Alabama turns to Reggie Ragland for leadership on defense

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Growing up, Reggie Ragland saw enough of what not to do to keep him on the right path.

The youngest of Ann White's seven children, Ragland remembers his siblings being athletically gifted like him, but something always got in the way.

"All my brothers were good at sports, but it was always something that plagued them," Ragland said. "Girls, school and one of my brothers had an injury. Two of those things you can prevent. That's one of the things my dad always harped on me 'Get what you have to get first, girls will come later.' My mom was the same way. 'You don't need no girlfriend. Keep focusing on school and all that will come.' I always listened to that."

Along with being able to see some of the mistakes made by his older brothers, Ragland had another incentive not to get in trouble or to slack off in school -- his heavy-handed father, Reggie Ragland, Sr.

"Reggie knew he had to answer to me," Ragland Sr. said. "That's one of the main reasons he stayed in line was because he always knew he was going to have to answer for whatever he did out there. He'll tell you one of the reasons he didn't do anything was because he knew what would be waiting on him once he came home."

Call it fear or intimidation or whatnot, it worked and helped Ragland land at Alabama.

After getting a 2nd round grade from NFL advisory board, Ragland turned down the NFL to return to school to finish his degree. He's on track to graduate in December. This season also gives Ragland his opportunity to be the man at middle linebacker. Everyone will be looking at him to make plays and be the leader of the defense like Rolando McClain, Dont'a Hightower, C.J. Mosley and others before him.

"It feels different from all my other years because I've always been on the backburner watching guys that were big time performers," Ragland said. "As a freshman, I had to wait my turn my Nico (Johnson), C.J. (Mosley) and Trey (DePriest). Then my sophomore year, I was behind C.J. and Trey.

"When I finally got my chance, I knew what to expect because I saw how those guys handled the pressure of being that guy. I'm going in this year and taking my time and not worrying about what the people on the outside are saying about me."

Ragland's early life

Ragland Sr. leans forward on the edge of the couch and his eyes turn serious. A story from Ragland's days at Challenger Middle School has popped into his mind, one that reaffirmed that his methods with Ragland Jr. were working. As an eighth grader, Ragland played varsity basketball at Grissom High.

"I wasn't going to let Reggie go and quit pushing him until I felt it was time," Ragland Sr. said. "I didn't care what no coach or nobody said."

As he remembers it, Ragland Sr. said he sat on the sideline and pushed Ragland Jr. at every game. That didn't sit well with the coaching staff, who felt the father was distracting the son.

"I'm sitting there thinking, 'I'm distracting him? Nah, coach. I'm helping you,'" Ragland Sr. said. "I'm sending this kid to levels that you can't even send him to."

But the coaches didn't agree, at least initially. They asked Ragland Sr. to move away from the bench and further up in the bleachers. He wouldn't be there long as Ragland Jr. struggled without his father's near the bench. Before the fourth quarter in a crucial game, Ragland Sr. said he received texts message from the coaching staff stating that the team needed to win the game to make the playoffs. The coaching staff wanted Ragland Sr. back near the bench.

Initially reluctant to move back down, Ragland Sr. returned to his place after White convinced him it was the right thing to do. Ragland Sr. remembers the team being down big when he first returned to the bench, but he said he helped push Ragland Jr. to perform better. The team won the game and made the playoffs.

"Reggie had told them that he needed me on the sideline because I had been there since day one just grinding him," Ragland Sr. said. "Really, my voice was the only voice he was hearing."

Added Ragland Jr., "If it wasn't for my dad, I probably wouldn't be here in the sports world. My dad always stayed on me. After a game, he never told me the good stuff I did. He always told me what I messed up on so I could work on it and keep getting better."

Both White and Ragland Sr. have plenty of stories about the boy they helped mold into a man.

As Ragland Jr. puts it, "my mom handled the academic side" and "my dad handle the sports side."

White remembers "cooking, cooking and more cooking" for her rapidly growing baby boy. She couldn't keep cereal and milk in her house, one of Ragland's favorite foods as a youth. Ragland also liked to devour homemade vanilla ice cream and fried chicken from a convenient store near his childhood home that has since closed.

"When he was little and in diapers, everybody thought he was three or four years old," White said. "People said, 'Why does that boy still have diapers on?' This kid wasn't even a year old yet."

One of Ragland's older brothers, Sherman White, chimed in.

"Ever seen Flintstones? Baby Bamm Bamm? That's him, Bamm Bamm. In the fourth grade wearing size 36 jeans."

Then there were his feet.

"Every day, he just kept coming home telling his dad that his feet hurt," White remembers.

While in the fourth grade, Ragland's feet ballooned from a size eight to a size 12 in a span of two months. As an elementary school student, Ragland began wearing his father's shoes.

That growth spurt is one of the many reasons why Ragland Sr. always knew Ragland Jr. would be a star athlete.

"I was the one pushing him in all of the sports and showing him what needed to be done," Ragland Sr. said. "From the day he was born, I knew he was going to be an athlete. You could just tell by the build of his body. I knew the background on both sides of the family as far as athletes. All he needed was somebody to stay behind him and push him and show him the right things."

In White's words, Ragland wanted to try everything. He starred in basketball, football, baseball and track and field during his younger days.

"He even came in one day and said he wanted to play soccer," White said. "I looked at him and said 'Boy, there's not enough hours in the day for you to play all these sports.'"

