Alabama and Auburn Lombardi Award Finalists: 2010-2014

From 2010 through 2014, the Lombardi Award trail touched the Alabama-Auburn rivalry in several different ways: an Auburn winner in 2010, multiple Alabama finalists during the Nick Saban championship run, and one year with no Alabama or Auburn finalist at all.

Why This Award Matters In An Iron Bowl Archive

The Lombardi Award is not an Iron Bowl award, and it should not be treated as one. It is a national college football award with its own eligibility rules, historically centered on linemen and linebackers. That matters because many of the players who shaped Alabama-Auburn games did their work in the line of scrimmage rather than in box-score categories that are easy to search.

For Iron Bowl History, the useful question is narrower: which Alabama and Auburn players appear in the Lombardi Award record, and how does that connect to the rivalry years people search for? The 2010-2014 window is especially useful because it overlaps with the Camback, Alabama's 2011 and 2012 national-title teams, the 2013 Kick Six season, and the 2014 highest-scoring Iron Bowl.

2010-2014 Alabama-Auburn Connections

2010: Auburn winner

Fairley was the Lombardi Award winner for the 2010 season, the same season Auburn completed the Camback in Tuscaloosa and went on to win the national championship.

2011: Alabama finalists: Donta' Hightower and Courtney Upshaw

The official alumni list places Hightower and Upshaw among Kuechly's fellow finalists, matching Alabama's 2011 national-title defense.

2012: Alabama finalist: Barrett Jones

Jones appears among Te'o's fellow finalists after anchoring Alabama's 2012 championship line.

2013: Alabama finalist: C.J. Mosley

The official alumni page lists the Alabama linebacker among Donald's fellow finalists. This article uses the standard spelling C.J. Mosley.

2014: No Alabama or Auburn finalist on the official list

The 2014 Iron Bowl was historically important on offense, but the Lombardi finalist group did not include an Alabama or Auburn player.

What The 2010-2014 Pattern Shows

The pattern is not balanced by school in this five-year slice. Auburn has the most direct link in 2010 because Fairley won the award. Alabama then dominates the finalist context in 2011, 2012 and 2013 with Hightower, Upshaw, Jones and Mosley. In 2014, the Alabama-Auburn game itself was memorable, but the Lombardi Award finalist list points elsewhere nationally.

That distinction helps prevent a common archive mistake. A famous Iron Bowl season does not automatically produce a Lombardi finalist from Alabama or Auburn. The 2014 game is a good example: Alabama beat Auburn 55-44 in the highest-scoring game in series history, but the official Lombardi finalist group for that award year does not create a direct Alabama-Auburn entry.

All-Time Program Markers

The 2010-2014 window is only one slice. Alabama and Auburn both appear elsewhere in the Lombardi Award record, including winners and fellow finalists who belong in a broader rivalry archive.

Search Note

Readers often search this topic as a compact list: "Lombardi Award finalists 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Alabama Auburn." The safest answer is not a single name list without context. It is a year-by-year table that separates winners from fellow finalists and makes clear when Alabama or Auburn does not appear in a given year.

This page will need future revision only if the official Lombardi Award alumni page changes its archive wording or if a school-published record book adds a clearer historical table. Until then, the article should remain a compact reference page rather than a prediction, debate column or invented oral history.