Alabama assistants with Auburn ties not immune to trash talk from players

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Kool-Aid McKinstry appreciated the reminder.

No player on Alabama’s roster needs to be told it is Iron Bowl week, but some of the Crimson Tide coaches have ties to the rival Auburn Tigers, including defensive coordinator Kevin Steele and secondary coach Travaris Robinson. A fact that has slipped some players’ minds. 

But it will be brought up, especially to Robinson by Alabama’s defensive backs.

“I never really even thought about it,” McKinstry said. “I’ve been so focused on the thing that they do as an offense and the things that we need to do and how we need to execute as a defense, but I’m glad you brought that to my knowledge. I will be on him today.”

Robinson has been on the Tide coaching staff the last two seasons, coaching cornerbacks last year and then taking over the entire secondary this fall after safeties coach Charles Kelly left for Colorado. Robinson came to Alabama from Miami, his hometown, but played his college ball at Auburn as a wide receiver, defensive back and kickoff returner from 1999-2002. He was also a graduate assistant (2006-07) and defensive backs coach (2015) for the Tigers. 

“T-Rob, he’s been doing a great job,” senior Malachi Moore said. “He never lets us get too high on ourselves. He’s always coaching us hard, always telling us that we can do this better or do that better, but he’s also our biggest cheerleader. I think the biggest thing that he’s done is he’s helped us learn a lot of offensive concepts, offensive formations, how the offense is going to attack you, getting extra work with our technique, coaching us up on our technique, just being a really good overall coach for us. 

Moore continued, “We enjoy T-Rob a lot, but we’re definitely going to be trash-talking him this week, the whole week.”

It’s not just Alabama’s defensive players, either.

“Most definitely,” running back Roydell Williams. “I’m going to get T-Rob starting today. I’m gonna give him a headache. He wore the jersey No. 5, and we always talk about who the real five is. I’m the real five, T-Rob, and we go back and forth about it. But it’s all fun and games. And Saturday is going to be a big deal for us, and we’re gonna go out and dominate.”

Steele was hired as Alabama’s defensive coordinator this offseason, replacing Pete Golding. He last coached at Miami for one season in 2022, but before that, Steele spent five seasons on The Plains as AU’s defensive coordinator from 2016-20, including serving as the interim head coach in 2020 after Gus Malzahn was let go. Steele was a part of two Tiger teams on the winning end of the Iron Bowl rivalry (2017, 2019), which could give this game more meaning.

“I would say it probably does mean a little bit more,” Moore said. “Going back to where he coached at and playing them at their stadium, he’s definitely going to be a little more fired up than he already is.”

Those who face Steele’s defense every day in practice know there is no shortage of fire.

“I’ll say this, before you touch the field, you got to be ready to go,” quarterback Jalen Milroe said. “Because our defense is gonna bring it. Before we even touch the practice field, we got to know that we got to get ready for that, because they’re gonna bring it. 

“But with Coach Steele, with the defense that we’re playing, that only makes our offense better, because how great they are, and our defense, it’s just very, very dominant. Going against those guys just helps us.”

But even a veteran coach like Steele isn’t immune to trash talk for his former ties to Auburn.

“I’m definitely brave enough to mention it to Coach Steele,” McKinstry said. “He just told us yesterday that he worked there for five years straight, so we’re going to be on him about that even more than we are T-Rob.”

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