Where can aspiring football players find top-notch training in Alabama. How do Alabama football camps benefit young athletes. What unique experiences do these camps offer to participants. When do most Alabama football camps take place.
The Legacy of Alabama Football Camps
Alabama football camps have long been a cornerstone of athletic development in the state, offering young players unparalleled opportunities to hone their skills and learn from some of the best coaches in the game. These camps are not just about improving technique; they’re about instilling the values and work ethic that have made Alabama a powerhouse in college football.
The history of these camps is deeply intertwined with the rich football tradition of the state. For decades, they have served as a breeding ground for talent, producing numerous college and NFL stars. The camps’ enduring popularity is a testament to their effectiveness and the quality of instruction they provide.
The Nick Saban Effect
Since Nick Saban took over as head coach of the University of Alabama in 2007, the profile of football camps in the state has risen even higher. Saban’s camps are particularly sought-after, attracting players from across the country who are eager to learn from one of the most successful coaches in college football history.
- Direct access to top-tier coaching staff
- Exposure to Alabama’s championship-winning system
- Opportunity to impress college scouts
- Intensive skill development sessions
Types of Football Camps Available in Alabama
Alabama offers a diverse array of football camps catering to different age groups, skill levels, and specific positions. This variety ensures that every aspiring player can find a camp that suits their needs and goals.
Youth Camps
Youth camps focus on introducing young players to the fundamentals of the game in a fun and engaging environment. These camps typically cater to children aged 7-13 and emphasize basic skills, teamwork, and sportsmanship.
High School Camps
High school camps are designed for more serious players looking to refine their skills and potentially catch the eye of college recruiters. These camps often feature intense training sessions, competitive drills, and sometimes even 7-on-7 tournaments.
Specialist Camps
For players looking to focus on specific positions, specialist camps offer targeted training for quarterbacks, linemen, kickers, and other roles. These camps provide in-depth instruction and personalized feedback from coaches who specialize in these positions.
The Benefits of Attending Alabama Football Camps
Participating in a football camp in Alabama offers numerous advantages beyond just improving on-field performance. These camps provide a holistic development experience that can shape a young athlete’s future both on and off the field.
- Skill Enhancement: Intensive training sessions help players refine their techniques and learn new skills.
- Exposure: Many camps offer opportunities for players to showcase their talents in front of college coaches and scouts.
- Mental Toughness: Camps often include challenging situations that help build resilience and mental fortitude.
- Teamwork: Working with new teammates fosters communication skills and adaptability.
- Confidence Building: Succeeding in a competitive environment can boost a player’s self-esteem.
Top Football Camps in Alabama
While there are numerous football camps throughout Alabama, some stand out for their reputation, coaching quality, and track record of developing talent. Here are some of the most prestigious camps in the state:
University of Alabama Football Camps
Held on the campus of the University of Alabama, these camps offer players the chance to train under the guidance of Nick Saban and his staff. The camps cover various age groups and skill levels, from youth camps to elite prospect camps.
Auburn University Football Camps
Auburn’s camps provide a comprehensive training experience on the plains. Led by head coach Hugh Freeze and his staff, these camps focus on skill development, competition, and character building.
UAB Football Camps
The University of Alabama at Birmingham offers camps that give players a taste of college-level training. These camps are known for their intensive drills and personalized coaching.
Troy University Football Camps
Troy’s camps offer a mix of skill development and exposure opportunities. They’re particularly popular among high school players looking to make an impression on college coaches.
Preparing for Alabama Football Camps
To get the most out of a football camp experience in Alabama, proper preparation is key. Here are some tips to help players make the most of their camp experience:
- Condition yourself physically in the weeks leading up to the camp
- Review and practice fundamental skills to ensure you’re ready to learn advanced techniques
- Bring appropriate gear, including cleats, mouthguard, and any position-specific equipment
- Stay hydrated, especially considering Alabama’s hot summer climate
- Come with an open mind and be ready to learn from coaches and fellow campers
The Impact of COVID-19 on Alabama Football Camps
The global pandemic has significantly affected the landscape of football camps in Alabama, as it has across the country. Many camps have adapted to ensure the safety of participants while still providing valuable training experiences.
