Over the years, former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban had some truly legendary players, but maybe none more so than Heisman winning running back Derrick Henry.

Even a decade after hoisting up that iconic trophy before helping the Tide to yet another national title in 2015, Henry is still making opposing NFL defenses look like children when they try to tackle him. “King” Henry has a legitimate case to be among the best running backs to ever play the sport, and does not seem to be showing any signs of slowing down.

The craziest part about his career running the football though is that it almost never even happened.

During a Friday appearance with Pat McAfee, Saban revealed that every other school recruiting Henry wanted to switch his position due to his size and not let him play running back:

“You can go back and see who was recruiting him, but the amazing thing is NOBODY except us said Derrick Henry could play running back,” Saban declared. “Can you believe that? They’re talking about the guy being an outside backer, they’re talking about being this and that…because he’s tall, he’s long, doesn’t fit the real running back style that people are looking for. I said ‘Hell, this guy is hard to tackle, he’s fast, he’s got a great stiff arm, why can’t he play running back?’ I told him we’re recruiting you as a running back and you can do whatever you wanna do.”

As they say, the rest is history, and Henry would go on to have a spectacular Alabama career before dominating in the NFL. It’s absolutely wild to think such a great run at the position almost didn’t happen because every other coach besides one wanted to make Henry into something he wasn’t.

They don’t call Saban the greatest to ever do it for no reason.