Alabama’s Reuben Foster finished his Crimson Tide career with 223 total tackles, leading the team with 115 in 2016. He was awarded the 2016 Butkus Award, given to the nation’s best linebacker. He’s considered one of the 2017 NFL draft’s best linebacker prospects.
Why Alabama’s Reuben Foster has an archrival Auburn tattoo
The NFL prospect’s ink has gained a meaning deeper than just the Iron Bowl rivalry.
But prior to him leading the Bama defense, Foster thought he would be playing his college career at Alabama’s biggest rival, Auburn University.
Foster actually flipped between Auburn and Alabama a few times.
His first verbal commitment was to Alabama in July 2011.
In April the following year, he transferred to Auburn High School, just two miles from Auburn’s campus. A few months later, he flipped his commitment to the Tigers, and he did so with a more permanent method than just a statement. Foster got the Auburn logo tattooed on his forearm.
He even had his daughter dressed up in Auburn gear when he made the announcement.
This all seemed well and good, until Dec. 2012, when Foster decommitted from Auburn, shortly after Gus Malzahn announced that his top recruiter, Trooper Taylor, would not be returning.
Then, in Feb. 2013, Foster signed with Alabama on Signing Day. The story of Foster’s tattoo was so popular that then-president Barack Obama referenced it during the Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl visit.
“You guys just got another draft pick down there, a guy who already tattooed Auburn on his arm and then decided to go to Alabama instead,” Obama told Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, a former Bama player who’d made reference to the Tide’s upcoming visit to the White House.
After his commitment, Foster apologized to Auburn and some Georgia fans for “getting their hopes up.”
He added that he tried to make everybody happy. Later when Foster’s Letter of Intent was sent into Bama, Tide head coach Nick Saban mentioned how difficult it is trying to please everyone as a recruit.
“We really think Reuben’s a good person and Reuben has a good heart,” Saban said. “He’s certainly a good football player, but I think that he really felt bad in some ways; maybe by the way he handled his recruiting. I also think that all the media attention sometimes can affect these guys in maybe not the most positive way.”
Five years later, Foster still has the Auburn tattoo on his forearm, but he had it altered to honor his cousin.
Former Auburn player Ladarious Phillips was killed after a shooting at an off-campus apartment in June 2012.
Foster changed his ink in July 2013.
The tattoo has come to symbolize something more meaningful than football: family. Foster’s cousin, former Auburn fullback Ladarious Phillips, was shot and killed a month after Foster flipped his commitment from the Tide to the Tigers. The two lived near one another in Roanoke, Ala., before Foster moved to Georgia and then Auburn. They dreamed of playing together.
“I can remember like yesterday we lived by each other before we even thought about playing football,” Foster said. “We’re family. I’d borrow his Auburn shorts — I’m wearing them now.”
Judging by the smile on Foster’s face after his graduation from the University of Alabama, he looks pretty happy with where he ended up.
Foster’s Auburn tattoo will remain as he enters his NFL career, even though he never actually played there. But it will definitely show just how far Foster has come, and he’ll be able to pay tribute to his late cousin in a big way while he’s in the league.
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