Safety Measures Implemented
Camps that have resumed operations have implemented stringent safety protocols to protect players and staff. These measures often include:
- Temperature checks and health screenings
- Smaller group sizes to allow for social distancing
- Increased sanitization of equipment and facilities
- Mandatory mask-wearing when not actively participating in drills
- Modified drills to reduce close contact between players
Virtual Camp Options
Some camps have embraced technology to offer virtual training sessions. While these can’t fully replicate the on-field experience, they provide valuable instruction and keep players engaged with the sport.
Beyond the Field: Life Lessons from Alabama Football Camps
Football camps in Alabama offer more than just athletic instruction; they provide valuable life lessons that players can carry with them long after they leave the field. These camps emphasize character development, discipline, and leadership skills that are essential both in sports and in life.
Character Building
Coaches at Alabama football camps often stress the importance of integrity, respect, and sportsmanship. Players learn to conduct themselves with honor both on and off the field, setting a foundation for future success in all areas of life.
Time Management
The rigorous schedule of a football camp teaches players how to manage their time effectively. This skill is crucial for balancing academics and athletics, a key factor for those aspiring to play at the collegiate level.
Goal Setting
Camps often incorporate goal-setting exercises, teaching players how to set realistic, achievable objectives and work systematically towards them. This skill is invaluable in all aspects of life, from academics to career planning.
The Future of Football Camps in Alabama
As the landscape of football continues to evolve, so too will the nature of football camps in Alabama. Several trends are likely to shape the future of these camps:
Technology Integration
Expect to see increased use of technology in camp settings, from video analysis tools to wearable devices that track player performance and biometrics. This data-driven approach will allow for more personalized instruction and targeted skill development.
Emphasis on Player Safety
With growing awareness of the long-term effects of concussions and other football-related injuries, camps are likely to place even greater emphasis on safe tackling techniques and injury prevention strategies.
Holistic Player Development
Future camps may expand their focus beyond on-field skills to include nutrition education, mental health awareness, and academic support, reflecting a more comprehensive approach to athlete development.
Increased Specialization
As the game becomes more specialized at higher levels, camps may offer more position-specific training options, allowing players to deeply focus on their particular role on the field.
Alabama football camps continue to play a crucial role in developing the next generation of gridiron stars. By combining top-notch instruction, character development, and exposure to college-level coaching, these camps offer an unparalleled opportunity for young athletes to elevate their game and pursue their football dreams.
Football Camps and Clinic of Champions
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An inside look at Nick Saban’s youth football camp
Chris Low, ESPN Senior WriterJun 14, 2023, 07:00 AM ET
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- College football reporter
- Joined ESPN. com in 2007
- Graduate of the University of Tennessee
TUSCALOOSA, ALA. — THE stifling heat is just beginning to show its teeth on a sun-splashed June morning when Nick Saban sees something he doesn’t like on the Alabama practice fields.
“Outside foot, outside foot. Pivot and scoot!” Saban yells as he bursts into the middle of a drill to passionately show how he wants it done.
A few seconds later, he grimaces and turns his ire on one of the assistant coaches.
“Hold it, hold it. We’re all messed up. We’re in nickel now,” he says, stepping forward with his arms restlessly crossed.
Saban is not coaching Dallas Turner, Kool-Aid McKinstry or anybody else on the Crimson Tide football team. But he might as well be.
A voice over the loudspeaker, however, makes clear this is a different type of workout.
“Brent Lewis, report to the 50-yard line. We have your helmet.”
Lewis is one of the more than 1,100 kids, ages 8 to 13, who have signed up for the legendary coach’s youth football camp. Many are under 5 feet tall, and the vast majority won’t play Division I ball. But on this day, they all are getting the full Nick Saban experience — minus some colorful words, perhaps, and with a sprinkling of the innocence and chaos that comes with a group of kids of those ages.
“If these parents are going to pay the money for their kids to come to camp, then we owe it to them to give them the full Alabama experience, to teach them and coach them the right way,” Saban says during his only break of the day, a 10-minute respite during a marathon photo shoot that involved shaking hands and taking pictures with every camper.
The campers come from as far away as Germany. They came from Canada and all over the United States, from California to Massachusetts. The youngest son of movie star Matthew McConaughey, 10-year-old Livingston, is on hand to learn from the coach who has won seven national championships and produced 49 NFL first-round draft picks. McConaughey, a huge Texas fan, has been in Birmingham filming a movie, “The Rivals of Amziah King.”
