Malachi Moore provides more details about actions that concluded Vanderbilt game

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Safety Malachi Moore made headlines on Saturday night following an outburst at the end of then-No. 1 Alabama’s upset loss to Vanderbilt.

In the waning moments of the game, Moore was visibly upset. He drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, grabbed Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia‘s facemask, kicked the football away from the ref in between plays, and hurled his mouthpiece 20 yards into the opposing backfield.

The outburst drew widespread criticism from fans and viewers alike. Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer backed Moore and said he wouldn’t be suspended, while also saying he’d done everything asked of him while handling the situation internally. Yesterday, Moore issued an apology on social media for his actions.

Moore spoke to reporters on Tuesday morning following Alabama’s practice, and provided more details on what’s happened Saturday night and in the days since.

Moore’s initial apology…

“I want to apologize for the way I acted out of frustration. We put in so much work throughout the summertime. I look at my teammates, man I see D-Law and I think about all the times we’ve been outside running gassers. I look at Que Robinson, [Jah-Merian Latham], Tim Smith, guys that have been here five years and put in all that work. For us to go out there and not play to our standard, it was frustrating to me, but I take full accountability for that. I let my actions get the best of me, and it won’t happen again.”

Conversations with DeBoer and Wommack…

“They were just telling me that they understood my frustration, but again, we can’t act like that on the field. They definitely had my back and I’ve apologized to them. I’ve done the consequences they’ve given me.”

Talking with Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia after grabbing his facemask at the end of the game…

“I hit him up on Instagram the other day to let him know, ‘my bad, I didn’t mean for it in no malicious way, I just let the game get away from me.’ He hit me back, so we’re cool.”

What he said when he spoke to the team…

“Kind of the same message I’m giving y’all. I let them down as a leader in that moment. In a moment where your captain and leader is supposed to be strong, in that moment I let my emotions get the best of me, and just acted out of character. I apologized to them for that and told them that’s not the way we do stuff here, and that it won’t happen again.”

What he’s learned from this experience…

“Definitely just controlling my emotions, knowing where I’m at, and doing the best to be a role model and lead. It’s just a next play mentality. It’s something that I can’t fix in the past, definitely wish I went about it in a different way. Can’t fix what I did in the past but I can only fix what’s to come in the future.”

On the game being chippy…

“It definitely was a chippy game. Every game we have there’s gonna be chippiness, it’s SEC ball, a little chirping here and there. Definitely just all the emotions of losing, working so hard, losing at Vanderbilt, it was just everything combined.”

How he’s responded to criticism from outside the program…

“Nobody has personally hit me up directly or talked to be directly about my actions outside of the facility. All I can worry about is what my teammates think and what everybody in this building thinks.”

What DeBoer’s support means to him…

“It meant a lot, man. Obviously I didn’t mean for the situation to blow up how it did. To have my head coach just come to me and tell me he had my back without even having a conversations about it first, or anything like that. Some coaches can not stick up for their players, but it says a lot about Coach DeBoer and it really meant the world to me.”

Why he wanted to stick around at Alabama…

“I’m from Alabama, grew up in Alabama all my life, and I love this university. The reason I came back is because I love the university, I love the people here, and I love everything about it. When the transition happened, there was never a thought to leave this university. I knew the type of resources, the type of people we had in this facility. I knew Greg Byrne was gonna make the right decision and bring in the right coach and he did with Coach DeBoer.”

Who he went to for advice…

“A lot of my former teammates that are in the league now hit me up. [Jordan Battle], Kool-Aid [MicKinstry], Terrion [Arnold], Dallas [Turner], DeMarco [Hellams]. They just hit me up, told me they feel where I’m coming from, and they’re just being brothers at the next level helping me out.”

How he changed his approach once he got to the locker room after the game…

“I kind of had to lock back in, look at my brothers and see that they’re hurting as well. I had to be there for them, and lift them up, it really was everybody showing love to each other in the locker room after all the anger and stuff from everybody. We were loving up on each other, telling each other we love each other and that we have each other’s back.”

When he calmed back down in the locker room…

“I would say when Coach DeBoer started talking to the team, that’s kind of when I calmed back down and locked back in. T-Book and Jam were talking to me, calming me down as brothers in that moment and telling me the understand, they wanted to help me decompress and get me back in the right state of mind.”

If Damien Harris has reached out to him…

“Nah, he hasn’t. But, hey, it is what it is. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion.”