Will Anderson reflects on choosing Alabama, what made difference in recruitment

Linebacker Will Anderson has turned into a star for Alabama this season. Anderson is a former five-star recruit according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

When choosing where to play college football during his recruitment, Anderson wasn’t turned away by Alabama’s amount of talent on the roster. He knew he might not play right away, but Anderson knew that playing at Alabama was the challenge he needed.

“For me, I think that’s one of the biggest things why I came to Alabama,” Anderson said. “Just coming from high school to here I wanted to surround myself by people who had the same mindset as me, same competitive nature as me, same standard and expectation as me no matter the outcome of whether I was playing or not. I knew I would be surrounded by great men, great coaches, great people in the facility.”

This season, Anderson totaled 98 tackles, 34.5 tackles for loss, 17.5 sacks, and two passes defended as Alabama’s anchor on defense. He has established himself as one of the top players in all of college football.

Anderson: Playing at Alabama ‘helps you in life’

Alabama has seen plenty of success during Anderson’s two-year career so far. The Crimson Tide won the National Championship last season while going undefeated, and entered this year’s College Football Playoff as the top overall seed after winning the SEC title.

But while Alabama has only lost one football game in Anderson’s career, that doesn’t mean the team hasn’t been faced with adversity.

“I think it helps a lot,” Anderson added on Alabama’s talent, depth. “No matter if you’re playing or not, you get a chance to see people compete. If you come here and you don’t know how to compete you get to see how to compete and see how to overcome adversity. There’s been so much adversity at Alabama for people that (indiscernible) here.

“You get to see so much here. And it helps you in life. I think a lot of recruits don’t understand that, being in college football you’ll have some type of adversity. When you come to Alabama you see all types of adversity. It helps you with real life.”

On Monday night, Anderson and Alabama will face off against Georgia with a championship on the line. Anderson has never ran away from facing the best, and that will be on display on college football’s biggest stage.

“I think that’s one of the biggest challenges that I took by coming here, being able to compete, go against the best every day,” added Anderson. “And it’s helped me so far.”