The one-day, noncontact camp is intense, fast-paced and filled with meticulous instruction, as one might expect from a camp with Saban’s name attached to it.
And Saban is anything but a spectator or a figurehead who makes a 10-minute appearance and lets others do the dirty work. During the early portion of the camp, he hits the ground and does the stretching exercises with the kids, the same regimen Crimson Tide players do before practice. After having hip replacement surgery in 2019, Saban started doing the exercises with his own players to open practice.
Nick Saban is hardly just a figurehead at his annual youth football camp. The standard remains the same as it does for his @AlabamaFTBL players. pic.twitter.com/OcaNzN2Lmj
— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) June 14, 2023
Straight leg rise series. Cut the grass series. Rocker series.
“He does them better than most of our players,” Alabama head athletic trainer Jeff Allen says.
And all the while, as Saban lies on his back and whips through the stretches like he’s still playing college football, he’s peering out into the mass of kids to make sure they’re not taking any shortcuts.
“It sure ain’t babysitting,” quips Ellis Ponder, Alabama’s chief operating officer for football and executive director of the camp.
Kendrick Brinson for ESPN
THE DAY STARTS with a 7:30 a.m. staff meeting, some 30 people strong, including Ponder’s chief assistants: JT Summerford, Brandy Lyerly and Ashleigh Kimble. Every coach on the staff — even the coordinators making nearly $2 million per year — participates, working with their own individual groups. Saban passes out an 11-page packet and spells out why they are there in the first place.
“We’re here to promote the game, to promote team, which you don’t get a lot of in this day and age unless you play sports,” Saban says as he rocks back and forth in his chair. “We’re going to have to have patience. But above everything else, they need to walk out of here thinking, ‘I like football.’ Part of the reason kids don’t play is that they have a bad experience with a coach when they’re young and never play again.”
The camp is hardly a revenue producer; it costs just $50 per kid. The only uniform requirement is a helmet. Registration starts months in advance and no walk-ups are accepted.
“It’s important to me that every kid has a chance to come regardless of what their financial situation might be,” Saban says. “We’re not doing this to make money, and it’s not a recruiting tool. We have a responsibility to grow the game.”
Of course, in the realm of recruiting, you never know what might lead to landing an elite player.
Saban started his youth camp when he was at Michigan State, carried it over to LSU and then Alabama. When he visited highly recruited safety Landon Collins back in 2012 in Collins’ home in Geismar, Louisiana, he saw a picture on a mantel of himself and Collins together at LSU’s camp when Collins was just 9.
“He grew up right outside Baton Rouge, but told me, ‘Coach, it was always a dream to come play for you,'” Saban recounted to his staff.
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Collins, ESPN’s No. 7 overall prospect in that 2012 signing class, went on to become an All-American at Alabama and a three-time Pro Bowl selection in the NFL.
The first time Saban addresses the campers, he does so in Alabama’s indoor practice facility and before they are split into two groups according to age. The kids ages 8-10 stay inside (where it’s air-conditioned), and ages 11-13 go outside.
“I’ll ask you guys the same thing I first ask our players: ‘Why did you come to Alabama, and what do you want to accomplish? What do you want to do?'” says Saban, his voice echoing throughout the indoor facility, with parents standing shoulder-to-shoulder around the artificial turf field.
“Your goals aren’t any different. It’s important to have goals and aspirations because that’s what gives you a sense of purpose.”
Saban isn’t much into reflection, but he says his thoughts typically drift back to his late father every year when it’s time for the kids’ camp. Nick Saban Sr. was heavily involved in Pop Warner football in their hometown of Monongah, West Virginia. He drove kids to and from practice in an old school bus, coached the team and did a little bit of everything to help the league.
“My dad loved me, but when I was 9 years old, he was hard as hell on me, and I’m glad he was,” Saban says, smiling and surveying the practice fields as the campers scatter to their different stations. “I’m going to be hard as hell on these kids too.”
Kendrick Brinson for ESPN
AS THE MORNING session winds down, Saban calls several of the older campers together to take a knee. He places his customary Alabama straw hat on the head of one of the kids right in front of him and doesn’t mince words. They are dripping in sweat, and he notices many of them bending over and grabbing their knees during the middle of drills.
