TUSCALOOSA -- Javier Arenas' play as a defensive back has become a ticket into the NFL, never mind the fact his special teams career will go down as one of the best in college football history.



Looking back, it's odd to think that it almost didn't happen.



The summer before his sophomore season at Alabama, Arenas was "going through a tough time," teammates said. The cornerback, in fact, had already started informing them that his football career was finished.



And it would have been if it weren't for incoming Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban.



"I was just at a point in my life where I didn't know if I wanted to play anymore," Arenas said. "I talked to Coach Saban for a great deal of time. He helped me realize. He told me I was making a huge mistake, which at the time I didn't think I was making."



Nearly three seasons later, Arenas has become one of the cornerstone players in the Crimson Tide's return to prominence while taking aim at some impressive personal accomplishments.



Arenas heads into Saturday's 6 p.m. game at Mississippi State needing 172 yards to break the all-time NCAA record for career punt return yardage held by Wes Welker of Texas Tech. He is also 106 yards shy of a 60-year SEC mark set by Vanderbilt's Lee Nalley from 1947-49.



With five games remaining -- counting the SEC title game and a bowl -- Arenas is within reach of both marks, considering he has averaged 38.8 yards in 41 games during which he has had at least one punt return.



Arenas said he doesn't think about the records during games, but concedes that it would mean a lot to reach it before the end of his senior season.



"But if I don't," Arenas said, "I still think I've done pretty good with it, so I'll be satisfied."



If there has been a recent Crimson Tide player with something to prove, it is Arenas. A prep standout in Tampa, Arenas originally committed to Florida Atlantic. His scholarship offer list was pretty slim when former UA special teams coach Dave Ungerer lobbied to add Arenas as a return man, convincing defensive coaches he could also contribute as an undersized cornerback.



"I was recruited by smaller schools -- Florida Atlantic, Florida International -- and I felt like I was an exceptional player," Arenas said last year. "Teams slipped on me, and they were going to pay if I went to those, so to speak, smaller schools."



Now listed as 5-foot-9, 195 pounds, Arenas still lacks the size that scouts tend to covet. But it's safe to say he has achieved his goal of being known as a cornerback as much as a feared return specialist.



One of 12 semifinalists for this year's Thorpe Award (which goes to the nation's top defensive back), Arenas is the reigning SEC defensive player of the week and currently ranks second in the league with 10.5 tackles for a loss.



"He's one of those guys that comes to work every day, works hard and competes," Crimson Tide defensive coordinator Kirby Smart said of Arenas before this season. "It bothers him if they complete a 5-yard out and I think that's what makes him who he is. He's motivated through fear of failure and through competitive nature."



Perhaps most impressive is that Arenas has played the past two games with a painful rib injury that kept him out of last month's South Carolina game.



In two games since then, Arenas has totaled 20 tackles, including a game-high 13 against Tennessee. After that game, Saban said Arenas had a "record number of production points" for his time at Alabama.



"You just can't respect guys like him any more," Saban said. "He has made improvement because it's important to him. He always works on his technique and he is very conscientious about it and he plays lots of roles for us."



And it is Arenas' defensive performance that is his ticket to the NFL, according to Saban, who first measured pro interest in Arenas after last season.

