Jordan Battle is a character.

That was never more obvious than last fall when his hilarious answer to a question about his favorite Nick Saban’s saying went viral. The fact, as an underclassman Alabama football player went on the record with Saban’s locker room humor also showed his confident courage.

Another example was uncovered last week before the Sugar Bowl when AL.com posed another open-ended question to Crimson Tide football players. And now that he’s officially headed to the NFL, there are no repercussions for the fun-loving defensive back.

At first, Battle buried the lede when asked about a funny memory he shared with Saban. The Fort Lauderdale product rolled back the clock to the freshman lake weekend after his arrival in 2019. Saban famously takes the incoming freshmen out on Lake Tuscaloosa with his various watercraft before they officially begin their first fall camp.

“Favorite memory with Saban? It would probably be on the lake,” Battle said with a grin. “We go on the tubes and stuff and obviously, I’m the best tube rider on the team so his job was intentionally getting me off the tube. But he couldn’t and I think that showed our competitive nature.”

He laughed and noted it was an honor “with the guy that’s known as the GOAT in the coaching industry.”

That was that.

But there was more to the story, it turns out.

Defensive lineman Byron Young was also on the lake that day and, without knowing Battle’s answer, offered his own recollection when asked to recall a funny moment.

“We went to Coach Saban’s house for a lake day,” Young said, also grinning, and Battle actually ran one of the jet skis into the boats before we even left the docks.”

Yeah?

Battle didn’t mention that part of the story.

“He might have forgot about it,” Young said, “or it might be something he wants to forget.”

Interesting.

The investigation was on so we walked back over to Battle’s table at the New Orleans hotel where Alabama defensive players were meeting with the press.

Was there more you’d like to add to this story, Mr. Battle?

“Oh,” he said, “we’re bringing this back up?”

Indeed.

The confession followed.

“We were coming toward the dock when they (on the boat) were backing out,” Battle said. “I was a little far out at first but I didn’t realize how quickly I was coming up to the dock so as I was trying to come in, I was swerving a little bit. Not swerving but switching left to right trying to slow the jet ski down a little bit but I couldn’t slow it down in time.

“And I kind of clipped the back of the boat.”

That must have gone over well.

Battle then raised and his hands with a “What are you doing?” in his best Saban-impression voice.

Linebacker Will Anderson, a year younger than Battle, wasn’t at the lake that day but he would come to know his future teammates’ lake day mentality in the years to come.

“Yeah, but JB is wild, especially when he gets on those jet skis,” Anderson said. “One of the years, he was on the jet skis and he was just doing doughnuts over and over and over. I don’t play with water like that so when I see him doing that, I was like he can have fun. But he’s crazy when he gets on those jet skis.”

Still, Anderson could only imagine what Battle teammate was thinking when he made contact with Saban’s boat as a freshman yet to prove himself on the field.

“He probably thought his scholarship was about to get taken away,” a laughing Anderson said.

Battle, however, isn’t one to panic.

“It was a pretty funny moment because when you’re a recruit and coach comes to speak to you, he doesn’t really curse to you,” Battle recalled. “He’s more professional so that was a great experience knowing that he has that side of him. He has that seriousness so you know he’s not coming to play with you so just make sure, when you’re on the field, do everything you need to do.”

Battle would start four games as a freshman before holding that job for the next three seasons. He accepted a spot in the Senior Bowl a week ago after four seasons at Alabama, though he technically could have retained another year of eligibility because of the 2020 COVID season.

But after winning a national title, playing for another and appearing in all 54 Alabama games the past four seasons, he’s on to the NFL.

It’ll be a long few months of workouts, interviews and The Combine in Indianapolis where it’ll be far too cold to tank his stock on a squirrely jet ski.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.