Former Alabama cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick said he felt like it was the perfect time to enter the NFL Draft following his standout junior season with the Tide.
Kirkpatrick, alongside teammate Trent Richardson, announced he would forgo his senior year of college three days after the team captured its 14th national championship.
“I sat down, talked to [head coach Nick Saban] and talked to my parents, and we felt like it was the right decision,” Kirkpatrick said in a phone interview Wednesday. “It’s not me being arrogant or something like that, it was a family decision and the perfect move at the time.”
After appearing in 12 games his freshman year, Kirkpatrick and the 2009 Crimson Tide defeated the Texas Longhorns in the national championship game.
“It was amazing for me to jump right in and come in undefeated and do it at a great institution like the University of Alabama and end the season on top,” he said. “It’s something that I always strived for. I always want to be a winner.”
This year, Kirkpatrick was a finalist for the Thorpe Award, which goes to the nation’s top defensive back, and recorded 30 tackles, broke up nine passes and forced two fumbles.
He said his job on this year’s team was to keep everyone motivated.
“When everybody’s down and not that into it, everybody would allow me to bring the energy that I bring to the table to pretty much lift everybody up and just be a role model and a leader for those guys,” Kirkpatrick said.
After Louisiana State University defeated the Tide in their Nov. 5 regular season showdown, Kirkpatrick said the team had no doubt that they’d meet up with the Tigers again in early January.
“We all pretty much knew it was destined,” he said. “[The Nov. 5 loss] was a sad moment, for the most part, but we had to keep fighting and Coach [Saban] gave us great points and pretty much everything worked out perfect.”
When the two SEC West foes met up again on Jan. 9 for the 2011 BCS National Championship Game, Kirkpatrick said he felt a sense of relief after the final seconds ticked off the clock in the Tide’s historic 21-0 victory.
Kirkpatrick said he was glad to bring home a championship for the UA community, and that the team used that to motivate them for the whole season.
“It was for the fans and the whole city of Tuscaloosa and everybody that lost pretty much everything,” he said. “And we had to pretty much rebuild them. We brought a lot of hope back to the city by winning this national championship.”
Leading up to April’s NFL Draft, Kirkpatrick said he will spend time training at IMG Performance Institute, which helps athletes train for the NFL combine. He also said he’ll be in Tuscaloosa on Friday to sign autographs at University Mall and at the championship celebration on Saturday.
“This has been a big journey for me and everybody’s stood by my side,” Kirkpatrick said. “I never wanted to be [at] any other place but Alabama.”
Although the interview was scheduled after Kirkpatrick was arrested last Tuesday, The Crimson White agreed with Kirkpatrick’s request not to ask any questions regarding the incident.
