Alabama center Landon Dickerson to miss playoff with knee injury

Alabama will be without one of its key cogs on the offensive line as center Landon Dickerson will miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury, head coach Nick Saban told ESPN on Sunday.

Dickerson landed awkwardly on a block in the fourth quarter of Saturday's 52-46 victory over Florida in Saturday’s SEC Championship Game. He was carted off the field and was seen on crutches after the game. Sunday, Saban reported that an MRI showed ligament damage, cutting the redshirt senior season's short.

“Landon is a hard guy to replace because of his leadership, his personality,” said Saban during a Zoom call for the Rose Bowl later Sunday. “He’s very inspirational in a lot of ways to all of his teammates. I don’t know that you replace a guy like that, but we have confidence in Chris Owens.”

Dickerson has been Alabama’s best lineman this season. Heading into the game, Outland Award semifinalist led the Tide with a 91.2 run-blocking grade and ranked second with a 78.7 pass-blocking mark.

Before Dickerson was carted off the field, the entire Alabama bench poured onto the field to show support for the redshirt senior offensive lineman.

"I think he's probably one of the most popular guys on our team," Saban said. "He's got great leadership qualities. He's impacted and affected guys in a very positive way. He's got a great personality. I don't know of anybody on our team that is really like him.'

Earlier Sunday, Alabama earned the top spot in this season's College Football Playoff. The No. 1 Crimson Tide (11-0) will take on No. 4 Notre Dame (10-1) in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. This year's Rose Bowl has been moved from Pasadena, Calif to Dallas due to COVID-19 complications.