Will Anderson reveals how Michael Phelps speech impacted team
Nick Saban brought some more star power in to address Alabama last week when Michael Phelps met with the Crimson Tide after practice. As it turns out, he shared some good lessons with the group, according to star linebacker Will Anderson.
Phelps — the 28-time Olympics medalist and 23-time gold medalist — met with Alabama on Saturday after training camp. He joined a list of impressive names to address Alabama in recent years, including former NFL quarterback Alex Smith and former Major League Baseball player Alex Rodriguez.
Phelps’ appearance at camp came a few days after Saban declared 2021 a “rebuilding” year for Alabama after losing in the national championship. If anyone knows a thing or two about winning, it’s Phelps, but Anderson said he shared a more meaningful message.
“It’s been great to hear, like, Michael Phelps come in and talk and talk about all the stuff he did and choices he made,” Anderson said. “I think the team did a really good job of receiving that message about choices because it’s a choice to do everything that we do here at Alabama. Getting up, going to workouts, going to meetings, going to practice. You make that choice to get up, so while you’re there, you might as well give it everything you’ve got.”
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Will Anderson details preseason ‘rat poison,’ locker room motivation
Alabama head coach Nick Saban has referred to some of the media hype of his team over the years as “rat poison,” and something that he doesn’t want his players to buy into or indulge with a front-runner mentality. The USA Today Coaches Poll came out on Monday and the Crimson Tide came in at No. 1, and Crimson Tide edge Will Anderson deemed the poll rat poison.
“Well I didn’t even know nothing about that until you just told me,” Anderson said. “I’m pretty sure the team doesn’t know, so we don’t even probably know anything about that so it is rat poison.”