I think 71 was the year Bear adopted the Wishbone.
I was in school at the university that year and Bama opened in LA against USC. Several of us were in our apartment listening to the game on radio and the announcer made a wild description of how Alabama lined up in the wishbone for the first offensive play. It had been kept a complete secret as far as I know and my group went sort of nuts when we heard about it. That was still in the years when we listened to most games on radio.
Of course, Bama won that one in LA 17 - 10. Here's the story of that year and adoption of the wishbone. It also makes clear that Wilbur Jackson was on the freshmen team in 1970.