Kool-Aid McKinstry, Roydell Williams not focused on criticism from former players

In the wake of Alabama‘s loss to Texas on Saturday, there was some criticism from former players on social media. And while the phenomenon certainly isn’t unique to Alabama football, it’s one the Crimson Tide players don’t deal with as often.

Because, quite frankly, Alabama simply doesn’t lose very often.

So players this week were asked how they’re handling the negative takes from some former alumni and whether they’ve been able to derive any motivation from the comments.

“Me personally I’m not really big into reading social media or seeing what other people post,” defensive back Kool-Aid McKinstry said. “I mean after a game like that, me personally, I haven’t even really been on social media to see what’s the media been saying and what people been saying about us, what former players been saying about us, because, to be honest, there’s nothing we can do about it. The game is over with.”

Alabama still has most of its season goals intact, though reaching the College Football Playoff now will be a touch more difficult. There’s no further room for error.

Still, without having played an SEC game yet, it’s hard to say there’s anything gone bust just yet with ‘Bama’s season.

“All we can do is learn from our mistakes and move forward about it and just acknowledge our mistakes, go over it with coach and just move on and be a better team,” McKinstry said.

That’s the same approach running back Roydell Williams is taking. Forget about the criticism from former players, focus on the positives and building on them, then simply correct the mistakes.

Do that and Alabama still has the talent to compete for an SEC West title. Reach Atlanta and suddenly everything becomes possible again.

Sulking over criticism from former players isn’t going to help anything.

“Me honestly I don’t pay attention to none of that,” Williams said. “I don’t know if anyone else does, but we try to keep a positive head when coming away from a week like that. We try to look forward. Our goals are still the same: SEC, national championship. But we look at it one week at a time and we’re going to progress from there.”

Next up for Alabama is another non-conference game, this time against South Florida on the road in Tampa, Fla. The game will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday with a broadcast on ABC.