Bussin' With The Boys - Jalen Milroe & Tyler Booker Talk Football After Nick Saban + Recruiting Stories To Get To Alabama

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

Recorded: April 23rd 2024 | On this weeks edition of our 2024 Spring Tour interviews, Will and Taylor sit down with Alabama Quarterback Jalen and Milroe and offensive tackle Tyler Booker. Jalen Milroe gets into his journey to Alabama and that he almost ended up at Texas until a special phone call happened that immediately changed his mind. He also gives us what his mindset was like after he had gotten benched and what switched mentally for him to think that he won't be losing that job again. Tyler Booker might be one of the best well-spoken and put together dudes in college football right now. He talks about how he ended up and IMG in high school and all of the sacrifices that he and his family had to make in order for his dream to come true. Book also gets into the different things he has learned in becoming more of leader for the team as well. Both guys give their thoughts on how they felt when Saban left and you can tell how much he has impacted both of them. Jalen and Tyler were great dudes and we had a lot of fun with them. Tap in and enjoy. Roll Tide TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 1:20 JALEN MILROE INTERVIEW STARTS 1:21 Texas Football 2:32 Why Alabama over Texas 5:15 Recommitting from Texas to Alabama 7:04 First couple years and learning from Bryce Young 9:30 How did he deal with being on the bench and did he think about transferring 10:43 Getting benched 12:43 The new offense under DeBoer 15:15 qualities that make a good leader 16:18 getting used to the new regime 17:49 Favorite memories of Coach Saban 20:41 Worst ass chewing he has seen Saban give 24:17 The last play of the season 28:35 Expectations for this year 29:54 Top 3 favorite QBs in the league 30:21 Swaggiest dude on the team 30:41Smelliest dude in the locker room 31:18 TBook on Jalen 32:18 Most memorable moment in college for everyone 33:11 4th & 31 38:47TYLER BOOKER INTERVIEW STARTS 39:17 Taylor has to live through the new Michigan team 39:59 Playing Bishop Sycamore 41:27 TBook and JP go way back 42:08 Life at IMG 44:06 How He Ended Up At Alabama 46:59 Upperclassman Responsibilities 49:38 His Thoughts When Saban Retired 51:26 His foundation and his family 52:30 All The Changes With DeBoer 55:55 TBook talking to the media 56:50 Favorite post game meal/ritual 58:16 NIL with he offensive lineman 58:33 What Sets Bama’s Culture Apart 59:04 What Bama NFL Player Does He Want To Play With 59:48 What qualities make a good leader 1:01:57 One Last QuestionFor more, visit barstool.link/bussinwtbSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears or tears of laughter. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to another episode of the Boston Spring Football Tour. Alabama fans, the emotional maturity that you're about to hear from both Tyler Booker and Jalen Milrow does nothing but fire you guys up. Whatever culture building happens at Alabama, it's why they're one of the most premier schools in the country. Talking with Tyler Booker, we talked about being an IMG athlete growing up through that, what IMG offers.

The head that this kid has on his shoulders, I don't know if he fakes it in the camera, it's different off camera, it doesn't seem like it, but it's incredible. We talked to him and Jalen Milro both about the culture differences between Coach DeBoer and playing under Coach Sabin. The new wrinkles that Coach DeBore has brought, some fun stories about Coach Sabin, and Jalen Milro as well talking to him about how he was committed to Texas, decommitting and going to Alabama. that's a funny process, some of his favorite moments. You guys are going to love these conversations.

If you're an Alabama fan and you're new to bust with the boys, the spring football tour, we sit down with coaches, or we sit down with the head coach. That'll be on the episode tomorrow. And we sit down with players to talk about the ins and outs of their journey, why they chose their school and a whole lot of fun inside. You guys are going to enjoy it. Again, make sure you comment.

Make sure you're subscribed to our channel. If you're brand new here, subscribe to our channel for us, the support means the world. Big hugs, tiny kisses. Enjoy these interviews. Katie, Texas. That's all right. Do you guys ever play the team from Friday Night Lights?

No. Did you guys air play? No, that's far away. That's out the way. Yeah. We didn't play. Seven hours, I looked it up on the drive over here. It's a long way.

Yeah, it ain't near me. Yeah. But why do I know the name Katie, Texas? Like, what? I have. Andy Dalton played at Katie High. Oh, did he? Yeah, and then, like, Katie High is like a powerhouse in Texas, and they play, like, nationally.

And, like, they probably, like, one of the best teams in the country. Really? And so that's where they like get the, you know, like the, a lot of light because like they play really good. And then we play them actually in high school. So when I was in high school, we lost in them freshman year, my sophomore year, junior year, will be to my senior year high school. But what's funny about it is that the last time they lost a district game, I was in kindergarten. I had the last time I lost a district game. So like since then they've been unafeited in district.

And then boom, like they take off and playoffs and like they either go to state or like lose and like, the fifth or fourth round. So, like, they're like, they're real good, bro. Yeah. That is wild. Growing up in Texas. Yep. You obviously have the longhorns there.

I feel like everybody loves the longhorns there. And you're going through your entire process while Alabama. I'll be honest. During the process, initially, you know, the biggest thing you want to look out as your family and, like, you know, what is the best decision for yourself, but also your family. And, you know, Texas was the option and then was an option, staying close to home, which is Houston. staying there.

And I was committed to Texas for two years. And the biggest thing I had to get out of my way was setting my next 40 years in my life. Not just worrying about the present tense, we were looking at the future. And when it came to it, you know, everyone going to say your dream. I mean, you come here, we're going to develop you. And we're going to put you in position to do this, this and this. But like, not the hard questions are, how are you're going to set me to set up and be, provide for my family one day.

That's the biggest thing, you know. And then, of course, you know, you talk X's nose and being developed and stuff like that. But coach saving, you know, during the process with Coach Saving, I was committed to Texas, but I was taking calls. I was answering people and Coach Saving was one of them. The one thing that stuck out to me was during the process of whatever, coach, you know, we FaceTime, whatever. And he told me, hey, like, during the draft, when Tuel gets selected, I'm going to call you.

I'm like, man, you ain't going to call me, bro. What you talking about? Like, you ain't going to call me. So what? So with the whatever pick, Saban calls me and said, hey, you come here,

this will be you in the next. So I was, as junior high school, this would be you in the next five to six years. So I'm committing. Like, there's no question.

Like, I'm committing. Like, nothing. You ain't got to sell me nothing. That's what I want to do. And he's at the draft. He's at the draft.

Right, right, right, right. It was your face time? It was your face time. So I was seen his face. Like, he was like that. So I'm like, man. I'm laughing. Like, Kee-e-A, that's right.

No, he was serious. Like, talking about the bold face, talk about my next future and, you know, what all didn't be done, all that stuff. Then he gave me, like, his dad talked. Then he gave me the coach talk. I'm like, man, like, this is the place I need to be at. And so this is why I'm committed to Texas.

So, man, like, I sound like committed. No one knows that, but I sound like committed to Alabama, like, before I even posted it. So, like, I would commit for Alabama, like, for a while. And so, shoot, it was like a little thing like that. And then it was, like, talking about my future, talking about, you know, why is this the best, option and being developed and stuff like that.

