Team captain Tyler Booker likes what he's seen from Alabama in bowl prep
TAMPA, Fla. – Alabama held its second on-site practice for the ReliaQuest Bowl on Saturday at Berkeley Preparatory School. One Crimson Tide veteran was curious to see how his teammates would respond after being left out of the first-ever, 12-team College Football Playoff.
But after practice No. 2 in Tampa, offensive lineman Tyler Booker has liked what he’s seen.
“Guy just out here having fun,” Booker said. “That’s something that I was really looking forward to is seeing how we would respond to not being in the playoff but have another opportunity to compete. That’s just a testament to who we are as a team and what we value here at Alabama, and that’s the standard. To be the standard means that you’ve gotta give your all no matter the circumstance, no matter where you are, no matter what’s going on.
“To see that everybody’s coming out to work with a smile on their face, that’s very encouraging.”
Alabama (9-3, 5-3 SEC) was the first team left out of the playoff and will now face Michigan for the second time this year in its season finale on Tuesday, Dec. 31 (11 a.m. CT on ESPN).
The rematch with the Wolverines is likely to be Booker’s final game in a Crimson Tide uniform before he enters the NFL draft. He and the rest of Alabama’s players are disappointed by the outcome of the regular season but see the importance of getting a win in Tampa.
Booker shared the leaders’ message to the team as Tuesday’s bowl game approaches.
“One is getting 10 wins,” Booker said. “We have something crazy like 16, 17 seasons straight with 10 wins or more. We just want to keep that tradition going for one.
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“And two, like I just mentioned, the standard, we have to live up to the standard. It doesn’t matter how you’re feeling. It doesn’t what the circumstance is. It doesn’t matter what your aspirations are after the game. All that matters is the game and living up to the standard while you’re playing that game and just being relentless during that game.
“That’s our focus right now.”
Alabama will look to win its 10th game this year, which would extend its streak of consecutive 10-win seasons to 17 in a row. The record run began in 2008 – Nick Saban’s second year – and has since passed the previous mark of 14 set by Florida State from 1987-2000.
That is important and has been brought up by Kalen DeBoer and others during bowl prep.
“Coach DeBoer and everybody that’s been here for those 10-win seasons,” Booker said. “So just letting the freshmen and some of the new guys know the importance and what the standard is like. That’s the standard, get 10 wins at minimum. We haven’t been able to achieve a lot of the goals that we had this year, but that’s another big goal that we have an opportunity to reach.”
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