Tyler Booker defends Malachi Moore after on-field meltdown vs. Vanderbilt

Alabama safety Malachi Moore received criticism after having a late outburst in the Crimson Tide’s 40-35 loss to Vanderbilt this past weekend. On Monday, Alabama offensive lineman Tyler Booker defended his teammate.

“Malachi, he spoke to the team,” Booker said during an appearance on The Next Round. “We all understand where he’s coming from. He’s a competitor, and anybody who has been in a situation like that, anybody who has been here for their fifth year — they would feel the same way… Now, did he go about it the right way? No. But, we all appreciate how much Malachi cares.

“Malachi, he’s so prideful about the University of Alabama. I’ve learned so much about being an Alabama Football player from Malachi. Yeah, he had an emotional moment at the end of the game but when he got into the locker room he was the leader that he needed to be… We all understand where his frustration was coming from.”

In the fourth quarter of the loss, Moore delivered a late hit on Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, threw his own mouthguard, kicked the football (drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty) and appeared to refuse to come off the field when the coaching staff tried to substitute Bray Hubbard in for him.

Malachi Moore is a captain for the Crimson Tide and his actions called his leadership into question. Specifically, many outsiders wondered if the team didn’t have the same respect for their current coaching staff that they had when Nick Saban was the head coach.

Booker addressed these concerns in his defense of Moore.

“I know for a fact there’s the same level of respect for this coaching staff there was for the last one as well,” Booker said. “We have a tremendous amount of respect for this coaching staff. And like I said before, and I’ll keep saying, we’re tremendous competitors.

“Malachi is a tremendous competitor. He loves to compete. He hates to lose. We all hate losing, and that’s why I’m so excited going to this South Carolina week to see how much we’ve grown from this game. I’m so excited for the rest of the season because there’s so much football left to play.”

On Saturday, Alabama will have an opportunity to bounce back as it squares off against South Carolina at noon ET. The game will air live on ABC.