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Will Anderson shares how Alabama prepares players for NFL Draft

On3-Social-Profile_GRAYby:On3 Staff Report•12/10/22
Will Anderson, Alabama Crimson Tide edge rusher
Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson runs toward the field before a game against Texas on Sept. 10, 2022. (Tim Warner / Getty Images)

Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson has accomplished virtually everything a college football player can, with perhaps the one remaining step becoming a high NFL Draft pick.

Whenver Anderson decides to enter the NFL Draft that is all but a certainty. He’ll just be the latest in a long line of top-notch NFL Draft prospects Alabama has produced under long-time coach Nick Saban.

“I think it’s just the mentality, how we attack the day, everything that we do, the structure of the program,” Anderson said in explaining that NFL Draft success by the Crimson Tide while doing interviews at a Rotary Lombardi Award ceremony earlier this week. “I think that’s what helps so many athletes get ready for the next level because of the way we train and the way coach Saban has everything set up is kind of like the NFL.”

The setup certainly worked for Anderson.

During the week he was named the Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner for the second consecutive year. He won the Rotary Lombardi Award. He also took home the Chuck Bednarik Award.

The Alabama superstar has had one of the most productive careers of any defensive player in college football the last few years.

Saban’s NFL Draft factory has been a big part of that.

“It’s really great,” Anderson said. “He has a lot of people in place to help you get ready for that next step, too.”

Will Anderson headed to 2023 NFL Draft?

Though he’s a virtual lock as a top-10 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft if he enters, Will Anderson has yet to publicly announce a decision on his future.

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He’s made sure to inform those who have asked that he’s focused on ‘living in the moment,’ and he’ll spend some time discussing his future with his family before making a decision.

“It’s been in consideration, me and my family,” Anderson said Wednesday night. “But right now I’m just in the moment. I’m living in the moment of like, again, traveling, being a part of all these special awards, being with my family, letting them get to see all these beautiful places that we are.

“And just being in the moment, being where my feet are. I’m enjoying this moment right now and later on we might see what happens.”

Virtually every mock 2023 NFL Draft has Anderson becoming a top-10 NFL Draft pick in the event he makes the decision to leave Alabama after the 2022 season.

The Crimson Tide have one game remaining, set to face No. 9 Kansas State in the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Dec. 31.