Will Anderson speaks on Thursday ahead of Sugar Bowl

NEW ORLEANS — No. 5 Alabama is only two days away from taking the field against No. 9 Kansas State in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. If the Crimson Tide can secure a victory, it’ll give them an 11-win season for the 12th straight time under head coach Nick Saban.

On Thursday afternoon, Alabama outside linebacker Will Anderson Jr. once again spoke to the media ahead of the game. Below, we’ve included a video and complete transcriptions of everything Anderson said during that media availability.

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LB Will Anderson Jr.

Q. Obviously, both teams have no opt-outs. I know we’ve talked about it before, but what does it speak to both programs that you guys are both putting your best on the field?

WILL ANDERSON: “I think it means a lot. I know they have a really tremendous program over there. Just to show that none of their players opted out, none of our players opted out, it just shows how much football means to both programs. And how much it means to the players to play one last game for the season and go out and play with your brothers and give it all you’ve got for this last game.

“I’m super proud of this team. Happy to be here. And I know the players at Kansas State are super happy to be here as well.”

Q. How did the risk/reward calculation work for you?

WILL ANDERSON: “Every time you step on the field, it’s all a risk, no matter what game you’re going to play in. No game is bigger than the other. You have to prepare each game the same way. If you go out there with that on your mind, then most likely that’s going to happen. If you go out there knowing you’re going to play like you practiced all week and prepared all week, then you’re going to go out there and have a safe game and fun game.

“That’s just been my whole motto this whole year is: Don’t worry about the risk factor. Just go out there and be willing to play football and have fun doing it.”

Q. Being the defensive leader on the team, how did your decision to play in this game kind of work in motivating the younger guys?

WILL ANDERSON: “Most definitely. They knew what type of person I was. I talk to them all the time. I Joke with them a little bit. They knew what type of person I was. I told them I wasn’t going to leave them stranded. I’ve been preaching all season long: We’re the Alabama standard. This is how you do certain things. This is how you’re supposed to do it. And just for me to uphold that standard and show them like, Hey, this is how you’re supposed to do it. If you want to go out the right way and be legendary and want people to remember you by doing something good, this is how you do it. Just to show them the right things to do.

“It’s super exciting being around all the young guys. It gives so much energy. I love it. I’m really excited.”

Q. After watching the tape, how many challenges does Kansas State

WILL ANDERSON: “They’re a hard-nosed football team. They’re going to run the ball. They’re very explosive. Their running back, he’s really good. He’s really, really good.

“It’s going to be a great challenge for us. They’re really big up front. They can move really well. Both quarterbacks they have are really electric. It’s going to be very exciting to play them. They have a really great scheme that they do. It’s going to be a great challenge for us.”

Q. Is it hard to tackle guy who’s that small like Deuce [Vaughn]?

WILL ANDERSON: “We don’t have any players like that small. But some of them are a little his size. So we’ve been getting a good look to as far. So I think it’s going to be good.”

Q. How do you contain somebody like that? It might be hard. What are you guys going to do to try to contain a Deuce [Vaughn] and Will [Howard] and Adrian [Martinez] that might give you different looks?

WILL ANDERSON: “If I tell you, they might see this, and they might be able to do something else. So I can’t tell you everything that we’re doing. But all I know, we have a really good game plan, Coach [Nick] Saban and Coach Pete [Golding] and all the other coaches have been doing a really good job of helping us get in the right places to make sure that we go out there and we play fast and be on the same page and go play to our standard.”

Q. Apart from tackling a guy that small, is it also hard to see him sometimes when he gets in behind the linemen?

WILL ANDERSON: “Yeah, most definitely. He cuts behind them and uses them very well to get upfield and do all the things he needs to do. It’s going to be a great challenge for us, but we’re ready for it.”

Q. Everybody always gives Alabama their best game. Everybody wants to beat you guys. Does that add some extra motivation to your defense?