But basketball was Ragland's best sport, according to his family.

Ragland Sr. said Ragland Jr. was a "way better basketball player" than a football player. He added that if Ragland had grown to 6-foot-7, 6-8, "he wouldn't be playing football."

Ragland's older brother, Chris White -- who won Mr. Basketball in Alabama at Grissom High in 2001, noticed the potential in hoops as well.

"I had went off to school and came back, so the first game I saw him play in was when he was in seventh grade," Chris said. "He just picked up the ball up from the ground, jumped up and dunked on like two people. I said, 'Yeah. He bad.'"

With no more growth spurts left, Ragland gravitated more toward football. On the field, he was the first player at Bob Jones High School to be a freshman on the varsity football team. He was a star tight end and pass rusher. But once his recruitment picked up, Bob Jones coach Kevin Rose said Ragland made the decision to focus solely on defense.

That move was mainly orchestrated by Tide coach Nick Saban, who made Ragland a top priority. Rose said Saban and Alabama were grooming Ragland to be the next middle linebacker. Ragland's committed to in December 2010.

"At the end of the day, Alabama was the right school for me," Ragland said. "It's instate, best program in the country, great academics. We have one of the highest graduation rates. And I knew I wanted to come here. Especially being down the street from Rolando (McClain) and seeing him do what he did here. He was my favorite player in the country. I kind of base my game off his. Watching him play, being physical, tough-nosed and smart."

Early years at Alabama

Arrived at Alabama like so many other players during Saban era, a decorated player at the high school level and the top player at his position and in his state. But he entered a position filled with guys who had similar accolades at their respective high schools. Ragland spent his first year behind Nico Johnson, C.J. Mosley and Trey DePriest. Mosley and DePriest were still around during Ragland's sophomore year, which relegated Ragland to another year of mop up duty and special teams work. He had 25 tackles in his first two years. It was a time Ragland described as "hard" to deal with.

"I knew I was physical enough and big enough to play," he said. "It's just catching on to the playbook. When you can't catch on to coach Saban's playbook early, it will take some time. It took me a minute, I'm not gonna lie. Once I finally sat down, looked myself in the mirror and said 'Alright, I need to buckle down,' that's when everything started coming to me."

Around that time, Ragland said he cut a lot of clutter out of his life. He also started going to church again, which he believes helped make his life clearer.

Ragland's first real chance on the field came last season. Mosley's departure for the NFL left a gaping hole in the defense, but Ragland did his best to fill it.

As a junior, Ragland made 13 starts while playing in all 14 games. He finished second on the team with 95 total tackles (45 solo). Ragland had four double-digit tackle games and at least seven tackles in eight of the final 11 games. He finished with 10.5 tackles for loss (-27 yards) and 1.5 sacks, had an interception, one forced fumble, a team-high three fumble recoveries, one quarterback hurry and three pass breakups. His performance earned him a spot as a semifinalist for the Butkus Award (nation's best linebacker) and Associated Press first team All-SEC honors.

Tide defensive coordinator Kirby Smart has seen Ragland's growth from day one.

"He practices hard, he plays hard, it's important to Reggie," Smart said. "Reggie wants to please you as a coach. He wants to lead the group as a unit. So he's gotten more confident this year. He'll talk to the freshmen. He'll talk to Reuben (Foster). He's making more calls. Maybe he's not really a natural leader, but now he has the experience and confidence and accolades to be that guy we need him to be - that bell-cow guy."

Senior season

Ragland Sr. said he still gets onto to Ragland Jr. whenever necessary. But that is mostly with only his words at this point in their lives. The son has become the physical aggressor.

"The last time I saw him, I walked in and he just grabbed me, picked me up and held me against the way like 'Ain't no more pushing me around now, is it?'" Ragland Sr. said, laughing. "I said 'Boy, I can't do nothing with you.'"

This season, Alabama's opponents will be on the other side of that punishment, but the meetings won't be nearly as playful.

Ragland is a violent tackler, always finishing through the ball carrier. But his role will expand this season. He'll make the on field adjustment for the defense. Ragland will be the quarterback of this year's defense.

"He was a dominant player last year," Tide linebacker Dillon Lee said. "People look to him for leadership all the time. There are times when people look to him to make a play. Everybody really counts on him."

With a bigger leadership role and more responsibility overall comes more meetings and time with Saban. Prior to the interview for this piece, Ragland met with Saban in his office. It's one of the perks of being a leader and a captain on the team.

"We just talk about life stuff and just getting to know each other better so when the time on the field comes, he knows how to come at me and when I have a problem, I'll know how to come at him about stuff," Ragland said. "It's just a good relationship and it's building even more now that I'm one of the captains on the team."

On the field, Ragland will be the middle linebacker in the Tide's regular defense, the money linebacker in nickel and the mack or buck in dime, which means he'll get more opportunities to rush the passer. It will be a challenging season for Ragland, but Saban believes his latest star linebacker is ready for it.

"Reggie's smart, he handles it well," Saban said. "He's got good work habits, so if there's a guy capable of accomplishing it, it's certainly a guy like him."

-- Contact Anniston Star Sports Writer Marq Burnett at mburnett@annistonstar.com. On Twitter:@Marq_Burnett.

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 11:06 PM with the headline "Alabama turns to Reggie Ragland for leadership on defense ."