Crimson Tide not worried by Saban’s SEC chooses

• Heather Dinich, ESPN Elder WriterJul 17, 2024, 01:23 PM ET

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  • College football press reporter
  • Signed up with ESPN.com in 2007
  • Graduate of Indiana University

DALLAS– When Alabama players at SEC media days discovered their former coach Nick Saban selected Georgia and Texas to bet the conference title this season, they approached it the only method they understood how– the way Saban taught them.

“Something he taught me was not to take notice of external elements, and considering that he operates at the arena now and not the facility, he’s an external element,” offending lineman Tyler Booker told ESPN, “so I’m not going to pay him no mind. He stated, ‘Do not listen to a guy who sits in his mom’s basement and tweets throughout the day, so I’m not going to listen to a guy who plays golf all the time.”

Booker, the Crimson Tide’s starting left guard, was chuckling as he said it, and had not face Saban at the vast Omni Hotel, where Saban is working as a television expert for ESPN. On Monday early morning, in a section with Greg McElroy and Benjamin Watson on SEC Network, Saban pointed to Texas’ depth in its quarterback space and Georgia’s skill as a few of his factors for selecting them in the SEC title game.

“I think in our Alabama team, too– I believe in Jalen Milroe,” Saban stated on-air. “I simply believe the enigma in the secondary, till those get dealt with, it’s hard to sort of get on that bandwagon.”

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Alabama protective back Malachi Moore yielded it’s suitable to question the secondary since of an absence of experience there, however he had to laugh at Saban’s forecast.

“It’s so fast to see Coach Saban handle another function besides being Coach Saban,” he said, “but he works to do, and he’s entitled to his own opinion. But yeah, we heard him.”

So did Saban’s quarterback, Jalen Milroe, who didn’t flinch.

“All we wish to do is concentrate on us and stress over us,” Milroe said. “We still love Coach, it’s all great.”

Booker stated he wasn’t going to face his previous coach about his SEC forecast.

“I’m going to let him go,” he stated laughing.