And then the resources were wearing the A. Like, there's nothing like greater than that A logo. Like, like, you know you went to Michigan. I know, I know all that good stuff. But like, dog, like that A is special, bro. Like, you can be in Paris and someone see that A, they know what it is. Like, and then just the networking that comes with it, you know. And so there's a lot of things that took place to, you know,

committing here and being here. But I think that's one example that I have that I always be special. When you get out, oh, sorry, go ahead. When you, I just wanted to talk about that silent commit for a second. So you got, you get that phone call from saving. Did you suddenly go, okay, I'm going to Alabama to him on the phone? Oh, no, no, no, no. So like, so like you hang up the phone. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I'll cheat on the long home. Oh, yeah. They went no. And then you had to go up to them and then you had to go up to them and slightly bring up. When you get off the phone and you're

talking to your family, what's that conversation taking place? Well, well, the thing was that like, I had to think it through, you know, you don't want to make an emotional decision during the process. And so, you know, I'm talking to them and I'm talking. And I'm talking. telling me, hey, I'm committed to Texas, but my options are open. And, you know, my biggest thing is when I decommitted from a school, I wanted to commit automatically. So, like, I didn't want to decommit, and then I'm just, I'm just sitting there, like, with no, no option. Because during my time, like, a lot of guys were committing quick. Like, every power, you know, big school in the country, all had to commit at every single school. And so, like, they were

waiting for that next quarterback in each class, whether it was taking two quarterbacks or one quarterback and Alabama was one of the school that were only taking one quarterback so like they needed no answer because they'll go right there at Louisiana go get them a quarterback you know so they needed a quarterback and you know they were vocal with that but I think you know of course I thought it through my parents looked at and so like that and what I mean by sign of commit is like you tell the school you commit into them and say I'll figure out the rest of it so like my job a lot like when we look at the class like you can have 25 class like 25 people in the class, I was one of them, part of Alabama.

I told them, like, hey, like, I'm thinking about coming here. Like, this whole my spot, though. Did Texas drop the ball? Huh? Did Texas drop the ball anywhere? Yeah, they did. You know, yeah. Yeah, it was, it was some things during, you know, the process that was,

that needed to look at the, you know, that was best for my future. I think Alabama was the best. Yeah. You legit? Like, yeah, sound like you were just had a side check and you were like, all right, be cool. I'm going to date you. Yeah.

I'm just going to handle a couple things. Stay quiet. I handle a couple things over here. Once I take care of that. Hey, look at me. I promise. I'm going to be with you. Take us to your first couple years of Bama.

Like getting to learn from somebody like Bryce Young. For me, coming into college, it was a great opportunity for me to get better. I think that was, you know, people have different mindsets when they come to college. I want to play straight right away. I want to be the best me. In any form of fashion, I want to be the best gentleman or I can be. whether it was academics, whether it was getting my body in shape to be in the position I am today, whether it was having more knowledge of football, I was trying to be doing best me.

And so whenever my time was right to be on the field, it was that time. And so I wasn't pressuring the coach to, hey, play me, play me, play me, that's not my job. You know, I let my action speak louder in my words, you know. And so to speak about my time here, I think it's been humbling. Just the, what all goes into being an Alabama quarterback, you know, and every first. form and fashion. You know, we had different guys stepping in a role of a quarterback, you know, going from, you know, Mac Jones, the tools, Jalen Hurts, Bryce, they're all different. All those guys are different and it's okay. And there's no certain right way to play quarterback position. Everyone's

different. You know, we look at the NFL as the same way. The top guy in the league might be different than the 32 guy, you know, and that's okay. But to speak about my time here, it's been great. It's been great to see what the resources of the A and what it has. The people that you meet along the journey. I met Michael Jordan a few days ago, so look at that. Damn. Hey, that's like, it's been great. So, it's been a lot of

positive more than the negatives, I can say. And it's been humbling and it's been a great experience throughout the process. But for me, I just learned so much about myself and so learn so much more that I have in store. Just being here and just meeting a lot of great guys.

You said it was such a humbling experience. Like, you know, if you're getting offers from Texas and All right, Alabama and all these other schools like you've been the man since you've put a football on your hand like you've always been the star the show you come he cleans like 400 pounds buddy I see his shoulders what are you mean it's a warm-up set yeah that's crazy uh but you like yeah you're the man like you've been the man everywhere you've gone now you get to alabama and you're riding the pine for a little bit you're on the bench and you're like at the time of the humbly experience like

at any point where you're like I might have to get out of here maybe I made the wrong mistake maybe I made the wrong choice coming here was there a feeling like that I could truly say that I wouldn't change anything by my time in college. I'm glad it happened. Everything that took place while I'm being college. I'm appreciative of it and it got me better. But to answer your question, you know, I gave a commitment to my parents before I left text and I told him that I'm going to get my degree from Alabama. I don't care what happens. I don't care what happens. I don't care from the fourth string, third string, the starter. No matter what, I'm going to get my degree. And I was blessed and fortunate enough to do that this past December. So that's one of the

accomplishments that I had. Now I'm working on my master's on my parents. It's on my parents. I'm going to get my master from Alabama. And so it's just little things that I have for myself, whether a short-term goal or long-song goals, that I know that I need to achieve to be where I'm at in the future. And so it was nothing that was going to take me away from that. So it's just like little goals I have for myself and just being determined and just believing in myself.

I'll tell you why you guys do a good job with your young men with aspirations beyond the football field. Congratulations on that too. I appreciate you. You did have some adversity of your own this past year. You have the USF game comes up. You're the starting quarterback. USF game happens.

Then you go to a backup role. Talk about your process trying to, because as athletes, man, when you take an ego shot like or an ego hit, it's hard to like, you know, it's the process. It's not the result. Staying in it, be where your feet are. Hey, a next opportunity is going to come. Absolutely. Talk through that adversity for us until you got your next opportunity.

Yeah, absolutely. It was a process. I think that's one of the greatest things that could have happened to me was that time right there. And I learned a lot about myself and I learned about how to truly get through adversity. A lot of people can see adversity and fear from it. And I change my perspective and face everything and rise. And throughout that journey, all I did was lean on my supporting cast that's around me and not any external factors. Because when you look at external factors, they can waver you away from your goals.

And that was something that I took pride in was not really looking at external factors and not worrying about things I can't control. And during that time, you can look at a lot of things that are uncontrollables instead of the thing that I control. What I can control is my attitude around my teammates. What I can control is how long I'm in the film room. I can control what I'm eating in my body. I can control how prepared I am if I was going to game. I can control, you know, how great of a teammate I am throughout the process. There's a lot of things I can gain control instead of the uncontrollables. And the uncontrollable was the decision to bench me. And I look at that controlable. I look at, you know, how can I benefit from this situation?

And to look at it, you know, there's some things that I did to improve as a player, improve my mindset, strengthen my mindset, see who it was truly for me and not against me. So I learned a lot through that process, but I can truly say that I'm glad it happened. I'm glad it happened. I'm glad it took place because it benefited me in the long run. I'm blown away. Yeah, it is wild. You have booked the way you guys like sit, present yourself, the way you guys speak on everything,

it's truly impressive to look at it. But you're in a new offense. Let's keep with the interview going. You're a new offense. Coach DeBoer comes in. What do you see differently going in here? Because you have a very unique skill set. Like you're at a very elite athlete.