“Listen, about 90% of you are doing it the right way,” Saban says, his voice rising. “But what are you telling your opponent, the guy you’re competing against, when you’re bending over like that and grabbing your knees? You know what you’re telling him? You’re telling him, ‘You just kicked my ass.’
“Stand tall, always, no matter how tired you are.”
Several parents sit in lawn chairs and lean in to hear every word. Others stand eight to 10 rows deep on the sideline to get a glimpse of Saban coaching their kids. Most are gathered under the shadow of Bear Bryant’s old coaching tower.
Allen, the head trainer, is the last football staff member remaining who Saban hired in 2007 when he took over the program. After all these years, he knows to brace for the onslaught of campers, as the 50 athletic trainers on site will go through 2,000 pounds of ice, 1,400 gallons of Gatorade and 3,600 bottles of water. And it didn’t take Allen long to figure out what the camp meant to his boss. Allen accepted the job on a Friday and asked if he could wait until the following Tuesday to report. He needed to get some things settled.
Saban’s response told Allen everything he needed to know: “No, we need you here Sunday. We’ve got kiddie camp starting.”
Saban spends most of his time with the older kids, but he ducks in to check on the younger kids. Right after Saban speaks to the whole camp, a kid wearing a No. 17 Jaylen Waddle jersey plows through the crowd, runs right up to Saban and boldly asks for his autograph.
“Not right now. It’s time to get to our stations and focus on why you came here — to get better,” Saban says, patting the kid on his head.
Some of the youngest kids don helmets that seem to weigh more than they do. Dustin Owens watches his 8-year-old son, Hayden, from the sideline in the indoor facility. They drove from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and even though Hayden is dwarfed by the other kids in his league, he plays with a ferocity that makes his dad proud.
“I know I would probably get killed for saying this around here, but I don’t really give a s— about Alabama football,” Dustin says. “I’m more a process, energy and military-style guy and love how [Saban] coaches, demands excellence and makes them men. That’s why we’re here.”
For the record, little Hayden plays nose guard on his youth team.
It’s a stressful job for the coaches trying to keep up with the 8- and 9-year-olds. Former LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger, an offensive analyst for the Tide, sees a tiny kid wandering around and looking lost. Mettenberger leans over, and the kid tells him, “I play running back.” Mettenberger saves the day by getting him back to his position group.
Coaches are constantly counting as they move their kids from station to station.
“I’m missing four,” one coach says frantically.
One Alabama staffer looks over at Saban as he walks out of the indoor facility where the focus, not surprisingly, is starting to wane with the younger kids.
“I’m glad Coach isn’t in there right now,” the staffer says in a hushed voice. “He might have an aneurysm.”
Kendrick Brinson for ESPN
AFTER HAVING A box lunch, the campers go by bus to Bryant-Denny Stadium. They line up around the ramps leading to the upper decks and eventually make their way down through the stands to the field. They’re naturally excited, the younger kids a bit rowdy, and all of them waiting for their chance to meet football royalty.
Jeff Allen and Bob Welton, Alabama’s director of player personnel, have perhaps the hardest jobs. They usher the kids through in rapid-fire fashion, keeping a nearly two-hour photo shoot from becoming even longer.
“Tuck your shirts in. Firm handshakes,” tight ends coach Joe Cox bellows.
Before the photo shoot, Saban asked the kids to tell him their names and where they’re from when it was their turn, but many are so starstruck they can’t spit out anything.
One camper looks up at Saban and says, “Coach, can you get me an NIL deal?”
Saban, who has been outspoken about how name, image and likeness deals are being used as a guise for pay-for-play in college sports, tells the kid to come back and see him in a few years.
“I mean, the kid’s only 9 years old, and he’s already hitting me up about NIL,” Saban says with a wry smile, shaking his head.
Another 9-year-old, Sam Phillips, from Hoover, Alabama, walks away from his picture with Saban shaking his right hand in amazement.
“I’m never washing this hand again,” Phillips beams as he glances over at his position coach, new Tide offensive coordinator Tommy Rees.
Rees playfully asks Phillips what he would do with his hand when he showers if he’s never going to wash it again.
“I’ll put a garbage bag around it and tie it up,” he says without missing a beat.
