Tyler Booker recalls first time meeting Nick Saban during youth football camp: 'It was really amazing'

When Tyler Booker was a young football player, he lived in Connecticut. But he made his way to Tuscaloosa for the Nick Saban Football Camp when he was 11 years old, and he enjoyed it so much, he went back the next two years, as well.

Attending the camps also gave Booker the chance to make an impression on Saban, and that led to his first interaction with the legendary coach.

“It was really amazing,” Booker said on The Paul Finebaum Show Thursday.

As impressive as Booker was on the offensive line last year as a true freshman at Alabama, he played defensive line when he attended Saban’s camp. It’s safe to say he did well, and Saban singled him out as an example for the other campers to follow.

“I remember a vivid memory that I have. This was back when I was a lot skinnier, so I played defensive line,” Booker said.” We were doing drills where we flip our hips through the bag and I was very adamant about being first in line. I always wanted to be first, I always wanted to be a leader because my parents always told me somebody’s watching.

“I remember I did the drill really well, and Coach Saban had me do it again. He said, ‘Do it like this guy. Do it like Booker,’ because our names were on the back of our helmets.”

Now that he’s preparing for his sophomore year at Alabama, Booker said everything comes full circle when Saban mentions his name at any point.

“It’s really surreal to hear him call my name today, whenever we’re in meetings or whenever we’re on the field — good or bad — just because I remember that first moment that he and I had,” he said.

It’s obvious the camps paid off as Booker developed into a five-star recruit and the No. 30-ranked player in the nation from the 2022 recruiting cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. But when he arrived at Alabama as a player, he noticed something.

There were a few similarities to what he learned at Saban’s camp, most notably with the “fourth quarter” drills. That’s why Booker said it was worth taking those trips to Tuscaloosa.

“It’s actually funny because once I got here, the first major initiation, people call it, is ‘fourth quarter,'” Booker said. “And I’m doing a lot the fourth quarter drills and I’m like, ‘Man, it’s tough, but I feel like a lot it is familiar.’

“The following summer came and I realized all the fourth quarter drills are what the campers are being put through. So anybody that comes to the Nick Saban football camp, you’re gonna get a lot of good work.”