EDITOR’S NOTE: Every day until Aug. 29, Creg Stephenson is counting down significant numbers in Alabama football history, both in the lead-up to the 2025 football season and in commemoration of the Crimson Tide’s first national championship 100 years ago. The number could be attached to a year, a uniform number or even a football-specific statistic. We hope you enjoy.

Alabama’s 2009 recruiting class included four 5-star prospects and 14 4-stars, but Chance Warmack wasn’t one of them.

The offensive lineman out of Atlanta’s Westlake High School was a mere 3-star recruit, meaning it was generally considered as likely as not he would make a major impact at the college level. But by the time his career was over in 2012, he’d far outstripped any projections.

(I’ve generally avoided inserting myself into this countdown, but I hope you’ll indulge me this one time. I distinctly remember an Alabama recruiting staffer telling me of Warmack when he signed, “he’s listed as a 3-star, but we consider him a 5-star.”)

Warmack — who’d been a teammate of future Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton as a sophomore in high school — was among the first of Alabama’s early-enrollees during the spring of 2009. He played in five games as a true freshman (backing up future All-American Barrett Jones) as the Crimson Tide won the first of its seven national championships under coach Nick Saban.

Following the graduation of All-American Mike Johnson, Warmack became a starter at left guard the following season. He would go on to start every game for the remainder of his career, winning national championship rings in 2011 and 2012 and becoming a unanimous first-team All-American as a senior.

“Playing well means something to him,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said of Warmack in 2012. “He is a very competitive guy. He is very physical [and] has lots of toughness. He has exceeded expectations in terms of the way he has played.”

Prior to Alabama’s BCS national championship game vs. Notre Dame in January 2013, Warmack told ESPN’s Chris Low about the self-motivation he’d used to make himself into a great player for the Crimson Tide.

“I always told myself that I was average,” Warmack said. “When I was in high school, I just wanted to get a scholarship. When I came to Alabama, I wanted to be All-SEC.

“There’s a big difference in being a good player and being a great player. This is Alabama. Everybody’s great here. That’s something I’m still chasing, probably something I’ll always be chasing. I like playing with a chip on my shoulder.”

Warmack was part of a now-legendary 2012 Alabama offensive line that also included Jones at center, Anthony Steen at right guard, Cyrus Kouandjio at left tackle and DJ Fluker at right tackle. They cleared the way for both Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon to rush for 1,000-plus yards, the first time in program history the Crimson Tide had two backs exceed that mark.

All five starting Alabama linemen from that team played in the NFL and four of them made at least one All-America team during their career. Warmack was the No. 10 overall pick in the 2013 NFL draft (an extremely high slot for a guard) by the Tennessee Titans, and spent seven years in the league with three teams — winning a Super Bowl ring with the Philadelphia Eagles after the 2017 season.

“He just mashes people and is like having a big tractor clearing the way for you,” Lacy said of Warmack in 2013.

There have been other notable “diamonds in the rough” for Alabama football over the years, unheralded recruits who went on to become stars. Also on the list from the early-to-midway part of the Saban era are center William Vlachos (2007), safety Robert Lester (2008), Ryan Kelly (2011), safety Eddie Jackson (2013) and running back Josh Jacobs (2016).

Vlachos was originally a grayshirt recruit at Alabama, though Saban changed that when he came on board shortly before signing day. He became a starter as a redshirt sophomore and played on two national championship teams.

Many believed Lester was recruited only to help lure close friend and Foley High School superstar Julio Jones to Alabama, but Lester ended up being a very good player in his own right. He led the SEC with eight interceptions in 2010 and later played two seasons in the NFL.

Kelly was a 3-star recruit, an undersized prospect at just 270 pounds. But after a couple of offseasons in the weight room, he became a stalwart at Alabama, an All-American and Rimington Trophy winner who has made the Pro Bowl four times in nine NFL seasons.

Jackson was also a 3-star recruit, with opinions split on whether he should play wide receiver or defensive back in college. He began his Alabama career at cornerback, but by the end was an All-SEC safety and Defensive MVP of the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship Game (he was on his way to a likely All-America season the following year when he broke his leg in Week 8 vs. Texas A&M).

Jacobs was the sleeper of all recruits, barely on the national radar when Alabama scooped him up just before National Signing Day. He was a part-time player until his junior year with the Crimson Tide, when he scored 11 touchdowns and was named MVP of the SEC Championship Game (he was then a first-round pick of the NFL’s Oakland Raiders and is now a three-time Pro-Bowler entering his sixth year in the league.)

There have been many other similar stories throughout the history of Alabama football. But Chance Warmack’s rise to stardom is one of the more improbable.

Coming Friday: Our countdown continues with No. 64, when an Alabama quarterback’s knee became the story of an entire football season.