Before winning two national championships at Alabama and playing in a Super Bowl in the NFL, Mark Barron achieved fame as a member of one of the most celebrated recruiting classes in college football history.

Barron signed with the Crimson Tide in 2008 out of Mobile’s St. Paul’s Episcopal School, part of a recruiting class that featured numerous other All-Americans and/or NFL Pro Bowlers such as Julio Jones, Mark Ingram, Terrence Cody, Marcell Dareus, Dont’a Hightower, Barrett Jones and Robert Lester. Those players formed the building blocks for the Nick Saban dynasty, which won six national championships in his 17 years at Alabama.

On Tuesday night, Barron returned home to be inducted into the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame as part of a four-person Class of 2025 that also included former Florida State and NFL offensive lineman Rodney Hudson (B.C. Rain), former Auburn and MLB star Josh Donaldson (Faith Academy) and long-time sports writer Ivan Maisel (Murphy). It was a proud moment for Barron, who is equally pleased to be a member of the Crimson Tide Class of 2008.

“I take a lot of pride in that group,” Barron said. “Obviously, we were Saban’s first (full) recruiting class and a lot of us went on to do great things and have great careers, especially at the University of Alabama. … There was a lot of great guys, great human beings, and great football players that came from that class.”

Oddly enough, Barron said he didn’t exactly recall his first meeting with Saban. But the Alabama coach didn’t have to do much to convince Barron to sign; he’d grown up a Crimson Tide fan.

“I think it wasn’t just about (Saban),” Barron said. “It was more so about the love of Alabama football in general and their culture in general. Obviously, growing up in Mobile, Alabama, you have some sense of what that culture is and what it means to play for the University of Alabama. But you don’t really appreciate it. No, I didn’t really appreciate it and take it for what it really was until I got the chance to actually go up to the University of Alabama and experience Alabama football in person.”

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Playing on the same high school team with fellow 2008 Alabama signees Ivan Matchett and Destin Hood and future Crimson Tide quarterback AJ McCarron (who is a year younger), Barron was a two-way star at St. Paul’s. He excelled at both running back and safety, leading the Saints to the first of their five state championships as a senior in 2007.

Barron moved exclusively to the defensive side of the ball in college, and blossomed into one of the best safeties in the country as a sophomore in 2009. He led the SEC with seven interceptions that season, as Alabama won the first of six national championships under Saban.

Barron was an All-American in both 2010 and 2011, a unanimous pick in the latter year. The Crimson Tide secured a second national title in three years, and went 48-6 in Barron’s four years on the team.

“I cherish it,” Barron said of winning two national championships in college. “It became one of my goals at some point in my life. I can’t pinpoint exactly when it was, but I wanted to win a championship at every level. I got close to doing it. Obviously, I made it to the Super Bowl and the NFL. We didn’t win that game, but those two championships in college and high school and all of my championships throughout my athletic career, I cherish them all. Those two college championships are super important to me.”

Barron was the No. 7 overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with Ingram, Dareus, Hightower and Julio Jones one of five players from Alabama’s 2008 signing class who were selected in the first round. He played nine seasons in the league with four different teams — the Buccaneers (2012-14), Rams (2014-18), Pittsburgh Steelers (2019) and Denver Broncos (2020).

Barron was an All-Rookie Team selection in 2012, and after converting from safety to linebackers in 2015 finished his career with 710 tackles, 12 sacks and nine interceptions. He said the highlight of his career was that Super Bowl LIII loss, a 13-3 defeat to the New England Patriots at Atlanta at the end of the 2018 season.

“My best memory is actually a bittersweet memory, which is the Super Bowl,” Barron said. “.Just getting to take in that experience and get that close to achieving something that was important to me, that was a goal to me. That was a great memory. Obviously, I have many great memories, but that one is the first one that popped in my head.”

Now 35 years old and out of the game for nearly five years, Barron said fills his days spending time with family, and seeking entrepreneurial and investment opportunities. The Mobile Sports Hall of Fame induction “means the world,” he said.

“I often find myself just doing things and accomplishing things and just ‘on to the next,’” Barron said. “Sometimes we just move so fast and we don’t always acknowledge our accomplishments. … I really, really appreciate this moment in time because that’s exactly what it did for me as I was moving and just living my life.

“What this made me do was sit down and think about where I was in this moment in time and just some of the things that I’ve accomplished in the game of football and sports. And I’m really thankful and appreciative of it for that reason specifically. Just sitting back and thinking and soaking in where I am in my life and post-football and everything that I’ve been able to accomplish playing this game.”

For the second straight year, the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony shared the evening with the First Light Community of Mobile Football Preview Dinner at the Mitchell Center. First Light Community of Mobile (formerly known as L’Arche), states as its mission that men and women with and without intellectual disabilities share life.

First Light operates six homes and an activity center in the Mobile area. For more information, visit FirstLightCommunity.org.