Albertville High School will honor the greatest offensive lineman in history by retiring his jersey. Alabama legend John Hannah’s #73 will be retired at a ceremony before Albertville High School’s opening game Aug. 30 against Douglas. There ceremony begins at 6:20 p.m. It is part of an elaborate celebration of Albertville High School’s 100th year of football.

Albertville High coach Tommy Tharp said Hannah was “one of the greatest football players in the history of the game.” Tharp’s analysis has been echoed throughout Hannah’s career, including the Aug. 3, 1981, Sports Illustrated cover which proclaimed Hannah “The Best Offensive Lineman of All Time.”

Hannah’s jersey #73 is retired by the New England Patriots. This will be the first time Albertville High has retired a jersey for any player in its illustrious history.

Listen to Hannah pay tribute to the people who made him into a Hall of Fame member during his Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.

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Saban from his press conference on Prothro: ”We do have a plan to try to further continue his rehabilitation and (are) hopeful that he can come back and play football someday. But when we put guys in these situations, the medical staff is 99.9 percent sure that this is a long-term issue that we are dealing with and it would be unusual that a guy could ever come back….Those players will continue to be a part of our program. Those players will continue to receive academic support. We want them to be a part of the team, but in no way can they participate because of their medical condition.”

It is sad, but I think most fans knew this would happen. While Saban denied it and the other medical moves were done to free up scholarships, it had to be a difficult decision to make—essentially ending a football career.

Here’s Alabama’s practice schedule.

Joey Jones is having success at Birmingham-Southern College where he is building a program from scratch. Jones went from zero football players on the roster just 13 months ago to over 123 on the team’s roster entering Fall practice.