WILL ANDERSON: “Always. We always know no matter what, everybody is going to come with their best. Somebody we probably haven’t seen before. We do a good job all week preparing for what we might see, might not see. Even if they don’t do it, we prepare for it. It’s very exciting. I think it always keeps us on our toes. If they do this, we’ll be prepared. If they do something we haven’t seen, we get it fixed on the sideline. But it’s very exciting, and it’s been fun.”

Q. Obviously, you guys were two plays away from being undefeated and being in the College Football National Championship. Do you think about those two losses? I just talked to Byron [Young]. He said he would be lying if he didn’t think about what if the play went your way. Does that bother you?

WILL ANDERSON: “Most definitely. The Tennessee game, I’m going to be honest with you, the Tennessee game, it hurt. But I think the LSU game it hurt everybody a little bit more. I know, for me, that’s one of the games where I cried my eyes out. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, just how close we were. And people don’t see how much hard work this team puts in Monday through Friday. It eats us alive to know that we didn’t make our goal of wanting to get there. But this game is a perfect opportunity for us to go out and show why we belong in there and the type of team that we have and the type of identity we want to establish.”

Q. This is your last game to ever play for the Alabama Crimson Tide. What would you say your whole career has been at Alabama? How much has Alabama meant to you?

WILL ANDERSON: “Alabama has meant everything to me. They helped me grow so much on and off the field. I remember just being a little puppy. Being the smallest thing in the room. And just to be in this position now, I have to give thanks to all those guys. They helped me so much. This program is the best program in the nation. They develop you so much. It’s no place that I would rather be than Alabama. I love my Alabama family so much. They’ve not only taken care of me, but they’ve taken great care of my family, and they’ve helped them out so much. So I couldn’t have asked for a better program, better people, than Alabama has been.”

Q. Can we talk about you and Bryce [Young] both making the decision earlier this month.

WILL ANDERSON: “Me and Bryce have gotten so close over these last couple of years. And me and him talk. When you have somebody like Bryce that you share so much of the same mentality, the same competitiveness, it makes it easier. So it wasn’t really no big thing where we kept harping. Like, You do this? We know why we’re doing it. It’s something that’s eating us inside. And that competitor in your ear is like, Let’s go, you’ve got some more in you. Let’s go get it. And that was just like, Oh, we’re good. We’re fixing to go out and do this. It wasn’t really no hard choice to make. Me and Bryce knew what type of people we were. We knew what type of leaders we were and how much this team meant to us. How much we love this sport.”

Q. It’s been a while since you guys played almost a month. It must remind you of the off-season, like practicing and practicing and practicing. Are you excited to take the field and play another team?

WILL ANDERSON: “Yes. It was so funny. I was just talking to Dallas [Turner] today. I was like, it’s like we’ve been practicing forever. It’s been good because you get so many reps that it helps you get ready for the game. It helps you be able to see stuff, and it helps those younger guys that might get a chance to the play in the game get so many reps that when the game comes, they’re confident in their ability. They know what to do. They know how to do it. They can play fast. And we can go out there and play to the Alabama standard.”

Q. Deuce [Vaughn] is a guy that likes to bounce around the outside. Obviously, that’s where you play on the field. How do you think your chances are about chasing him down towards the sidelines?

WILL ANDERSON: “We do all types of drills that help us make sure that we keep the edge. That’s one thing that we’ve really been working on, setting the edge, making sure that we’re still on the edge, running sideline to sideline. Making sure we’re surfing and things like that.

“All the coaches have been doing a really good job of making sure that everybody stays in their gap and making sure that everybody’s just doing their job so we all can be on the same page.”

Q. Nick Saban talked about sharing with his players? How much of a factor was that? Did anything change from the last couple of weeks? Is there an additional policy?

WILL ANDERSON: “We talked about it. You know what I’m saying? We talked about it. But at the end of the day, I’m just happy to be here. They took care of all of that stuff for us, to show that they love us and gratitude.

“But regardless of all that stuff, I’ve always been committed to this team. Bryce [Young] has always been committed to this team, and it’s always been about the team. We’re just happy to be here and be a part of the team and go out one last fight.”