You see yourself slinging it a whole lot more going in this fall? I think I can do whatever I want. Whether run it, throw it. Like, I can do whatever I want to do whatever I want to do in his offense. So if I want to choose to run the game, run the whole game, I can choose to run the whole game. I can choose to run this game. And I'm just very, you know, confident. And I coach the staff confident in what,

they see in the future as far as our offense. But speak about Coach the board. Coach the board has done a really good job in the relationship aspect. You know, coach is going to coach, whether it's talking about offense, talking about defense, talking about special teams, coach is going to be a coach. You know, that's their job is to be a coach and influence us in a positive way to get us to be successful in whatever form or fashion they see it as. But for me, I look at it as, or he comes here, he doesn't know us, he doesn't know us at all,

but he took the initiative to get to know every single player on the whole team. And then he figured out who was the leaders of the team was. And the same day that he got here, he sat down all the leaders on the team, and he had a notebook and was writing, taking notes of what we were, the comments that we had about what the standard is here, what is, what is, what is what makes up Alabama about us as people, you know, where we're from, how many siblings do you have, you know, what's your hobbies, all that stuff on the same day he got here, the same day.

And from there, I said, man, we got someone special. He truly cares about us. He truly cares about the program in itself, you know. And that was my initial thought process on Coach DeBoer. You know, talk about the coach aspect of it. He's offensive-minded. So it's really good for me as a quarterback to be under him.

He does a lot of great stuff on offense. You know, for me, I'm a student in the game. So I like to look at where he's been at. And whatever quarterback they have is really explosive in a passing game. And he does a really good job on offense and, you know, with the concepts and stuff like that and all. different things that take place and with the offense.

So that's been great. And then also he's withholding what the standard is at Alabama. You know, it's a big program to step into and it just shows who he is as a person to stepping in his leader role as our head coach. So it's been great. It's been great to have him here.

And we're just in May and we just all believe in him. Same question that we have for book, like him sitting down and asking what the standard is here, asking about leadership. The spots you've been in, you seem like somebody who is very in tune with, you know, awareness and being patient in times of adversity. What are qualities to you that make a good leader? I think the quality that you have to have is you can't withhold someone into a standard that you don't have set for yourself. That's very important.

I think number two, I think you have to be the same guy every single day. One day you can't be happy. One day you can't be mad. One day you can't be inconsistent of your habits. and who you are as a person. I think that's very important. And then you've got to be driven. You got to be driven.

You got to be passionate. You know, it's hard to be the man that's passionate and has goals set for themselves because nothing that you can say, I can say that can take this man's joy and what he has set for himself and what he wants to accomplish. I think that's very important to any leader

they have to withhold themselves to those three things or a fourth thing that I mentioned. I love that. With Coach DeBoar, like just, I mean, you hear about saving and, you know, intimidating guy. Everything was quiet. You were quiet when the meeting room happened.

The coach board comes in. They got music playing before meetings. Now you're doing music at practice. Like, that had to be like a culture shock almost for you. How long did it take for you guys to get used to that? I will say that was different. I'm, I'm going to be honest with it. That was much different.

You know, when Coat Saving came in a room and you talking, I'll be, shh, be quiet. You see Coach Saving can come in here, boy. What? What? You see Coach? You see coach. Shh. You see coach.

You, shh. You see, coach. You know, that's the initial thought process. And so Coach the board came in. I'm going to be real. Coach the board came in. I'm going to be real. It's like, what y'all doing? on an everyday basis and not being too tight

because when a guy is comfortable and free, that's when you can get the best out of that player. And so that's something I'm seeing now is like, man, like we're just cutting it loose, not being so tight as we're on the field, as we're preparing, as we're all together. You know, we're just, I'm able to see guys personality more. I will always say that. I'm able to see that more.

And I'm able to see everyone really enjoy the process and not be so hard on themselves and not be on critical on themselves because all the coaches are giving. and the critical, which we do need, but also the positive reinforcement behind it to get us to have the right mental state to be on this journey that we're on. What are some of your favorite memories with Coach Saban? My favorite memory, I'm being honest.

Like my favorite memory, I remember at practice, man. I draw back in the pocket. They're in Cover 7. Man, they're covering us like nothing's open. I'm talking about it's double covered. You know, they got the perfect call for our past concept down the field. Nothing's open. Got a nice pass for us.

from the defense end, I reverse out, make a good move on he falls down. I'm talking about, you know, I dropped him, dog. Like, it was a good move. Dropped him. I'll be honest with you. Spin out of it, dog. Took off. Took off.

I'm talking about I clocked. I ran a four to that player. Like, I was, I took off. Took off, man. I'm going to be real. I was swinging the ball. Swinging a ball. Swinging a ball, like bad ball security.

Bad ball security. It took off, man. And, you know, you can't hit the quarterback at practice, but I kept on running. I kept running. I kept running. I ran straight. I'm talking I finished on the opposite goal line, right? Everybody hyped up because it was like the end of practice.

Like at this time, all the backup. So the ones go and the twos go and the twos get the last rack at every practice. So I take off, man, everybody celebrating on our side of line. Everybody celebrating. I'm talking about everybody jumping up with me. Coaches, man. What? I get back.

I see this short, man. Red as can be. Co-saving wear a hat at practice. I ain't even see his hat, dog. I see his hair. Man, he ran down there, man. Cuss me clean out. He said,

The ball security for? The ball security. That's a corner of this score. He said, I ain't gonna say what he said. I don't give up. I said, wow, I said roll tight. I walk off. I said roll tight.

Oh, no. No, yeah. That's probably my favorite memory. Because I'm talking about, it's the end of practice. You know what I'm saying? Everybody juiced up, you know, it's competitive. At the end of practice, I mean, it's fun. Like, ones go, two's go.

Work, we're, man, it's competitive. You know, everybody's going hard. Balls at the wall. Like, everybody's ready to go. So it was a last rack. And, like, it was a good play. It was the last play. You know, we scored.

It was supposed to play. And then, man, he was high. He didn't care, but none of that. He didn't care what move I made. Great decision I made. The details. Ball security. Ball security was key, man.

Because one thing we talked about is the ball is the team. So coach, a runnerback coach says, ball team. It's a simple thing, but it means a lot. Ball security is very important when it comes to winning a football game. And we talk about the 12% rule here at Bama. And when you're on that opposite end of the sticks as far as turnovers and penalties and stuff like that, you're less likely to win. And when we harp on that with the ball security,

turnovers, and, you know, the penalty aspect of it at practice, because all of it's documented in at practice. And so it's very important, you know, that's me now mature. Because at the time, man, I didn't care. What are you saying? I said, I made a good play. Yeah.

And so, you know, you've got to mature in that stage to understand what coach is talking about because it's going to, you're going to benefit from it with doing the right way in the game. Yeah. With saving, like, every Bama, player you talked to. He's just like, they talk about how infamous he was for just the ass chewings he would give guys. You give a good example there. Like, what's the worst ass chewing

you've heard? Nick Saban given to the player. Okay, I will say this. I'm, let me be real. Like, initially, like, coming to college, right, I ain't know how hard coach saying was the same way. Everybody talk about how hard he was. But, like, one phrase he said that, like, never stuck with me was kiss my ass. That was this stuff. Like, it was kiss my ass. Like, that was this thing, like, you kiss my ass. Like, I'm like, You know, I'm both like, what you're talking about, dog? You know what I'm talking about? That's one thing.

That was his favorite word. That's why you know he's hot. When he say that and slam his hat, oh, yeah, you got him today. It's over. He's intense the rest of the day. If he hits you with that and walkthroughs, we didn't walk through, dog. We ain't, we in period one. And he said that, oh, yeah, he's going to be honest the whole day, the whole day.

Have you guys ever had an ass chewing from missing class? Ain't like, that's like one-on-one talk. One-on-one? Yeah, you're going to have a one-on-one. Because I always enjoy, like, you know, you have like a, you obviously, you have a great coach. Like I got to play for Coach Bo Polini. And I feel like the fellas now that were removed from it.

