HOOVER -- Reggie Ragland's had a wild week.

There was a national championship victory, the Walter Camp All-American banquet Saturday in Connecticut. By Sunday, he was in Hoover signing autographs at the Dick's Sporting Goods. A week from then, the former Alabama linebacker will be in Mobile for the Senior Bowl.

He's going to try something new on the Gulf Coast. The All-American said he'd be getting some work at outside linebacker to show his versatility.

Alabama's leading tackler made 102 stops as a middle linebacker after deciding to return for his senior season. Looking back on it, that decision to come back to Alabama for a final season was the best choice possible.

"Some family members that are money hungry are going to tell you to go because they're going to try to get a piece of it," Ragland said. "I just listened to what my parents had to say. They know I'm a grown man and I have to make decisions on my own from this point forward."

There was some solid logic behind Ragland's decision to return outside of the second-round draft grade he received.

"I decided to stay and in the back of my mind, I knew I wanted to stay because I wanted to become a smarter player before I went to the NFL. That league is a grown man's league. Those guys have families to feed and I don't want to go in there half-stepping because I don't want to mess up somebody's family. So I wanted to be the smartest person I could be before I take the next step."

It worked out well for the Madison, Ala., product. He was a unanimous All-American, a finalist for the Butkus and Bronko Nagurski awards.

Ragland is also projected to go in the first half of the opening round in the NFL draft this spring.

"I want to make sure when my legacy is done," Ragland said, "I want everybody to say Reggie was a good guy. He was a people person. He wasn't a guy who was saying no to kids or being mean to people. My parents didn't raise me to be that way. So they told me to be nice and courteous to everybody. That's the guy I am."