Kendrick Brinson for ESPN
FORMER ALABAMA WALK-ON offensive lineman Jackson Roby, who is from Huntsville, Alabama, wouldn’t miss working the camp for the world after attending multiple times as a kid.
“I’ve seen this camp from every perspective,” he says. “It never gets old.”
Running backs coach Robert Gillespie’s daughters, Nola and Sadie, are right there front and center among the boys. Nola, 12, plays tackle football in one of the boys’ leagues in Tuscaloosa. Her team, the Stampede, won the state championship last season. She plays running back just like her dad did.
One camper who stood out physically was 11-year-old Alex Randolph, who has deep Alabama ties. His older brother Kendall was a senior offensive lineman on last season’s team. Another brother, Levi, played basketball at Alabama and is now playing professionally overseas.
Saban watches Alex spin a tight spiral during one-on-one drills, nods approvingly and says, “Nice throw.”
Saban had joked with his staff earlier in the morning that 600 of the 1,200 kids think they’re quarterbacks and “so do their parents.”
Alabama safety Malachi Moore makes a brief appearance, points to Alex and his size, and jokes with his coach that he had all the talent on his end of the field.
Saban shoots back, “It’s called recruiting. That’s part of the game, too.”
Saban’s camp duties end right around 5 p. m. He takes one final look at the defensive backs — he never strays too far from the defensive backs during Alabama practices — before briskly walking off the field. Defensive coordinator Kevin Steele fills in for Saban to address the campers one final time before they depart.
The last meeting of the camp ends with a raucous “Roll Tide!”
But Saban’s day isn’t over. He hurries to his house to spend the evening with a group of his senior leaders. They are hitting the lake on boats, floats, jet skis, a little bit of everything. It’s an annual outing for Saban, who loves boating and loves to see who he can shake off the float when he’s driving.
For someone who will turn 72 in October, Saban’s energy is boundless. He’s going 100 mph (almost literally) on the water as 11- and 12-year-old kids drag themselves off the practice fields to find their parents.
“I’m not sure he’s ever yawned,” Ponder says. “If he has, we’ve never seen it.”
For Jody Wade, whose 9-year-old son, Dax, attended the camp for the first time, the whole day was a reminder of why Saban has won more national championships than anybody to ever coach the game.
“I guess I shouldn’t be amazed at how well it’s run. Anything Coach Saban touches, it’s going to be that way,” says Wade, who is from Mobile, Alabama, and was a Crimson Tide cheerleader but graduated right before Saban arrived in 2007.
“My favorite part, as I told one of my friends who’s with me, is that they don’t let up. The standard is the same, the same standard they have here with the Alabama players.”
In Saban’s world, it’s the only standard.
“All the individual awards and records meant nothing to us” – First & Goal
Everyone thinks they know Alabama. All .
I don’t even have to ask people, I can tell right away that they will answer. Let’s try:
“This is a boot camp. It’s a recruiting machine. This is the football factory. This is the psychology of winners. This is the NFL Lounge.”
Pretty close, huh? Look, I used to think the same.
To tell the truth, I am wanted to be that way. When I first arrived in Tuscaloosa as a freshman, I only thought about the results. I needed a result, I wanted to become great, that’s all. I wanted to unleash my full football potential, no matter what.
The fact is that I did not think beyond this “what”. As an 18-year-old boy, I had not yet begun to think in terms of “how” or “why”. I didn’t realize how much it takes to become a professional soccer player. NFL Lounge, you say? I was a little nervous, but to be honest, at the age of 18, this phrase seemed perfect to me.
At 22 she seems funny to me.
I think because now – having graduated in December and starting to prepare for the draft – I see the whole picture. Now I see how people’s ideas about “Alabama” differ from reality.
Everyone.
Here are the hows and whys of the Alabama football team: Here we are.
You may hear this regularly, but that’s how we lived in Alabama.
I will never forget one moment from the first course. We sat in the locker room right after training and started a serious argument. If I say ser sharp , so it was something like the “People’s Court”, only in the locker room. Everyone gets into the conversation, trying to put in their five cents, no one wants to give in. Pretty quickly, the situation began to heat up – in a good way, of course, as during any good argument in the locker room.
Would you like to know the topic of the conversation? Okay, but I must warn you, she’s stupid. And the theme was: Divide the Bama roster between those who played in the Army All-American Bowl and the Under Armor All-America Game, which team would be better?
