HOUSTON -- Football ties run deep in the South.
And the bonds of guys that have played for the Alabama Crimson Tide may be about as strong as they come.
In Sunday's Super Bowl, there will be a ton of respect between Patriots linebacker Dont'a Hightower and Falcons linebacker Courtney Upshaw when they take the field in Houston.
It was nine years ago that the two smalltown products -- Hightower from Lewisburg, Tenn., and its population of just over 11,000, Upshaw from Eufaula, Ala., and its population of about 13,000 -- arrived as freshmen in Tuscaloosa. It was the start of what each said is now an unbreakable friendship.
"That's my ace," Hightower said of Upshaw. "One of the few guys we actually got real close to coming in together. Coming from Alabama, there was only like three guys from Tennessee that actually went like out of state or whatever. So me and Upshaw got jelled pretty close."
Upshaw said stepping onto the football field with Hightower was like looking in a mirror.
"He's one of the first guys that once I got there I gravitated to," he said. "We became best friends."
Rooming together as sophomores in 2009, Upshaw was on the sideline when Hightower suffered a season-ending knee injury in Alabama's fourth game of the season against Arkansas. Upshaw was inserted as part of a shuffling of players to replace him, and he would help the Crimson Tide win the national championship against Texas.
Upshaw also had an up-close view of how Hightower rehabbed and bounced back from that injury. He was side by side with him two years later when Alabama shut out LSU 21-0 in the 2012 BCS national championship game.
It was at Alabama that Hightower said he first discovered other players that were born with that "dog in them" to succeed. He said Upshaw was and remains the embodiment of that type of player. Upshaw said he has come to appreciate that, and several of Hightower's other go-to phrases.
"Most definitely. He said that a lot," Upshaw said. "But one of the things he said that I'm always gonna remember is 'Bring that warrior mentality' that he brought along, especially our last year there.
"Dont'a is the best example I can give about being a warrior on the field. I remember our sophomore year him hurt and coming back and being able to be the player he was before he left. He was a great leader for us, and I'm sure he's a great leader for the Patriots."
It was Hightower's performance his senior year that led the Patriots to select him 25th overall in the 2012 draft. The Baltimore Ravens took Upshaw in the second round, 35th overall.
But it was Upshaw that tasted ultimate success first in the NFL, winning a Super Bowl ring his rookie year with the Ravens. He now has a chance to replicate that feat in his first season as a Falcon.
Upshaw said he and Hightower are doing exactly what they talked about achieving while at Alabama.
"We talked just basically about trying to put in that work, trying to be first-rounders, winning championships there. And just leaving a legacy at our position and trying to be one of the best at the University of Alabama," he said. "I think we did that. We definitely won championships. He was a first-rounder, I was a second-rounder. But like I said, I'm probably his biggest fan. That's my brother."
Hightower will also be chasing his second ring after winning his first with the Patriots in the 2015 title game. He said being able to play for Bill Belichick's former assistant Nick Saban and now Belichick himself has been surreal.
But asked this week who he thought was a better coach, Hightower played coy.
"That's your call, bro," he said. "I've been winning on both sides."
Sports on 02/01/2017