Malachi Moore sets tone for Alabama defense in his fifth Iron Bowl win

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama safety Malachi Moore, along with Alabama’s other 5th-year seniors, did something extremely rare on Saturday afternoon, collectively improving their career records against Auburn to 5-0.

Moore came to Alabama as a freshman in the 2020 recruiting class, playing a contributing role on the Crimson Tide’s last national championship team. That team won the Iron Bowl at home, 42-13, and Alabama hasn’t lost to Auburn since, now winning five straight after today’s 28-14 victory.

As the game began, Moore came out of the gate flying around. He laid multiple hard hits on Auburn wide receivers early in the game, contributing to his game-high three pass breakups.

“Malachi, he’s a great player, man. He’s physical,” Alabama safety Bray Hubbard said. “Y’all saw some of the hits he made tonight. Some big pass breakups. He was using his shoulder pads to hit and break the ball up. That’s a tone-setter, that gets everybody fired up. We love hitting, so when a big hit happens like that, everybody gets fired up.”

Moore finished the game with four tackles, a tackle for loss, and a quarterback hurry to go along with his three pass breakups. He was one of the most physical players on the field, and embraced that as a player in the secondary.

Alabama defensive lineman Tim Keenan complimented the physicality of Moore, saying it sets the tone even more for the defense when it’s a defensive back being the one laying hits early on.

“It’s always good, especially when you got your DBs laying that hat, because they only expect the big guys or the linebackers to come lay that hat,” Keenan said. “When you’ve got that 1-3 screaming down and knocking that ball off of people, it’s definitely a tone-setter, and definitely says, ‘OK, we came to play today.’”

The defense fed off of Moore throughout the entire game, holding Auburn to just 14 points on the night. The Tigers were limited to just six points off of four different red zone trips throughout the game.

Throughout the season, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer has constantly praised Moore, citing him as a huge part of keeping the team together throughout the transition from previous head coach Nick Saban.

“He carried us through some – tonight’s big, but I think it represents what he is all season long,” DeBoer said. “When guys were in-and-out, or weeks where we were up against it with some dings and the rotation wasn’t always consistent with some of the play around him, dealing with injuries or guys working through stuff, he just continued to stay the course. Tonight, loved seeing him flying around. His energy, in a positive way, being something every feeds off of. He loves this place, more than I think anyone could ever imagine. We see it every day in practice, and it’s great whenever it carries over to the game and you can see it as well.”

Today’s game was also senior day for Alabama, marking the final time that Moore will get to play a game inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. Allowing the seniors to go out with a win was a huge point of motivation for Alabama’s underclassmen, in addition to improving their undefeated record against Auburn.

“Going out there and playing for our seniors, we’ve got a good group of seniors that’s been here, been through all the tough challenges we’ve faced. Just go out here and do it for them,” Hubbard said.

Moore has made big play after big play throughout his Alabama career, and been a leader that has consistently poured his heart onto the field every time he steps on it. Being a player from the state of Alabama, he made sure to leave his mark on the Iron Bowl rivalry in a way few have gotten to do, playing in five meetings, and winning all of them.