Nick Saban tells how Mick Jagger helped turn Jack Lambert into an All-America linebacker

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Nick Saban recounted a story on his weekly radio show appearance Thursday from his time as a player at Kent State when the team would work security for concerts around the area.

It was at one of those concerts that an occurrence created a circumstance that played a part in transforming future NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Lambert into an All-American.

Football players could make $50 by working concert security and getting a free show. The middle linebacker at the time, Bob Bender, was near the stage and knocked down an item that was thrown at Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger.

Jagger immediately hired Bender as part of his security team.

Football: Super Bowl X: Pittsburgh Steelers Jack Lambert (58) lined up during game vs Dallas Cowboys QB Roger Staubach (12) at Orange Bowl Stadium. Miami, FL 1/18/1976CREDIT: Neil Leifer (Photo by Neil Leifer /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)(Set Number: X20181 )
Football: Super Bowl X: Pittsburgh Steelers Jack Lambert (58) lined up during game vs Dallas Cowboys QB Roger Staubach (12) at Orange Bowl Stadium. Miami, FL 1/18/1976CREDIT: Neil Leifer (Photo by Neil Leifer /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)(Set Number: X20181 )

"Jack Lambert was a defensive end on our team and he was going into his junior year and we had this guy named Bob Bender who was the middle linebacker," Saban related. "... So we go do the Rolling Stones concert in Cleveland. There's about 20 of us on the football team, but you were security. You know, you stand on a stage and you stand on the mixer or whatever. You get 50 bucks you get to see the show free. I mean, it was like the best deal in town.

"So Bender's on the stage, Mick Jagger comes off (and) somebody tries to throw something on him, and Bender knocks it out of his hand. And Jagger calls a man and they hire him as a bodyguard."

Kent State, under coach Don James, played a 4-3 defense. With Bender off to work for the Rolling Stones, Lambert moved from defensive end to fill the middle linebacker spot.

Lambert became the key player in a goal-line stop against Miami-Ohio in a game for the conference championship.

Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones plays the Seminole  Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on Nov. 23, 2021.
Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones plays the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on Nov. 23, 2021.

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Miami had first-and-goal at the 1-yard line and went with its running back, Bob Hitchens, who went on to his own NFL career. Four times in a row Hitchens tried to jump over the middle of the defense into the end zone, and all four times Lambert leaped up to meet him head-on and knock him back short of the goal line.

"They never score," Saban said. "It is the greatest, like, individual performance I've ever seen."

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Nick Saban tells how Mick Jagger turned Jack Lambert into an All-American LB