Will Anderson offers words of advice to kids, Alabama fans in Mexico

In the increasingly popular game of college football, appeal has gone international. Nebraska and Northwestern opened the season with a game in Ireland, while on Monday Alabama coach Nick Saban and players were greeted by reporters from Mexico who came up to view the Crimson Tide program.

That prompted some unexpected questions for Saban and superstar edge defender Will Anderson, who both answered them in stride.

What words of advice can Anderson give to Alabama fans and kids in Mexico?

“I appreciate you guys coming all this way just to see everything that we have going on here,” Anderson said. “We greatly appreciate you guys. Just to all those guys back there, keep working hard. Make sure you keep the main thing the main thing, but there’s going to be adversity, and it’s what you do with adversity.

“Just keep playing, have fun. I think that’s the biggest thing you can do: Have fun. Go out there and do your best and as long as your brothers are with you and whoever else is out there, just don’t take those moments for granted and just keep going on.”

At 3-0 and after having survived a close call against Texas in Week 2, Alabama certainly appears to be living that motto.

And the Crimson Tide are being observed from afar, probably by more folks than anyone in the program even realized. That was a point of discussion coming out of Monday’s press conference.

Alabama Crimson Tide football interest reaches Mexico

Monday’s unexpected line of questioning from a reporter from Claro Sports in Mexico City brought some interesting things to light for Saban and his players.

Saban was asked if he knew how widely they broadcast Alabama football in Latin America. According to the reporter, the games are broadcast in 17 different Latin American countries. Along with that, Saban was asked if he had a message for those Alabama fans in Mexico.

“We appreciate all the fan support that we get in Mexico and I wasn’t aware of all these places, you know, watch us,” he said.

Could Alabama eventually be one of the teams to venture abroad to play a game like the Big Ten did in Week 0? Never say never.

“I do know that we have an iconic brand that sort of spreads, not only throughout the United States but in some of the bordering countries and in Europe,” Saban said. “And I think that’s a good thing for our program and I know it’s a good thing for our players. But, you know, we appreciate the support. We love it that you love Alabama and I’ll just say Roll Tide to you.”