during his four years at Alabama, and in 2020 became the first wide receiver in 29 years to win the Heisman Trophy. He also played in three national championship games, and bookended his career with titles in 2017 and 2020. Smith went 3-1 vs. LSU, though he totaled just one reception for 12 yards in his first two games vs. the Tigers. In a 46-41 loss in Tuscaloosa in 2019, however, he exploded for seven catches for 213 yards and two touchdowns — covering 64 and 85 yards. He was even better in a 55-17 win in Baton Rouge the next year, going off for eight receptions for 231 yards and three scores — 65, 61 and 20 yards (the latter an iconic one-handed catch in the back of the end zone).

10. Christian Harris, LB, 2019-21 (Baton Rouge)

Another University Lab product, Harris actually committed to Texas A&M before flipping to Alabama as a four-star recruit in the 2019 signing class. Harris started three seasons for the Crimson Tide, totaling 221 tackles, 28 tackles for loss, 10 sacks and three forced fumbles before leaving a year early for the NFL draft. He was part of a national championship team in 2020 and was 2-1 vs. LSU. Harris had just one tackle in the loss in Tuscaloosa in 2019, but totaled seven with a half-sack in the blowout in Baton Rouge in 2020 and six tackles, two pass break-ups and a half-sack in a 20-14 win at Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2021. Alabama won a second straight SEC title and played in the College Football Playoff national championship game that season.

Others of note

Steve Mott, C, 1979-82 (Gretna); Larry Abney, WR/H, 1983-86 (Slidell); Heath Panks, DT, 1996-97 (Slidell); Luther Davis, DE, 2007-10 (West Monroe); Darrington Sentimore, DL, 2009-10 (Norco); Kenny Bell, WR, 2010-13 (Rayville); Cody Mandell, P, 2010-13 (Lafayette); Bradley Sylve, DB, 2011-15 (Port Sulphur); Denzel Devall, LB, 2012-15 (Bastrop); Hootie Jones, DB, 2014-17 (West Monroe); Cam Sims, WR, 2014-17 (Monroe); Shyheim Carter, DB, 2016-19 (Kentwood); Isaiah Buggs, DL, 2017-18 (Ruston); Christopher Allen, LB, 2017-21 (Baton Rouge); Phidarian Mathis, DL, 2017-21 (Monroe); Slade Bolden, WR, 2018-21 (West Monroe); Kendrick Law, WR, 2022-present (Shreveport); Aaron Anderson, WR, 2022 (New Orleans); Eli Holstein, QB, 2023 (Zachary)