Q. Will, this is possibly your last game. Can you share a story, a memory of the Alabama football program, Tuscaloosa, [Head Coach Nick] Saban that you really cherish?

WILL ANDERSON: “Probably the biggest one for me would probably be after the National Championship game. I kind of feel like that’s when my relationship with Coach Saban, it kind of changed a little bit, and me and him really got really close after that.

“It’s not a time that I can’t go in Coach Saban’s office now and talk to him, and he’ll listen to me and ask me stuff and everything like that. But he has so much respect for me, and I have so much respect for him. And it’s so easy for us to get along because we share the same mentality. We’re the same competitor. And he actually means the world to me and my family. Especially when I first got here as a freshman, my grandmother had just passed. And I just had got on the campus and him and Ms. Terry [Saban], they had sent flowers to my house and everything like that.

“But that just shows the type of person Coach Saban is. A lot of people may not see, a lot of people may not know. He’s a great guy, great coach. And to play for the GOAT is absolutely amazing. There’s no other coach I would rather be coached by than Coach Saban.”

Q. You just talked about practice being an opportunity for you guys to get more reps. Talking about Shawn Murphy and Jihaad Campbell, what have you seen out of them in the last few weeks?

WILL ANDERSON: “I’ll start with Jihaad. They’re both like my little brothers but me and Jihaad a little bit closer. Jihaad, I always told him, Man, you’re a freak athlete. You get some weight on you and learn to play, you’re going to be absolutely unstoppable. Shawn Murphy, really high IQ for the game. He’s been doing a really good job of stepping in when guys go out. He’s learning the defense. He has got some reps. He’s done a really good job. Super proud of him.

“But Jihaad, he’s going to be really, really good. I’m very excited to see him. He’s one of those guys that he can do a little bit of everything. They’ve got him bouncing around everywhere on the edge. Backers and all that stuff.

“But both of those guys have been doing a really good job for us. Taking those reps, learning. Us just being patient with them. Learning, you know, that it’s not easy and they’re going to make mistakes, but at the end of the day, we’re going to be there for them. And we know they’re going to get it. And that’s what they’ve been doing, they’ve been getting it. They’ve been coming along since practice has started back. We were in Tuscaloosa until now. They’ve really made a lot of progress. I’m super excited to see both of those guys flourish.”

Q. Will, I’ve heard that you are the first two-time unanimous All-American in Alabama. When you think of all the players that have come through this school, how in the world what’s your reaction when they told you that?

WILL ANDERSON: “You know, I don’t really give myself as much credit as I do, never satisfied with things, you know. But I have to just for me, I’ve always just been team, team, team. And it’s not one accomplishment, not one award that I’ve gotten that wasn’t thanks to all these guys that’s in this room right now or the guys back at the hotel because those guys make it possible for me to do what I do on the field. They always have my back. They give me confidence, you know. Without them, I wouldn’t be half the player I am today. And I love those guys so much. And I’m so appreciative of them. And I tell the outside linebacker, I said, all these awards are your awards because you helped me get to this. You are just as big a part of what I’ve got going on now in my life. And then they know. So really, it’s just always been about the team. So I’m excited for those guys. I know they’re excited for me, but it’s always been about them.”

Q. Is that part of why you’re in this game?

WILL ANDERSON: “Of course. I couldn’t leave them hanging. I’ve preached so much to them. But they understood. They told me, they said Will, if you don’t play, it’s okay, we understand. I said, no, I’m not leaving y’all. So they know.”

Q. Jihaad [Campbell] made that transition from outside linebacker to inside. Just how challenging is that? I mean, obviously, he’s been outside the whole time, but especially to make that transition as a freshman?

WILL ANDERSON: “Most definitely inside linebacker, they have a little bit more stuff to learn than outside linebacker, but he’s been doing a really good job. Like I said, he’s been progressing really well. And I’m super excited to see him flourish.”

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