Why team captain Tyler Booker decided to play in Alabama's bowl game
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Opting out for non-College Football Playoff bowl games has become quite common in college football for players with an NFL future. Typically deeming the bowl game ‘meaningless,’ players all across the country have made the decision to not play to preserve their health, and in turn preserving a future check as the NFL Draft draws near.
But at Alabama, arguably the team’s top pro prospect has decided to play in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Michigan on New Year’s Eve.
“It’s a no-brainer for me to play,” offensive lineman Tyler Booker said. “I feel like everything I’ve poured into this team, everything that this team has poured into me, it would be very hypocritical of me not to play. It’s just the love I have for this place and that I have for the game of football. If I have another opportunity to play this game, I’m definitely gonna take advantage of it.”
Booker follows in the footsteps of other Alabama greats who chose to do the same. In 2022, captains Bryce Young and Will Anderson both chose to play in the Sugar Bowl after the Crimson Tide missed the playoff, and they were the No. 1 and No. 3 overall picks in the draft, respectively.
It follows the culture Alabama has set for a while. Even back in the Citrus Bowl to close out the 2019 season, two first round picks in Jerry Jeudy and Jedrick Wills, among others, chose to play in a non-playoff bowl game that was also against Michigan.
Booker also noted the team’s goal of getting its 10th win, which would continue a streak started in 2008.
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“There’s a lot of goals that we had set out in front of us before this year took place, and obviously we can’t achieve most of those goals now. But one of those goals that is left to achieve is reaching 10 wins, so that’s at the forefront of our minds right now,” Booker said.
Booker was named a permanent team captain alongside three other teammates at the start of the season. He’s continually been praised as one of the best leaders on the team by both players and coaches, and this act helps encapsulate why.
“He might be one of the best leaders I’ve ever been around,” Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said earlier this season. “I know that’s saying a lot because I’ve been around a lot of really good ones. He’s really special and it’s because he takes care of his business 100% of the time and he’s pushing others to make sure that they’re at their best too. And I think that’s what great leaders do is they bring the best out of everyone else around them.”
Booker said he has yet to make an NFL Draft decision, and that he’s solely focused on getting a win in Tampa first.
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