Think for a second. We sit down and do a fantasy draft… of our own roster.
I don’t remember who won the argument, perhaps the team that had more linemen. This conversation remained in my memory not because it can tell a lot about how talented our team was. I remember him because in my memory it was the last time we talked about our team as individual players. In fact, it was the only time. I won’t lie if I say that no one in Alabama talked like that. All individual awards and records meant nothing to us.
It’s hard to explain. But at one fine moment during the first year at Bam, I just… understood .
I realized that our goal has nothing to do with these things. Did you play in the All Star game? Congratulations. Are there no end to the proposals of coaches from all over the country? Great. Did you read on some website that you were on the NFL radar? I’m willing to bet that it is. But here we succeed by staying away from all this. We don’t live in memories of where we came from and we don’t worry about where we’re going. We succeed by focusing on that. where we are at the moment. And now we’re in Alabama. Together.
And that sense of togetherness – and whether guys are willing to embrace that psychology from the start – turns out to be the factor that determines whether you can make it to Bam or not. Here everyone, I emphasize, everyone, can play anywhere. This is the place where the All-Americans become substitutes, where the five-star recruit ends up in the third roster. Not everyone is ready for this when they get here. Some guys, and there is no disrespect in my words, are simply not ready for this challenge, not ready to play football, which is not about being a good enough player, but about being disciplined enough.
The essence of “Alabama” is to see yourself as part of the big picture.
When I start to figure out why I managed to fit in so well with the team, I always remember how I was raised. I was born into a military family and received a classic “military” upbringing. Adoration? Nope. My father gave us housework. He gave us lessons. He gave us responsibility. That’s what I grew up with.
So when it was time to enter… I don’t even know. There was something about it that I instinctively rejected. All these completely unknown people who didn’t know anything about me suddenly appeared and started telling me how good I was – I wasn’t attracted to it. It went against everything I had been taught to appreciate in people and myself. Therefore, I realized that I should choose a university as quickly as possible – and I did it with only one official visit.
And I went to see this university in Tuscaloosa with a pretty good football program.
I suspect this is the part everyone wants to hear. This is the part that everyone discusses and speculates about. “How does ‘Bama’ manage to lure all these guys? What is their secret? Is Nick Saban a wizard? Does he have other team mascot voodoo dolls Southeast Conference ? Seriously, what’s the deal here?”
I’d like to say something more provocative, but really, Coach Saben just…understood me. He really understood me. To be honest, I think that other coaches do not even suspect that someone may not like the process of recruiting to the team. They probably think like this: “Who doesn’t like being the center of attention? Who doesn’t love endless praise and positivity?” I think that in 99% of cases the process of recruiting to the team goes exactly like this. Lots of talk, lots of stuff. But there’s something about Coach Saben that, for some reason, sets him apart. He won’t put on a big smile and promise you everything. He won’t tell you that you’re guaranteed a starting spot, an All-SEC spot, or a first-round pick in the NFL Draft. He won’t tell your mom: “Wow, that was the best stew I’ve ever had” .
How did I know about this? Nick Saban refused my mom’s food . That’s right: when the coach came to visit us at home, my mother offered him lunch. And do you know what he answered?
“I have already eaten.”
He said “thank you” but added “I’ve already eaten”. He struck her with those words. Joking aside – the coach was incredibly polite and I’m telling this story purely out of love for him – for me that moment spoke for itself. In this strange way, I learned everything I needed to know about Coach Saben’s intentions. And here’s what I mean: Coach Saben didn’t come to put on a show, flatter us, or tell us what we wanted to hear. He didn’t promise me a starting spot, Southeastern Conference dominance, national titles, big money in the NFL, nothing like that. In fact, the coach did not promise me nothing . He sat across from me, answered my every question and treated me like an adult.
And that’s exactly what I was looking for in a coach, team and university.
And this is what I found.
I think a lot of people are wrong. They believe that because of the high expectations in Alabama, they do not tolerate failure. They are wrong.
Losing to Clemson for the national title was the toughest thing I’ve ever experienced on the football field. Losing the final in the last draw… the last game of your college career… was a punch in the gut. Even now it’s hard for me to write about it.
But it happened.
