Alabama center Landon Dickerson literally carried Nick Saban on the field after winning national championship

The Crimson Tide center wasn't even supposed to play, but Nick Saban made sure he got on the field too.

Alabama senior center Landon Dickerson wasn’t expected to play in Monday’s College Football Playoff national championship game against Ohio State. He suffered a season-ending knee injury during the Crimson Tide’s SEC title game win over Florida and recently had surgery.

Dickerson was on the field taking and taking some pregame snaps, but it still didn’t seem like he was going to play. And he didn’t, for the most part, until Alabama coach Nick Saban sent him on the field with just shy of 90 seconds left in the game.

The Crimson Tide overpowered the banged-up Buckeyes and had the 52-24 game locked up way before this moment — and long before the start of the fourth quarter, really. So the senior center took the field as his teammates celebrated for the final two snaps of the 2020 season.

“He wasn’t supposed to play in the game,” Saban said, via AL.com. “He just came off of surgery. But he wanted to go in and snap the ball, so we let him do that and I guess he was pretty happy for me. But I enjoyed the ride.”

It was a sweet moment at the end of a championship game for Dickerson, who’s clearly so loved by his teammates. But it didn’t end there.

When the clock ran out and the Crimson Tide officially won their sixth national championship under Saban, Dickerson made sure to kick the celebration off right. The 6-foot-6, 325-pound lineman literally picked up his coach and carried him like a trophy down part of the field.

There was a lot of joy in this moment — especially from Saban, who’s usually anywhere between stern and irate — so here are some delightful photos of Dickerson celebrating with his coach.