Alabama Crimson Tide College Football Pregame Quote, 12/28/2021

Bryce, just talk about your week and what it’s like to be here in the CFP Semifinal at the Cotton Bowl.

Yeah, this means a lot. This is a huge opportunity for us as a team. Being able to have the experience to play in the Cotton Bowl and travel to Dallas and be able to experience this, obviously play in the stadium we are (AT&T Stadium) in such a prestigious bowl. It’s a great opportunity for us.

So we’re blessed to be here, but we also understand the work that’s necessary for us to accomplish our goals. And we’re in the process of pushing ourselves each and every day to give us the best chance and the best possibility to be successful.

Bryce, just curious what you see out of the Cincinnati cornerbacks on the outside and how they compare to other teams you’ve played this year.

Yeah, they have two very strong corners on the outside. It’s something that right when we got done with the last game, we start preparing, something that immediately pops when you turn the film on.

Those guys have been really consistent all year, which is hard at a position like that. You watch each and every game, you see how consistent they’ve been. Those are guys that are ball hogs, they always have an eye for the football, always around the ball.

So that’s something that really pops on film. Something we definitely see whenever we turn on the film. And we understand the challenge that comes with that. So for us, it’s about stepping up and accepting that challenge and pushing ourselves each and every day to put ourselves in the best situation possible.

What have you learned from Coach [Bill] O’Brien this season? And how has that relationship between quarterback and offensive coordinator evolved through the year?

Yeah, I learned a tremendous amount from Coach O’Brien. That’s always a very important relationship, offensive coordinator-quarterback.

And obviously at first, I hadn’t met him before he got here. So at first, for me, I’m working to build that trust to kind of learn him, how he likes to look at things, how he likes to call plays. He’s trying to learn me, and I think just the amount of communication we’ve had and amount of honest dialogue we’ve been able to have, the amount of dialogue back and forth up until this day is really what has kind of pushed our relationship forward.

For OB to have the coaching legacy he’s had, to coach the players and just to have the resume he had, he could have easily came in and said, ‚ÄúJust sit down, be quiet, and this is where you’re going throw the ball. This is what I’m going to call.‚Äù

But for him to come in and talk to me about how I saw stuff, for us to really have that dialogue, it speaks to him as a coach. And that’s something that definitely helps me. Definitely makes it a lot easier for me to be comfortable in the system and for us to have success.

So just for him to have that attitude when he first got here and us to be able to build and grow off that throughout the year, I’m eternally grateful for that. O’Brien’s been here and helped me out so much throughout the year.

Bryce, what was your, I guess, initial impression of Jameson [Williams] when you first saw him? And also, how surprised are you that he had the year he’s had considering he really didn’t make much of an impact at Ohio State?

First impressions when he first got – when he originally came to Alabama and came with the team was just how professional he was and how professional an approach he took.

Someone who comes in, you have to learn a lot. It’s a new playbook, a new system, new verbiage. And he came in and had a professional mindset with it. He was always talking to me, to his coaches about making sure we’re on the same page. He was someone that I didn’t really have to worry about the playbook, which is ‚Äì whether it’s a new guy transferring in or a freshman, that’s always a big hurdle. And he was someone who really attacked that.

When we started practicing, the moment after he transferred in, he had the playbook down really, really well for someone who maybe had his hands on it for a week or two before that.

It was really just how professional and dedicated and the attitude he

took. Honestly, I wouldn’t say I’m surprised by the year’s he’s had. People just see Saturdays and you see the output.

But when you see what goes into it, when you see how he works and the energy he brings to practice, day in and day out from Monday through Friday in a normal season and you see the work he puts in, no, I wouldn’t say I’m surprised at all. When you’re not able to see that, you may look past numbers. But seeing him day-to-day, seeing how he approaches things, seeing how hard he works, it’s not surprising for me.

Going back to Coach [Bill] O’Brien for a second, what was it like not having him there in person? And how much did it help to have guys like Alex [Mortensen] and other guys on staff to step up and fill that void?

That was rough. That was really rough. Not having him in person for an extended period of time, not having him on the field for a few practices, that was tough.

Someone like OB who is such a great mind and gives us in the quarterback room and meetings so much intel and knowledge and out on the field the entire offense, really leading that from a coaching standpoint, whenever you can’t have someone like that on the field and around us, he did a great job. He was still Zooming in. He was still running every meeting virtually, so he was helping us out throughout everything. And he was on ‚Äì he was still talking to us. But when he’s not there in person, you obviously lose that instant feedback, that presence. So that was tough.

But like you said, Moore and Montana Murphy did a great job of stepping up in the quarterback room. Those are guys that ‚Äì again, obviously OB is who I talk to the most and who gets all the credit offensively and deserves it. But Moore and Montana have been guys individually the entire year, guys that I’m always talking to throughout the week, always bouncing ideas off of. Those are guys that I trust completely and guys that maybe aren’t always publicized, but those are the guys who win games behind the scenes.

Those guys stepped up tremendously. They’ve been doing that all year. May not be what you see on headlines. But Coach Moore and Montana, they’ve been doing a great job. There’s people I always juggle ideas off of, I value their input greatly. And the ideas they have show up thoroughly on Saturdays. So those guys stepped up, and we all had confidence in them, and we knew they would.

You talked earlier about Bill O’Brien and the way he was checking and asking you to learn more about this offense. Do you remember any of those moments specifically? And what were those moments like? And what was the thing you taught him that you thought it was most interesting?

There was a lot of stuff. I feel like we were able to

bounce certain things off of each other. When we first got here, really we wanted to keep verbiage and we wanted to keep a lot of things the same when OB got here. So I think for him, kind of learning new stuff, and figuring out what he would change, and what he would keep, and figuring out how he would interpret the whole offense.