This second we won, but the next it was all over. We didn’t have a chance to get up from the ring and respond with our drive. There was no opportunity to regroup and show their acumen by winning the next match. I and the rest of the fourth years didn’t even have a chance to do well in the off-season and win a trophy next year. It’s all over for me. In my 4 years with Alabama, we went 51-6. Fifty-one – six. Fifty-one wins and six losses. But, despite all this, we were forced to end our careers with a series of defeats long in one match.
I didn’t know what to do. Everyone imagines “Bama” as a big evil Goliath. We’re like the Darth Vader of college football, flying over the SEC in our Death Star. And I know that when we lost, people from the outside considered it a happy ending, a good story about an “underdog” who unexpectedly defeated a “faceless villain.” I understand it, believe me. Anyone who puts on an Alabama uniform understands this. But being there on the field in Tampa, looking at the triumphant Clemson guys, realizing that it was over, that it was time to say goodbye to this part of my life that meant so much to me and helped me become who I am now … I didn’t feel like a villain that night.
I felt bad.
I was offended not only for myself. First of all, I was upset by the realization of how much our defeat affected the people around me. I was thinking about our fans who spent their hard earned money on a trip to Florida to be with us. I thought of everyone who stayed at home in Tuscaloosa and other cities in the state: this is an incredible community of people who follow us all year round. I thought about our coaching staff, the professors, the administrators: the people who worked hard to put the boys in the best position to succeed both in football and in life. I thought about our incredible freshmen who grew up over the course of the season but had to accept this defeat without experiencing the joy of last year’s victory. And I thought about other graduates: these beautiful ones, wonderful players who are like family to me and who, like me, will never play another snap for Crimson Tide.
You try to see perspective in football – you try to see perspective in everything. But walking off that field after the game, thinking about all these things… I lost my sense of perspective. It was hard to think of anything else.
And then Coach Saben – the man who came into my house 4 years ago, spoke to me frankly and never stopped doing it – gathered us all in the locker room and said something that I will never forget. The coach is the kind of guy who can make eye contact with everyone in the room at the same time. He looked at our whole team, paused and said, “One game doesn’t define you.”
You must be sitting right now reading this letter and thinking: “I don’t know, sounds like a phrase from a flyer.” You might be thinking this sounds like one of the Things Coaches Say to Their Players. Like an overused football cliché. The truth is, if someone else had said it, you would be right.
But that’s what makes Coach Saben the coach he is, and this program the program it will always be. Despite all the hype that goes into college football, at Alabama we have built a culture based on real relationships with each other. No extra noise. No selfishness. No worries about what is happening in the country. Only football and family, and also the understanding that we are united.
So when someone from Alabama says, “We want to see you in Tuscaloosa,” that means you’re going to Tuscaloosa . When someone in Alabama says, “Good job,” it means you did a fucking good job . And when one of the greatest coaches in history says, “One game doesn’t define you,” then you can be sure it’s not just another cliché: One game really doesn’t define you .
Probably, people from the outside imagined that we were given a dressing down after the game with Clemson. The coach yells at us for not doing the setup. Our fans have turned their backs on us. But what actually happened that night has nothing to do with the things listed. In fact, I have never felt so much love and support from the Alabama football community as I did the night after the Clemson loss.
I leave Alabama with my head held high.
I walk away with three consecutive Southeastern Conference titles, three consecutive NCAA playoff appearances, two consecutive Finals appearances, and one national title.
But I’m also leaving with something much more. I’m leaving Alabama with dozens of brothers, guys who will be my brothers for life. I’m leaving with a degree in financial planning that gives me power over my future. And most importantly, I leave without fears and doubts about what I am capable of, starting the next chapter of my life.
For four years I took economics tests, ate barbecue, and – let’s face it – beat my teammates in NBA 2K.
And yes, I managed to play football. And now I’m going to play some more.
But I will never forget where I came from.
To all Crimson Tide fans, you are the ones who make this place special. Thank you for everything.
Team of next years: you are a strong, talented group. Finish what we started.
And finally, to Coach Saben: you were right – One game doesn’t define you .
But one decision can define you.
And in my case, I’m proud to say that it did.
I decided to go to Alabama.
Roll Tide.
If you find an error, please highlight the text and press Ctrl+Enter .
Source: Players’ Tribune
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