QB CLUB: Former Tide lineman Britt talks of college days, Saban, NFL
Former Alabama and New England Patriots tackle Wesley Britt greets QB Club member Scooter Dyess at Tuesday’s meeting at Huntingdon College. Britt was the guest speaker. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Former Alabama and New England Patriots tackle Wesley Britt was the featured speaker at Tuesday morning’s meeting of the River Region Quarterback Club at Huntingdon College.
Britt’s unique journey through a tumultuous time at Alabama gives him some insight on the current college players’ exposure to the transfer portal and how the future of college athletics should look.
“There’s so much change going on, so much change in this nation,” he noted. “Our favorite players from last year are now our worst enemies because they’re playing for other teams now. It is fun, but it’s changing and it’s changing fast.”
Two of the biggest factors influencing college football now are the transfer portal and players’ ability to earn money through name, image and likeness. While Britt acknowledges the transfer portal can be helpful to some players, he learned valuable lessons from working through obstacles, not ducking them by transferring.
Britt said the first major obstacle occurred in 2001 as a redshirt freshman when he had to adjust to new coach Dennis Franchione.
“I was backing up both tackles my freshman year,” Britt said. “He brings in a couple of guys, a couple of juco transfers and a couple of five-star linemen and had them put in front of me. I think about the portal now. Most people today just leave at that point. They don’t stay and fight. I didn’t have that opportunity so I don’t know what I would have done. I’d like to think, looking back and knowing that was the right thing, that I would have stayed and faced adversity and picked myself up by my bootstraps and continued to work, but I don’t know. If there was somebody willing to pay NIL money for me to just transfer and leave for greener pastures, I don’t know.
“But I know that was a great thing for me because I buckled down. I worked hard. Nobody was going to outwork me, nobody was going to be meaner and tougher than me on the field. And that’s what I did. I earned the starting job my redshirt freshmen year.”
Later, when Franchione left in December, 2002, he had the opportunity to leave again. Because Alabama was on NCAA probation and without a coach, any member of the team would transfer without having to sit out a year to regain eligibility. Again, he stayed.
“Franchione comes back from (a game at) Hawaii after that 10-win season and there’s rumors that he may be going to A&M and he says, ‘Alabama is my team, I’m holding the rope, I’ll never go anywhere,’” Britt said. “Two days later, (athletic director) Mal Moore says Coach Fran wishes he could be here, loves the university but he’s in College Station right now. Come to find out, he hadn’t left yet, but he didn’t want to have a conversation with us. Franchione and coaches like that started the portal.
“Mal Moore was the rock for our program during that transition. We wouldn’t be where we are as a university but for Mal Moore stepping in, being the guy that holds the team together. So grateful for his leadership.
“You don’t learn the life skills I was able to learn, the leadership I was able to learn. When things get tough (in today’s world), you transfer. One of the things I’m most proud of is when we were on probation and lost a coach, they told us we were open to transfer. Not one member of our team transferred.”
Britt grew up an Auburn fan and seriously entertained the thought of attending Florida to play for Steve Spurrier, narrowing his college choices to Alabama, Auburn and Florida. Auburn coaches, he said, told him he would never play SEC-caliber football.
“So it’s going to be Alabama or Florida,” Britt recalled. “I only wanted to play for one head coach when I was in school and I figured Steve Spurrier would leave for the NFL. The joke’s on me. I only wanted to play for one head coach at Alabama and I ended up playing for four head coaches, plus two years of probation.”
Britt played four years in the National Football League and is a fan of NIL money for college athletes, but points to several NFL initiatives, such as the advances in mental and physical health for players and says college administrators need to implement some of the same ideas at the collegiate level if players are going to be paid.
“Should players be able to transfer with no employment status, no employment contract?” he asked. “The three running backs that I played with that did not make it to the NFL got major depression and are now dead through suicide or drug use. People are calling out for help and there’s no help available because there’s no employment status.”
“The conversation, as it evolves, has to go back to what’s best for the college athletes who are putting so much on the line.”
In the last two years, Britt has lost former Alabama teammates Ahmaad Galloway, Santonio Beard and Ray Hudson.
Over his five seasons at Alabama (2000-04), he didn’t enjoy any Southeastern Conference or national championships, but he is praiseworthy of his fourth head coach, Mike Shula, who took over the program after Mike Price was fired in the spring of 2003.
“I’m so grateful for what he did for our program,” Britt said. “That was a pivotal time for the University of Alabama. Coach Moore was out raising money, making investments in the university, making investments in athletic facilities and we had coaches turning it down.
“I’m grateful to him. He left the program in a better place than when he took it. He loved the university, loved the football program and would do anything for it. I don’t know that we would be in a place to get Nick Saban (in 2007) had Shula not stepped in during that time.”
Saban, of course, elevated the program to a much higher status than Britt ever enjoyed, but the Montgomery resident isn’t complaining about his time in Tuscaloosa.
“I wouldn’t change anything for the world,” he said. “To be able to drape that crimson jersey on my shoulder pads was just incredible. It’s the same jersey Scooter Dyess wore, the same jersey Derrick Thomas and Joe Namath and so many great players wore. To be able to put that on is invaluable.
“Playing in the NFL, playing with Tom Brady, playing in the Super Bowl, there’s nothing like running out of the tunnel at Bryant-Denny Stadium.”
Mike DuBose, the coach who originally recruited Britt to Alabama, will be the River Region Quarterback Club speaker on Nov. 26. The group meets every other Tuesday in the Huntingdon College Cafeteria at 8 a.m. for breakfast. Members can join for $100 annually or accompany members as guests for $10 per meeting. For more information or to join, call Dr. Karl Stegall at (334) 233-5655.
The next meeting of the River Region Quarterback Club will feature NIL attorney Larry Morris on Oct. 1.