And, for me, I had been there for a year. And for someone to have the track record that he has and still come in and be humble enough to say, hey, how do you guys read this? How do you guys feel about this? Do you like this play? How has this worked in the past? I think having that conversation early on was really big for us, really big for me. And I think that was kind of big for us learning together.

And then, for me, him being able to ‚Äì everyone kind of runs variations of the same thing at this point. But for him to see things and put in things that he’s run in the past. And he is able to bring that knowledge of the next level, the NFL, giving examples, bringing film from the highest level, and being able to give his input on it, whether it be a route, whether it be how we looked at protections, cadence, whatever it may be. Him being able to add things that he’s had success with in the past and really teach me that stuff and take time out to make sure I understood not just what we were doing but why we were doing and the function, that meant a lot to me. And that was huge for my development. So those are some things I think were pretty big.

Hey, Bryce, how would you describe how competitive you are?

Yeah, I would say I’m very competitive. I think it’s ‚Äì you know, hard to play at a level like this and not be. But I think, for me, I think it’s about making sure I’m able to ‚Äì I like to look at being competitive as a process. I think a lot of people sometimes can think about being competitive as when the lights turn on, I want to get after it. I’m competitive. And when the play is there to be made, it’s on me to want it more than the other. And that’s a part of it.

But for me, I try to understand that being competitive is not just the one moment or not just what you see on Saturday. But for me, I push myself to be competitive and understand that means the entire week. For me, I have the approach to be competitive in how I watch film. Be competitive in my nutrition, be competitive in practice, all that stuff, because that’s what correlates to the game.

So of course, there’s a lot of people that are going to be competitive when the lights are on. There’s a lot of people that say on Saturday, oh, I want to be competitive. But for me, I push myself to make sure to understand everything is a competition. It’s about pushing yourself to be the best you can be. Whether it’s 100,000 people in stands, it’s on TV, or it’s just you in a room by yourself watching film, you have to be competitive. And that’s the outlook I try to take on it. I try to make sure I don’t single in on, I’m just competitive at this time or this moment. I’m pushing myself to be competitive in everything. And I’m still growing and pushing myself. But for me, that’s kind of the biggest thing when it comes to competition and

being competitive as a whole.

So you get to face a very well-coached and talented defense every time you go to practice. Compare both schematically and philosophically what you see every practice with what you saw when you studied Cincinnati’s defense on tape.

Yeah, like you said, that’s obviously huge for us, being able to go against our defense. And especially the growth you get in the offseason, going against such a great defense with all the talent and so well-coached.

And I think it definitely, you definitely see that when you turn on the film for Cincinnati. You see the talent. You see the players. And sometimes you’ll see really good players, but you see a lot of players in Cincinnati that really pop out on film. And on top of, that you see how well coached they are. You see the discipline. You see the consistency throughout games. So we understand that. This is a great opportunity for us. This is going to be a big challenge for us. So I think really understanding the urgency. I think you can say our defense and the intensity that we have in practice and the intensity that we have in the offseason, we understand it’s going to take everything for us to be successful on Friday. So for us, when we watch the film, we see that same thing. We see talent. We see how well coached. We see the discipline. So we understand what it’s going to take. We understand it’s going to take everything during the week. And we’re pushing ourselves day in and day out to put ourselves in the best position.

Just wondering coming into this game, how have you handled the hype and the expectations that come with being the Heisman Trophy winner on the top-ranked team in the country?

Being able to win accolades is a huge blessing and a huge honor. But for me at least individually, I understand that winning an award like that is great. And I understand it for what it is. It reflects what I’ve done in the past, which is a huge blessing. But it’s exactly that, it’s in the past. What I won was about what I’ve done in the past. As a team what we did in the past. Which is great, but that doesn’t entitle me to anything in future. It’s everything, that’s a looking-back-type of trophy. For me that doesn’t do anything for me going in. That’s not going to mean anything and that’s not going to help us at all. It doesn’t change how I approach anything. It doesn’t make any difference to me.

I understand just being a part of Alabama, that’s a place you come to for expectations. You understand what it’s like. It’s not something that‚Äôs uncommon for us to have expectations, for us to have whatever hype around our names that we have. But we understand that doesn’t leave us entitled to anything. We have to work as a team. We have to earn everything. Individually earn everything. And that doesn’t change regardless of what’s going on. And whatever external circumstances may say or may change, for me and for us as a team, we understand that we have to earn everything, we have to take everything. And we’re on that push as a team to put ourselves in the best position when it comes to Friday.

As a leader on this team, what have you had to say to the guys to keep them focused and make sure that there’s no kind of COVID spike in this squad in the way we have seen in other teams around the nation?

Yeah, you know, it’s a collective effort. It takes sacrifice from everyone. When you think of a bowl game, you think of a bowl experience. You get to go places and do fun events. And that’s great. But for us, we understand what the ultimate goal is. And this is a bowl game, there’s obviously different implications than a traditional bowl game. So we understand this really isn’t the week for going out and having a great time, because Coach [Nick] Saban in one of our meetings actually said it perfectly, ‚ÄúYou only remember what you did during the week if you’re successful on the weekends.‚Äù

So for us as a group, as a leadership group, we had to make a decision that we weren’t going to go anywhere, we weren’t going to leave the hotel. We were going to stay in the hotel to make sure that we could try to do our best to try to cancel out and eliminate any COVID possibilities. Obviously, we can only do that part. But as a group, as a leadership group and a team, we all came together. And I’m sad we weren’t going to leave the hotel room. We’re going to practice, and we’re staying in there. We understand the realities of COVID and the modern world we live. That was the decision we all made. And it’s a sacrifice but at the end of the day, that’s what we have to do to put ourselves in the best position.