Crimson Red Sports

Even after helping Prattville High win a couple of Class 6A state championships, Nick Perry figured he would need some patience at Alabama.

A 6-foot-1, 208-pound defensive back, Perry signed with the Crimson Tide after the 2009 season, when Alabama was coming off a national championship season and had plenty of highly rated prospects like him crowding onto campus.

So, if Perry minded not playing much the past two years, he isn’t saying. Instead, this is what he said about having to wait: “I knew coming in it was going to take time for me to mature.”

The patience has paid off for Perry, who has developed into an important part of the Crimson Tide’s defensive puzzle.

As Alabama drives toward a possible third national title in four years, Perry no longer is one of the guys bunched in the aisle of the bus. He has grown into someone who has his own seat, right next to the other first-team players...

After playing sparingly in 15 games in 2010-11 and making three tackles, Perry is the Crimson Tide’s first-team free safety. In addition, he is trusted enough that when Alabama goes with an alignment that includes six defensive backs, Perry shifts to the “money” position, which is the sixth defensive back. It requires a little more physical presence than the average safety.