Jason Jackson raves over Alabama's maturity after advancing to Super Regional

There is a lot of weight on the Alabama baseball team’s shoulders in the Super Regional at Wake Forest. However, as interim head coach Jason Jackson explained, Alabama has the maturity necessary to take on this challenge.

Jackson explained this during a press conference ahead of the Super Regional.

“You learn, first of all, to answer your second question, you learn the value of experience, right?” Jason Jackson said. “And not that I think we’ve known that, but you’re good when you’re old, right. The best teams are usually the older teams and especially in our league.

Earlier this season, a trip to the Super Regional seemed like a fantasy. The Crimson Tide always had the talent, but the program was clouded by scandal when head coach Brad Bohannon was fired amid a probe for allegations that he was gambling on games.

Being able to get through that and succeed in the postseason took tons of maturity from the Alabama team.

“But these guys impress me more and more every single day. Every day we come to the ballpark and there’s something new that these guys do, then I’m like, man, just the way they’ve handled everything and just the fight and the resilience and the way they can focus and block things out and the way they play together and the way they handle each day has been…you know, each day I come to the ballpark and I’m more impressed than I was the day before with this group.”

Since Jason Jackson took over as interim head coach, Alabama is 13-4 this season. They swept the Tuscaloosa Regional to move onto the Super Regional.

Jason Jackson on Alabama’s mindset

Heading into the Super Regional, Jason Jackson broke down Alabama’s mindset. He explained that the team is fired up for the challenge but is going to make sure to stay focused on the task at hand.

“I don’t think you have to — the guys are going to be fired up. They know that we’re playing in a Super Regional. We’re not going to try to downplay that. I think that the beauty of this team, or one of the things that’s made this team so special is they are an older team with a lot of experience, and even though they haven’t been in a Super Regional, they carry themselves like they’ve been there. I think we’ll do a good job this week of keeping everything, as much as we can, business as usual,” Jackson said.

“But I know there’s going to be some extra excitement. We’re not going to pretend that there’s not. But I think our focus, and what these guys have been able to do, is continue to keep the main thing that main thing. Focus on going one at a time. Go win Game 1 and go from there.”