You talk about all like the fun stories that you're telling now, but that help mold us to be who we are afterwards. And you think about times like Coach Bo would have us. We had in this class and we're in a team meeting. And he's staying in each guy up that a teacher wrote him an email on whether they were sleeping in class or being lazy in class. And he would make each guy stand up and read the note. And he took this water bottle.

He's like, I didn't come here to go fucking nine and three. He's like, I'm not here to babysit you. You're either going to do it all the time or you're never going to do it. You don't just show up on Saturday. So I appreciate you sharing these stories because I know people are probably watching like, damn, save it's crazy. Those are like the things that mold you into, you know, who you're going to be and being successful like after ball.

Man, I mean, everybody gets their ass to, dude. Hope was always a guy. Like, if you miss a class checkers. Yeah, we do. Always someone there was like probably one guy. That's right. It's probably 5'7. Yep.

White dude. Yep. We're sitting here in line. Yep. Every college has it. Every college has it. And he sits there. Good to see you.

And he was like, God, he's here again, man. He's always talking with classes. We had the same dude at Michigan do that. But our coach wouldn't, like, chew us out in front of the team. He just walked up and be like, 6 a.m., walk away. And so 6 a.m., you're out there doing, what kind of punishments y'all have to do here? Because what we had to do, log rolls. You just lay down.

The pincers rolls. Yeah, bro. Yeah, we do that. Do that. Yeah. Plate pushes. Yep. What else y'all do?

Bear crawl, shoot, slag pushes, uh, pop-ups, like, cross-of-fail. Each five-yard line, you do a pop-up. Yeah, that's brutal. Yeah, and you got, yeah, you got, yeah. We got these Turkish kiddos for you're holding the 45-pound plate, and you're just 100 reps if you're late. Yeah, that's been.

Bro. Good times. The worst. Yeah, good times. Good times. Yeah, good times. We had a dirty locker room once after a game, and he was, Coach Bo was pissed that we didn't clean up.

So we had to do 300 yards of Pence or bowls, the whole team, and they're setting orange cones out where everybody's throwing up. Good times, yes. Good times. We used to have to wear red shirts if guys weren't like following the standard and a bunch of guys they missed class or something happened. So we like my senior year they put us all in red shirts every one of us and I was full on drinking the Kool-Aid of like Michigan or die. I'm not putting this on. So we let a revolt. The seniors were to revolt. We put all the revolt. We put in a revolt. We put these off. We all take them off and they're proud of us. You guys working like a team. That was that miracle about who do you play for? United States of America.

And they're like, all right, okay, these guys are good. It is crazy because some of the stuff you do now that you hate, when your husband's like me and Will, you're going to look back on it and be like, that was kind of dope. Yeah, yeah. Take us to your last play of the season. Yeah.

You obviously have a QB design run. Four to five. Yeah, you come up short. Call it timeout. We get a Kodak timeout. Yeah. You guys go, did you guys keep the same play from the timeout? Can't tell you that, man.

It's a different office It's a different office We're in zero Hey, great guy So it was a It was a design quarterback run With the option to throw it out to the back That's right

You had the back But He's a big He's a gamer I'm saying Here's my question I'm glad you brought this up Because I really wanted to figure out

The way to get here If that snap is right at your stomach Are you throwing that out to the back? I guess we'll never know All right, Kanye But if he were to answer like a yes, then he probably like he's throwing. The end of the day, you want to make a play. Absolutely.

What do you think about, what goes to your mind when you think about that last play? Because obviously you can see the emotion on your face. I'll be real, like, that truly made me really love the coaching staff because to see how much they believe in me. This is probably one of the most impactful plays of our whole season and the balls in my hands the last played at the game. That speaks a lot about our coaches that believing in me. So I took it as a positive.

Although we came out short, but after that game, when I went back to the hotel room, I reflected on the season, reflected on the game, that made me truly believe, that made me, like, really see how confident they were with me. And from that, you know, I remember I actually called Coach Reese and told him, but thank you. Thank you. Yeah, we lost, man, but like, thank you. I appreciate you.

And when they went to the press conference after the game, I had my head up high because they believed in me. And that ain't the last snap I'm going to take up football. So, like, yeah, like, we want to win. We wanted to win the national championship. You know, we wanted, we had goals set for ourselves, of course. And this is me speaking after the game. Of course, I had a lot of emotion.

You know, I wanted to, I wanted to score. I wanted to push our team to where we all wanted to be at towards the end of the season. And unfortunately, we didn't do that. But it's like the positive. You know, that's the positive that I saw from him, man. They believed in me so much. The whole team. Not just them.

You know, when Coach Reese gave us that play called, no one was like, man, why are you calling that? Everyone said, all I bet. No one, not the opposite line, not the receiver, not the running back. No one had any hesitation on that thing. We just came up short. That's all it was. Because, like, no one, I looked at everybody eyes.

I looked at everybody eyes, and I looked at them, and they all were confident. And that's all a part of the game. You know, you win some, you lose something. And unfortunately, we lost that one. It was a classic game. Yeah, it was. It was. It was.

Yeah. It was. What? Yeah, you're I do, listen I'm sure you, I know, but we were ass

when I was at Michigan. We were ass and so you guys were always so good and so many times Derek would tell me how bad we were and other Alabama guys would tell us how bad we were and so that was a sweet moment

it was an instant classic It was a great game Everyone loved it We were laughing because I was just kind of staring off in the distance for a second No, I fee I fee

It was a classic It was No, absolutely. It was. We're done. I'm done. That's good, right? No, that's okay.

No, because, no, it's all good. I respect it. I respect it. What can we? Do you think Michigan cheated? Huh? Do you think Michigan cheated? No matter.

They won. They won. They won. They got it. They had your calls, huh? They won. No matter. They won.

Don't worry. I'll carry that flag for you. They won. Yes, Will Will. He's the worst best friend you can actually ask for it when it comes to band. Hey, congrats, man. You all cheated. Yeah.

We beat, he would do Nebraska. We played, and we beat them 42 to 7. And then when the whole cheating scandal came out, he goes, I knew something was up. I knew something was up. That is crazy. Hey, book, the Generation Michigan beat us this year, not when, not my senior year. Yeah, just when Taylor and I played against each other. Don't pat my back like that.

What happened to you before? Y'all, y'all smuffed us. Y'all smo smo. One of like seven minutes. We were bad then, too. Yeah. We were terrible then. What can we expect out of the Alabama Crimson Tide this year?

I think we're really driven. We're starving and we're really passionate about each other. That's how I can simplify this football team. Those three things right there. And, you know, we have goals set for ourselves that we want to accomplish, but we acknowledge, you know, it's going to take place right now. What we're doing right now? What are the habits?

that we have right now. I think that's something that's super exciting because we know we're near where we want to be at and we acknowledge that and we're excited for what the future hold because we have a lot of tests in front of us. And so we're just going to embrace it and enjoy the journey.

Who's an NFL player you see out there that you would love to play with one day? That you love to throw the rock too. I didn't really look at that. I think I don't really got one. You don't got one? No.

You don't got catch you watching the league? I'm not watching everybody. Like, for me, I respect games. So, like, every starting quarterback, start for each team, I respect them. Because it was a journey to get them to where they all that. Nothing was given to them. They had to earn it.

And so for everybody that's a starting quarterback in the NFL, I look at their game, and that's something that I want to be one day. Who are your top three favorite quarterbacks in the NFL? Um, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, and Rogers. Okay. No, Joey B? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I love Joey B.

