Alabama Crimson Tide College Football Pregame Quote, 12/29/2022

On the specifics of K-State wide receivers that stand out on film: They’re good at playing together. They understand what they’re trying to do, understand the schemes and what their coach is telling them to do. They just play really well together as a group.

On what it’s like having head coach Nick Saban coaching with the defense: He’s a very good coach. He coaches with my position [DB] specifically, so just working with him all day at practice. We’re very close.

On his confidence as a starter at the beginning of the season versus now: I was very confident going into this season just off the work that I put in during the offseason, all the training, and being very healthy going into the season and also through the season. I learned more things from the coaches so I was very confident at the beginning of the season just like I am now. I gained more experience coming off my freshman year playing five to six games as a starter. So, by playing however many games we played this year as a starter in each one of them, I am sure that I am confident and have learned more.

On the impact of Alabama’s two losses against Tennessee and LSU this season: More of seeing guys like [LB] Will [Anderson Jr.], guys that I know dedicate their all to the program and seeing them down, seeing them crying that they gave their all was what kind of defeats me and makes me want to play harder and push harder for guys like Will and guys like Jordan Battle. If you win, you win, but losses you learn from and try to become a better player and a better team.

On K-State considering the Allstate Sugar Bowl their Super Bowl with a matchup like Alabama, how Alabama has prepared, and the legacy it can leave behind: It’s very important to go out with a win, with a bang, and that’s how we feel. That’s the main reason why we’ll embrace the guys who are playing who could’ve opted out but came back and are going to play with us. They feel like they want to go out with a bang. I feel like us as a team, the younger guys, also want to go out with a bang. They [K-State] think it’s their Super Bowl but I would say that it’s ours too. We play every game like it’s the Super Bowl or a National Championship.