If Philadelphia Eagles safety Reed Blankenship makes a big play in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday, he hopes to give Nick Saban “a salute or something when the camera gets on me.”

As an undrafted rookie contributing for a conference championship team, the former West Limestone High School star is practically an NFL miracle, and Blankenship told Tyler Dunne of golongtd.com that the Alabama football coach had a part in that.

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Blankenship received an invitation to an Alabama football camp in 2016. But when Saban met with the top prospects at the event, Blankenship told Dunne, the coach gave the defensive back and his parents a perfunctory handshake and moved on.

Up to that point an avid Alabama fan, Blankenship said the interaction has motivated him.

“I’m like, ‘OK, I’m not worth anything to you right now? All right. Bet,’” Blankenship told Dunne. “It was a slap in the face. After that day, my interest in Alabama went straight down. It killed me, honestly. …

“He might as well of slapped me in the face. I would much rather have that. Like come on, man.”

READ TYLER DUNNE’S “REED BLANKENSHIP IS PHILLY’S REAL-LIFE ‘ROCKY’”

Blankenship went back to Lester for his senior season at West Limestone. He earned All-State recognition for the second year in a row, this time also taking home the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Class 4A Back of the Year Award as he completed his prep career with 3,192 rushing yards, 1,056 passing yards, 1,004 receiving yards, 46 touchdowns, 295 tackles and 10 interceptions. His prep career also included an AHSAA Class 4A boys’ basketball championship as a sophomore.

At Middle Tennessee, Blankenship settled in at safety. As a five-year starter, he became the Blue Raiders’ all-time tackles leader, even though he missed the final five games of the 2019 season because of a broken leg.

His play at Middle Tennessee didn’t get Blankenship invited to the NFL Scouting Combine or selected in the NFL Draft in 2022. He signed as an undrafted rookie with the Eagles for $55,000.

By NFL standards, Philadelphia didn’t have much of an investment in Blankenship. Sticking on the practice squad would have been a notable achievement. But after watching Blankenship’s aggressive performance during Philadelphia’s preseason schedule, the Eagles’ coaching staff kept the safety on the 53-player active roster for the regular season.

“Coming in undrafted, one of the lowest guys on the totem pole, I knew I had to work,” Blankenship told NBC Sports Philadelphia. “I knew the odds were against me, and I still feel like there’s odds against me.

“I play with a chip on my shoulder still, and I’m not going to lose that for the rest of my career. That’s how I was raised, and that’s how it’s going to be for the rest of my career.”

In Philadelphia’s first 10 games of the 2022 season, Blankenship played in four games, getting on the field for two defensive snaps and 53 special-teams plays.

In the Eagles’ Sunday night game against the Green Bay Packers on Nov. 27, Philadelphia safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson had to leave in the first quarter because of a rib injury. On the Packers’ next play, quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw a touchdown pass as Green Bay took a 14-13 lead.

As Gardner-Johnson’s replacement, Blankenship made two tackles and intercepted Rodgers at the Eagles 18-yard line in his first full series on the field. Philadelphia went on to a 40-33 victory to lift its record to 10-1.

Even though he sustained a knee injury in a 48-22 victory over the New York Giants on Dec. 11 and missed a game, Blankenship has started five times since intercepting Rodgers.

Blankenship started Philadelphia’s 38-7 victory over the Giants in the NFC playoffs on Jan. 21, even though Gardner-Johnson had returned to the field in the Eagles’ regular-season finale. With slot corner Avonte Maddox out, Philadelphia used Gardner-Johnson in his place and kept Blankenship in the lineup.

With Maddox back for the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 29, Blankenship got on the field for seven defensive snaps and 17 special-teams plays. But he still made six tackles and forced and recovered a fumble in Philadelphia’s 31-7 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

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The Eagles will square off against the Kansas City Chiefs at 5:30 p.m. CST Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

“I’ve been playing this sport and sports in general for a long time now,” Blankenship said. “And outside of sports, I’ve worked on a farm out in very, very hot conditions in Alabama, so it’s a work ethic that’s been instilled from my parents and from everybody that I’ve been around.

“And I look at everybody on the team here, you know, (quarterback) Jalen (Hurts) and (safety) Marcus (Epps) and all these guys, I mean, they’re workhorses, and, you know, you want to match them, so I guess that’s where I get my motivation from.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.