I love Josh Allen. You start around on the Lombe. I like, I like Joey B swag. Take the football a lot of it. Like, he's, I like his swag. Like, he's confident. He does have a difference. I like that.

I like how he move on the field. I like that a lot. Who's the swaggiest dude on the team? Swaggiest. I probably give us to the DVs. The D.Bs probably got the most swag, more. They're going to drip. No, they wearing unnecessary stuff during the game.

Like, we're like, what do you got that on for? You're talking about I put that shit on. I'm right. We got to, we're on a mission with Duke Cannon, the response of ours to find the smelliest dude in the locker room, in your opinion, who would be the smelliest dude in the locker room? I'm going to be real, like, I look at the blocks in the locker room. I block clean, so I don't know.

Like, we keep it nice and clean, smell good. We keep it nice and fabulosa around our lockers. We smell straight. Who would you guess? Who would you guess? I don't want to hurt nobody feeling. I don't know. Book, you got thin skin?

Who would you think? I don't know. I was saying, I won't hear anybody feeling. Yeah. No, we appreciate it, man. Do you have anything else for him? No, I'm good. This has been awesome, man.

Book, was there anything that when we were talking to when he went back on the depth chart, a moment that you saw out of Jalen during that time where either you guys are rallying around him or something that you saw out of him to, to keep him ready for the next opportunity. Wow. That's crazy. Oh, shoot. Yo.

If you were watching the game, if you only watch gently, you wouldn't be able to tell that he wasn't playing. Like his energy, everything about him said that he was the guy, and that's how he carried himself. And he was supporting the other two guys that were in at the time. So, yeah, you just, that was really defined a moment for him as a quarterback. And everybody was bought in him.

bought into him and believed in him before that, but I feel like that really just amplified our trust in him after that moment. I love it, man. Thank you. That's a great answer. Fellas, thank you, man. Appreciate you. You got anything for us? You got anything for the Michigan, man?

Let me ask y'all some questions. Go ahead. What is y'all most memorable moment in college, each of you? What's your best moments y'all had in college? Pick six, Georgia. New Year's Day. Okay. They call it the New Year's Six games, right?

They named it that. They coined it that after my pick six against Aaron Murray and the Georgia Bulldogs. We went up 13-7 on them at that point. Okay. The end of the game didn't, you know, reflect what happened in that first quarter, but that was probably my favorite memory. I could barely feel my body. Yeah.

I read this screen. I picked it off, took it to the house, probably ran out like yourself, a 4-2 on the way to the end zone. And that was my most hype moment, probably ever playing football. 2011, playing, beating Ohio State. I went one and three against Ohio State. We got one on them. Yeah.

In 20 years, we beat them twice. Yeah. Until these last three years. So that I got one. That's awesome. What about yours? Most memorable. Was been your favorite moment?

Holy, that's easy. 431. An Iron Bowl, that's probably my favorite one. I was a good experience. Is the Iron Bowl just crazy week of building up to it? I will say, like, for me, I didn't really understand the Iron Bowl. Be real sure. I'm from Texas.

Right. And I didn't really get into. it was my opportunity to take a snap in Iron Bowl. And, like, there's nothing that compares to it. I will say, like, that's something that, that rivalry, I, I compete and say that's probably the best rivalry in the country. Yeah, it's huge. I'll say that because, let me ask you this question, like, while you're at Michigan, how often

do you see Ohio State fans as your neighbors? They try to come in our territory sometimes. They try, they try, they try. They walk in a pretty good bordered area. Exactly. But while you're here, you're in Tuscalo, your neighbor might be an Auburn guy. And that's within...

Because how far away is in time from here? Two and a half, about two and a half. And so that's the thing. We're within the rivalry and stuff like that. And like, even our professors, like, they might be an Auburn grad. So you're going to see an Auburn person throughout your time during the season. So, like, you're going to... There's always that competitiveness throughout the time.

And then whether it's at Auburn or whether it's something, Tuss-Lusa, you're going to bring a great crowd. It's going to be loud. It's going to be rocking. And there's nothing greater than being victorious in the game. Yeah, but you're not going to see an Ohio State grad. Like, PG in Michigan. That's what I'm saying.

You're not going to see it to the game on Saturday. Dude, when you were talking with the Iron Bowl, do you not remember the last play of the Iron Bowl? Probably not. Oh, yeah. You're insane, bro. It was crazy. Dude. Take us to that play.

Take us to that kind of a restaurant. You see it, register, bro? You said Ironball was like, oh my God. I was really sick. I was in the airport. Watching that and I was like, oh, my God, Auburn's going to beat Alabama. This is going to be nuts.

My wife's like, why are you so hype over this? I'm like, if you just saw these last several plays, like you guys should have had no shot. And bro, like, what, four or five? How long ago was that when they returned the kick? That was Auburn, though, so we're not going to bring that up. But that was insane too. Yeah, yeah.

Like, this is the insane games. What was that, like, what was that play? It's called grade. It's called Grave digger? It's called Grave digger? Yeah. That's crazy. you would talk about that play, but you were talking about the four, five play against Michigan.

That's, that's a lot. No, but that, that play, though, were you just throwing up a prayer? Yeah. You were throwing up a prayer. You practiced it. You practice situational ball games every single day. I'd be, I hope you catch you. You look at the ball, you said, please God.

Please catch it. No, like, I'm be real with you. Like, it might sound the cliche thing, man, but like, we practice that thing every single week. Like, Friday, we had walkthroughs, and we're very intentional when we just, do the walkthroughs. And there's no talking on the sideline. There's no joking around. If you're not on the field, you're on the sideline watching. And, you know, we take those walkthrough very seriously. We go through every scenario in the game. If we don't do it right during walkthrough, we're going to do it all over again. And so we perfect it's literally a

perfect walkthrough. Every outcome of the walkthrough, where there was special teams, often defense, leaving the huddle going, substitution, all that. We work all that during the walkthroughs. And that's one, that play, the Grave Digger, we worked at during walkthroughs on Fridays. And, you know, we didn't know when we were going to utilize it, when we were going to have to use it. But everyone was prepared. And it was just like the play against Michigan. You know, that fourth down play was equivalent to that fourth and 31. You know, when we called that play, no one was fearful of the play, no one was like, man, why I coach calling that play?

Everyone was like, we're all locked in. I bet this we're going to roll with it. We're going to do it at the best our ability. And so when it came to fourth and 31, the same as the fourth and five plan. We just succeeded on this one. Fourth and 31. That's NFL blitz numbers. You saw a third and third and third.

Dude, but when you threw that up, what were you thinking? Cover. I mean, yeah, you've got to just be thinking, well, let's just see. No, no, like. Hey, we'll find out. Like, I just see the field very well, and I saw he'll one-on-one. And so I took a shot, given, you know, put a great ball placement. Because if I put it anywhere else, who can go out of bounds, picked off,

not in the range that he can make a grab and beat him and allow IB to make a, make a I-B play. So I'll just put it in a place where he can make a play on the ball. And I had great time. They didn't have a too strong pass for us. So I have enough time to make a play. So we talk about like everyone doing their job, is that what happened? What was the emotion in the locker room after that?

be insane. I'm gonna be real. Like, it was crazy, but like, you based it off your head coach. Like, yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, if head coach happy, jumping around, you gonna do the same thing. Like, it was cool when it was like, lock in,

all we got game next week. Yeah. Yeah. So, Samin was excited. For like 15 seconds. Sabin, you know, was like, boys, I'm, he was happy for you guys that you won. Huh?

