Former Auburn University quarterback and 2011 Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton may go as the Number 1 NFL draft pick when it starts this evening but he won’t have one unique honor that another Alabama collegiate player and Heisman winner has already received. That would be a life-sized, 40-pound sculpture made of chicken salad.
A Subway sandwich shop in Midtown Manhattan built the sculpture depicting Mark Ingram Jr., which is constructed from “a combination of wire, plaster, raisins, bread, celery, cranberries and, of course, lots of chicken,” according to a New York Daily News story.
The son of former pro football great Mark Ingram will likely become a top NFL draft prospect. The running back who helped the Crimson Tide beat Texas for the 2010 National Championship — it didn’t hurt that the Tide knocked Texas star QB Colt McCoy out of the game on their first drive — said he was thrilled by the honor.
“It’s a chicken salad of me, man,” he told the Daily News.
Seriously, it’s good to see Ingram can lighten up some on the cusp of being drafted. He has had injury problems over his two past college seasons and most notably his father overshadowed the son leading up to the latter’s 2009 Sugar Bowl appearance. The senior Ingram was on the lam, having failed to report to federal prison for a 92-month-sentence on bank fraud and money laundering charges. Ingram Sr. was arrested by U.S. Marshals just two hours before the kickoff to his son’s nationally-televised game. At least his Dad had the TV tuned into the game. Not the best memory for some of the son’s great career moments. Well, maybe not so great that time since Utah beat Alabama in that game. But you know …
It could be a stellar occasion for younger Ingram over these next few days while his dad, perhaps, watches only a few miles down the road from where I live in Beaumont, Texas. That would be at Federal Correctional Institute-Beaumont.
Maybe you really can, unlike President Lyndon Johnson surmised, make chicken salad out of chicken s**t.
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