Tyler Booker on initial reaction to Nick Saban's retirement: 'I was hurt'

It’s been a few months now, but things are still a little strange around the Alabama program following the retirement of former coach Nick Saban.

Credit Kalen DeBoer and his staff for doing a good job easing players into the transition. Still, there are some wounds that will take time to fully heal.

“I was hurt, obviously. That was my initial reaction,” offensive lineman Tyler Booker said on Bussin’ with the Boys. “I was just like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I was expecting him to come in there and kind of rip us about the Michigan game. Not so much rip us, be like, ‘Hey, this is why we lost, here’s how we’re going to correct it. Here’s how we’re going to get back there and get further.’ That’s what I was expecting, so for him to go up there and retire it was really a shock to me.”

That said, the fallout for Alabama following the Nick Saban retirement has been relatively contained. A few high-profile players entered the transfer portal but for the most part the roster remained intact.

Getting guys like Booker back was incredibly important.

The talented tackle explained he was never going anywhere else, despite what others might have done.

“I’ve just been embracing it, because I’ve always been big on legacy,” Booker said. “Like how am I going to leave my legacy here? And I feel like there’s no better way to leave my legacy than win a national championship on coach DeBoer.”

That would definitely do it. Of course, there’s a lot of work required to get there. Alabama knows that after getting to the College Football Playoffs last year, only to fall to Michigan.

Booker’s hopeful the team can learn from that experience and move forward. With or without Nick Saban.

“To be honest the portal was never an option for me, just because I have too many roots planted here as far as my teammates and everybody in this building and in this community, as well,” Booker said. “Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve been moving all around the place, all around, since I was even in middle school. I didn’t mention this, I went to middle school an hour and a half away, I woke up at 5 o’clock in the morning.

“So I’ve just been moving my whole life and Tuscaloosa has given me the first real sense of community in my life, and I really wasn’t willing to let that go.”