Exactly. You know what I'm saying? We had Georgia the next year. Yeah, but we shouldn't have been in that situation. Absolutely. Yeah. There's a lot to correct on that thing. It's not okay.

I'm only in 1431. That's not okay. Yeah. It's not okay. Always coaching the process. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Not the result.

Yeah. Man, we appreciate it, bro. Appreciate it. This has been awesome. You've been great. It's been a lot of fun. Yeah, bro. Appreciate you having fun with us.

Yeah, no doubt. It was dope. Subscribe, drop comments. Thank you, Jalen. Thank you, Jalen. And thank you, Coach the board. My Tyler Booker. Yes, sir.

How are we doing, sir? I'm phenomenal. How are y'all? I'm doing outstanding here in the great state of Alabama and a very prestigious university with a hog. Life cannot be any better for me. With the hog. Yeah.

Where else would you rather be? Michigan. Ah. That was, that was, he's already shaking a second. I went to Michigan. That was a good one. That was a good one. Yeah, yeah.

I hear you have, you have quite a really, you got to live through the new guys. I do, no question. Yeah. When I played there, I don't know what you did there. When you were in middle school and I was playing, bro, we, we, were not good. It was tough deal. Delahey, we were walking in earlier this morning.

I was like, yeah, you know, we, we whipped Alabama or whatever. I was like, yeah, but you played Alabama too, right? He's like, yeah, we got dusted. We played in 2012. Cowboy Classic. It was like 42 to 14. They came out. Derek Henry couldn't play.

I don't think Derek was even there yet, but they had like D. Hart, all these dudes. Yeah. It was just a slaughter fest. And as a Big Ten guy, I was watching that game, like, you know, you're like, come on, Michigan, let's go. Like, show him, show him that the Big Ten's got some ball. And then you guys just go. It was over before.

already even started him. But you've played a lot of different teams. You've also played in high school a bunch of 40-year-old men when you're at IMG Academy. Yeah. What was it? Yeah, bro, Bishop Sycamore. Bishop Sycamore. What was that?

How'd that happen? How did they get that passed the officials? That's above my pay grade. But I knew something was up when I got out there. The guy was like 5-4. He wore number 27 and he had like a full beard. I was like, okay, this is different. And then it had like, you know how you put the quarters in the machine, you get stickers out?

They had those on their helmets instead of decals. And I was like, okay. Like, we're going to run up to score. It's whatever. Like, we were in Ohio. We were there for a week, so we were just looking forward to doing that. We had a game at the next school. It's called LaSalle.

That's where, that should have been the ESPN game. But everything happens for a reason because that bitch is sick more things. Did you know, like, before it came out, where it was it basically it came out and y'all weren't surprises are? you guys kind of know while you're playing the game. Like, yo, these are grown men out here. So I was on the way to see my family after the game, and I was going to hug my dad, and he was shaking his head.

I was like, we just put up 50 on his team. What's wrong? He said, I don't know. I was listening to the ESPN broadcast, and they said, like, they can't verify any of these players. Like, they're saying it was a fake school. I was like, what? He was like, they're saying this a fake school.

So 40-year-old men could relive a dream. Yeah, pretty much. I don't know what dream they were living. I wouldn't want to get beat by high schoolers, especially about 50. Right, right. Oh, man. I hear you have quite the relationship with our producer, JP.

He was your guy back at IMG. Yeah, that's my guy. JP, like, whatever we needed. We hit JP. It was JP, Josh, and it was two guys named AMP. So those four, like, they held us down the whole time. The IMG is pretty rough. They keep you locked down.

So whenever we wanted to escape, we hit JP at one of those guys, and we'd be out all day doing whatever we wanted. JP was your chauffeur. Yeah. Yeah, but he had fun too. JP bring a pull of the van. Yeah, pull up the van, get the guys in there and get out. See, getting the van was the hard part because they were scheduled trips at IMG.

And then like JP and all those other guys, they had a lot of trust from like the higher up. So if we could find the van, we were out. What do you guys go do in Bradenton? Because I train there for the combine. There is nothing there. So there's a movie theater about down the street. There's a mall about 30 to 40 minutes away. and we would just go walk around because we're at IMG.

We didn't have no time to have a job, have money. So just go people watch at the mall and then we get something to eat. That was about it, but it was better than being stuck on campus. Yeah. I mean, the campus is super nice, though. It's like 500 acres. It's massive. Yeah, yeah.

Talk about the IMG because I mean, I've only, I feel like it's grown so much probably since you were there. But you just go is that like a high school? You just go and it's essentially all in one. Like Bradent's in Florida is like newlyweds and nearly. dead. It's like they're slow-term. There's really nothing to do there. But like there, but then there's all of a sudden this amazing facility where like every sport, like people literally come from all around the world to train there because it's like so nice. Everything's so high tech and beautiful. And they're like literally when I was there, they're like, we're going to put a hospital right here.

So everything's all in one. They had everything you could possibly need. And I think the football team is like just a year old or something like that. Like yeah, we're about to have like the greatest football team, but the greatest high school football team of all time. And they've really, you guys are your what number one every year top three yeah pretty much and we actually won our first national championship my junior year and it was always pretty tough because not a lot of schools want to play us

and understandably so we we picked the best talent from all around the country but you look at some of these other local high schools like this kid lives 40 minutes away this kid lives an hour away so what's the difference between IMG us and y'all so it got harder to find good teams to play but whoever wanted to play us we played them I feel like my other day

That was before my time. So we always tried to play them. They didn't really want to play us. They're on Cali, right? Yeah, they're out there on Cali. But just having that target on your back every week is just like playing here. And I felt like that's what made this decision to come to Alabama was so easy. Just like, I was at the pinnacle high school football.

Why don't I come to the pinnacle of college football? Yeah, what was that process like for you? Because I'm sure when you go to IMG, the minute they see, oh, this kid got an IMG to play football. They're probably going to throw a scholarship your way. Oh, for sure. So you had everybody who would do like what? I mean, he's a big boy too. like he's

I mean, you look fantastic. Yeah. He squats the house. He could probably run like the wind. You're a specimen, my friend. But when you had Alabama and all these other schools, let's start with your top five.

What were your top five? My top five was Florida, Oregon, Georgia, Ohio State, and Alabama, obviously. Was it an easy decision? Was this an easy decision for you? Did you always want to, was it always Bamma or was it close? It was really close.

I was kind of put off by Bama. at first, just because they started recruiting me a little later. So like that, the back in the, I always got like the simple graphics that they send everybody. I always got the little camp invites. I'm like, okay, I have better relationships with other schools. But when it was time to set up my official visits, Coach Gillespie, he's still here. He was like, hey, are you coming to visit us? And in my head, I'm like, no, I'm not going to visit Alabama.

I'm going to go somewhere else. Where were you thinking about going at that time? I had a great relationship with Penn State. So I was going to go there. And I was actually going to visit them right before everything got shut. down my COVID. So I was like, I always wanted to visit there. Some of my homeboys were already committed. But I decided to make that my last OV. And I felt like that worked out perfectly because I was able to compare all the other schools to the standard, which is Alabama. And I saw

nobody else really compared. No one else compared. No. So when you came here, like, what did y'all do for your visit? We just walked, we came around this facility. I hung out. We walked around. Went to the ball. That means he had a good vision. Yeah, he had a good vision. No doubt. No doubt.

I kind of can't remember. Did Penn State know you were going to come in? Did they have a good idea that you were going to, like, hey, did you tell any coaches, like, hey, I might actually come here? So Penn State, like, I kind of took them out after I decided to visit Alabama. And it was funny. Like, the day I got offered by Alabama, the Penn State coach called me. He was like, hey, are we still around? I was like, yeah, of course.

But he knew what was going to happen. He knew what was going to happen. What was it like walking into this building? You see all the national championship rings. You see I walked into y'all's offensive line room. And there's All-American after All-American. Like that standard is so high here. Like, what was the intimidation factor for you walking in as an 18-year-old kid?

I don't think there was an intimidation factor just because I had already been through a lot. I've already seen this kind of environment on lower levels. So just taking you through my football journey. I was born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut. I spent my freshman year at Bergen, Cal, Athletic in New Jersey just to get a higher grade of football. And then I went to IMG. So I'm used to change.

I'm used to being put in the fire. So coming here, I knew it was going to be a challenge, but I was ready to embrace it. Being an upper classman now, what responsibilities do you feel like you take on now being the young guy, having those years behind you and being more of a leader in the locker room? I feel like I stepped into that leadership role last year when Bryson Will left. So that's something that we really focused on spreading that, the weight of leadership throughout the team. And I feel like that's why we were so much better.

So being able to lead and know I have guys that have my back like Malacahmore, J.C. Latham, Dallas Turner, J.L.L.R. All those guys knowing that they have my back leading as a younger guy, but still being a leader. Just going into this year, I'm trying to develop some of the other younger leaders on this team because Alabama is only going to be as good as I leave it. You know what I mean? So just like Taylor could talk about how good Michigan is now

and how they weren't that good. back when he was there. I want to be able to brag like him. So, yeah. Megisham developing the next class. So that's why I'm very big in recruiting. Very good. That's a good way to put it.

I was a big recruiter too. It did not pay off. You got to respect that. He's doing a great job. He is doing a good job. Absolutely. What are some of those small things you feel like, you know, trying to mentor those younger guys?

Is it being more vocal? Is it more like one-on-one time with guys? Like, what do you feel like you've been trying to develop being a leader. Trying to balance out, like, being, like, in your face and then, like, pulling guys to the side, making sure, like, making sure I praise guys as much as I correct them.

And that's something I was really focused on this spring and just working with some of the younger guys. Like, you know what it's like working with the younger guy and he's making the same mistakes over and over again. It's like, all right, bro, like, you messed up on this four times in a row. You're obviously not paying attention. So I get on them, and then I'll pull them aside after

and just make sure I be like, hey, are you good? Is everything good with you? Okay. So now that everything's fine. I need you to tighten it up. So just really making sure that they understand before you lead other people, you have to lead yourself in a manner that you would want them to imitate. Where do you, where did you learn that?

IMG Academy. IMG Academy. Was it guys older than you? It was guys older than me, but we actually had like a leadership class. Like this is stuff that we did on a daily basis. So we had like leadership sessions. It was called ADP, right, JP? It's called ADP.

So there were like leadership sessions and mental training, things like So like something I took from mental training at IMG is like visualization. So like before every game, I put a towel over my head and I emerge myself into the game that I'm about to play. So like I think about what my gloves feel like, how tight my pads are, what it's going to smell like, what's going to sound like. So like I'm really in the game. And then I just look at the script, see the play, run the play on my head, next play. And I just go through the whole script just so I essentially play the game mentally. Now I just have to go out and do it physically.

So little things like that just help me become the player I am today. You got to get a head on your shoulders, brother. Yeah, he's got to saw it. You know, like the development, you don't understand this, but the development you have right now as far as from a mental process is above and beyond. What most guys are out right now. It's very impressive.

Nick Saban, you came here, he was the head coach. Yes. When you heard the news that he was retiring, like, how did that affect you? Because everybody came here to play with the greatest college football coach of all time. Of course. I was hurt, obviously. That was my initial reaction. I was just like, oh, my gosh.

Like I was expecting him to come in there and kind of rip us about the Michigan game. Not so much rip us to be like, hey, this is why we lost. And here's how we're going to correct it. Here's what we're going to get back there and then get further. That's what I was expecting. So for him to go up there and retire, it was just really a shock to me. But I've just been embracing it because I've always been big on legacy. Like how am I going to leave my legacy here?

And I feel like there's no better way to leave my legacy than winning national championship with Coach DeVoeuvre. When Coach Sabin does retire, does your antennas go up on thinking, who's going to be the next guy in here. Maybe I hit the portal now that we're in the portal generation, the portal era. What was that process like for you? Was it sitting back and kind of observing who was going to be next? Yeah, sit back and observe.

But to be honest, the portal was never, it was never an option for me just because I have too many roots planted here as far as like my teammates and everybody in this building and then this community as well. So like I mentioned earlier, like I've been moving all around a place all around since I was, even in middle school, I didn't mention this. I went to middle school an hour and a half away. I woke up at 5 o'clock in the morning,

so I just been moving my whole life. And Tuske Loose has given me the first real sense of community in my life, and I really wasn't willing to let that go. Talk about your foundation. Like it seems like you have good parents, good support. If you're waking up at 5 a.m., traveling the middle school and kind of jumping around high schools and then trying to get to IMG because in their mind,

Your mind, this is the best, these are the best moves for success to have in your future. Yeah, my foundation is really my immediate family. So I grew up in a two-parent household, my mom and my dad. I have an older sister and a younger brother. And then, like, just as how much I'm committed to this dream that I'm living out right now, everybody else in that house is committed to it as well. Because it wasn't just them, it's me doing the physical work, but it's my mom also waking up at 5 o'clock having to change her work schedule to pick me up

from the bus stop at 4 o'clock. My dad getting off a third shift, waking up early, taking me to school sometimes, taking me to workouts. And then my brothers and sisters having to sit in the car all day waiting for those workouts to finish. So it's just the commitment to this dream by my whole family. That's what makes it so easy. And that's what makes that that's my why. That's amazing, bro. That is amazing.

Yeah. From an offensive standpoint, how much has changed from Nick Sabin to coach to board? I feel like it's going to be a lot more explosive. You're going to see the ball in the air a lot more and it's going to be like real complimentary football. So that, I mean, that was the goal last year, but you can see it in the way that Coach Zabor costs his offense. So as soon as I heard that he was going to be the guy, went back and watched the Texas game because that's a mutual opponent that we had. And I saw how he called the game in the rhythm of which he called it and how he helps the office of line out. So we're not dropping back 40, 50 times a game.

We have run action. We have play action. We got power, and we're going to throw the ball out of a power set. So just how he switches things up, I'm very excited to play in this offense. Dude, his culture, too, seems crazy. Like, you look at Washington last year, and they played, like, I think, more than half of their games, they were underdogs in, and they obviously won all but one. And it's, like, to have that kind of culture of, like, being underdogs consistently and coming and winning. And now he comes to a place that just constantly has talent.

Like, you got to think you guys are going to crush it this year. Oh, for sure. Just his energy, just his, everything that he brings, like, what makes him him is what makes him perfect for this job. So the first thing that he told us, like, he had non-negotiables. And the first one is, like, we're going to be a family. We're going to grow closer together. And I feel like that was the biggest improvement from my freshman year to my sophomore year. And there was a bigger improvement.

I felt like we were a much better team. And that's why Coach Saving and Raves about that team and how it's one of his favorites just because of how close we were during the all season and how close we grew together during the season when times were tough. Like our USF game was ugly. But instead of turning on each other and pointing a finger, we all decide to come together and be like, look, let's put our egos aside and understand how great we can be. and we did that. From there on, we just took off. What wrinkles do you feel like Coach DeBore was brought to Alabama from Washington?

Get back into the, the couple of the wrinkles he's brought, because we talked about him bringing up the music and everything else. What are a couple things that he's brought from Washington? So music and practice and then like music before meetings too. So I remember like it was his second meeting here. And I walk in and they got a little baby playing. I'm like, what is going on? Just coming from Coach Sabin where everybody walks in.

So it's funny. there is this big whiteboard and there was a little space so you can see Coach Seamus Sight six loafers walking in so everybody goes to now coach the board like hey hey hey coach how's everybody doing

so it's just it's just the coach is different yeah it sounds like a polar opposite type of situation size six loafer starts squeaking by the door everyone gets scared oh I thought you legit oh shit that is a bit of a deal

how is a from the blocking scheme standpoint is it different No, it's pretty much the same. So I feel like the biggest difference this year is going to be like the cadence of the play calls. Because up front, things are called differently just because every officer-line coach has a weird way of calling stuff. But it's the same. It's still the same inside-zone, outside zone. You all do the thing when you look at the board and then you look back and you go or somebody calling something?

No, we, so since they have the mics and their headphones this year, we're just going to be doing a little sugar huddle and getting straight to the ball. Oh, for real? Yeah, because. They have a mic and everybody's helmet? No, not everybody, just the quarterback. Just a quarterback? Yeah. I think it's a great move.

Yeah, certain schools picked up on those boards, so we thought it wouldn't be a good idea to do that anymore. This guy. Yes, hey, certain schools picked up on some things now. He came ready. See him being nasty. I'm not being nasty. I'm not being a big way outnumbered here.

Speaking of that, though, you do give some good juicy quotes with the media. I'm going to explain. I'm going to quote what you said, and I want you to go into this mentality. Okay. We want to physically dominate you. We want to intimidate you. We want the third quarter to the world. roll around and the defense to be like, oh my gosh, we can't stop the run. How are we going to stop

this run? We want to physically impose our will. Talk about cultivating that mentality and being confident enough to speak on it like that, especially to the media. So that quote was really just me challenging myself and the rest of the office of linemen to be like, hey, like, I put this president out here. We have to go live up to it. And Taylor can tell you that's every office of lineman's creed. Like you want to guard and do that. We were just both, enough to go out and say it. Like I said it. J.C. said it. So like we were just making ourselves live up to that standard of playing office of line like that. And that's how Alabama has been so successful in the past. They just had a dominant office line. Do you have a favorite

postgame meal? Favorite ritual? I have a favorite postgame ritual. So whenever we're home, they have buses driving back here to the facility. But I like to walk. I like to walk back just so like all the fans who came to the game, like I can interact with the fans, you know, like some people spend their last to come to an Alabama football game. And I don't know this 30-second interaction I can have with some family that's going to last than 30 years. Like, they're never going to forget that interaction I have with them after the game. So I just love walking back.

JP, JP, I see why you like this cat. I see why you like this cat. Yeah. Unreal. I was gas to be on before. He was. He was, he's like, hey, we got to get book on. Like, he'd be great.

When you're walking back from one of those games, how long does it take you back to the stadium or get back to the facility? So it's not it doesn't take that I probably say because I'm stopping and signing stuff and talking to people as well. So like I probably say it takes like 15, 20 minutes. After the spring game, it was wild because it was a free game. So so many people were there, it got to the point. I was like, look, guys, like like I'll walk and take pictures.

But like we just got to walk because I still have my knee braces on. It was a spring game. So I still have my knee braces on. I still have my cleats on. I was like, man, I got to get back. You're walking back. Like that? Yeah, I was.

I was. I just love doing that. And then I get to, like, talk to my family after two. You know what I mean? I just love being around there. I feel like that's my favorite part about being at Alabama, that community and that family. With NIL, is the offensive line, like, as a group sponsored by anybody? Not yet, but we're open.

This is open. Yeah, we did the beef jerky. That did pretty well. We're going to try to boost that up, but I'm looking for other stuff, too. What do you feel like sets this culture apart from everywhere else? The standards of excellence. You have guys that, you have alum that will come back here and tell us, like, this is what the standard is. And they're alum that work in the building.

So you're always being reminded of what the past was like and how you have to live up to that. And it's not, we don't see it as pressure. We see it as a challenge. And we want to create our own legacy here. Like, we want this team to have this own legacy here, just like how their team had a legacy here. And so many themes have had a legacy. There's so many NFL guys that went to Alabama. Of all those guys that are still in the league,

who's one dude you'd want to play with? One dude that I want to play with? Probably Evan Neal. And just because he's an IMG guy, we had a very similar path. He was at IMG for three years. He's in New York right now, so that's close to home for me.

So just playing with him, and then I pick his brain every now and then as well. So just having that relationship with him and just looking up to him. I really look up to him. What do you, like when you pick his brain, what does he tell you about the NFL compared to college? He just talks about the speed of the game and how it becomes even more of a business. So you just have to be prepared for that and just make sure you have everything in order before you get there.

So nothing catches you off guard. With everything you've experienced with the support of your parents, going to IMG, taking leadership courses, mental courses, visualization, all that stuff. And being at a place like Alabama, in your opinion, what qualities make a good leader? Never ask anybody to do something that you wouldn't do yourself. And I learned that before I even was at IMG. I learned that from Coach Nuzziio-Capanelli. He was at Bergen-Catholic.

So he recruited me to go to Bergen-Catholic. And then I think he took a job at Rugger's. He might be at Syracuse right now. But that has always stuck with me just about being a leader. Like how am I going to ask my senator to do something that I'm not doing myself? Like, how am I going to tell him to play harder? And I'm not even playing at my heart. So just like, because you're holding yourself to that.

standard and people are going to follow. Love that. Do you read books on leadership at all? Yes, I do. Yeah, what you went to right now? I read in a book by Tony Dunjy. I forget the name of it. I just started it.

But just meeting him. I actually met him in my official visit in Oregon. He's just a legendary coach, and my dad's a huge football fanatic. So just meeting him and just getting into that book is. Is it the one where he's transitioning to Tampa Bay? No, it's called Uncommon, that's the name of the book. Okay.

Uncommon. I know he's got a couple. Dude, does your family still live up north? They do. How often do they make it down? All the time. Yeah? So my little brother, he's playing football right now.

So my parents will alternate weeks when they, so somebody will stay at his game and somebody will come out here. But, you know, we make it work. And that's the thing about us. So I don't think I mentioned this earlier. My dad and I used to come here for the Alabama football camps. And they'd say my football camps when I was in middle school. So we've always been committed to the dream no matter what it took.

They're always here. Always been committed to. the dream. Yeah. That is awesome. I literally, I don't think I've ever met a kid that's in college. You're not a kid,

you're an adult, but a guy in college that has had a head on their shoulders like you do. Like, you seem like you really got down. It could be smoke screens. You know what I mean? He could be great from the camera. One of the worst guys.

Yeah, yeah. But you can believe like if a scout finds those, they're going to look this and be like, hey, we don't have a character. And no need to interview. Leadership,

not a problem. Yeah. You're going to have an easy combo. Yeah. That's awesome. We appreciate you coming on, man. I got, I got one more question for you.

At IMG, what's your favorite soccer field? Thank you guys. Make sure you subscribe. Yeah, great five stars. Yeah, great five stars. Thank you, you, Buckman, for coming on. It's been a lot of fun, bro. Appreciate it.

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