Nick Saban has won seven national championships, which is why so many top recruits choose Alabama. But he provided another reason on Monday.
Despite defeating Georgia in the SEC Championship Game back in December, Saban’s Crimson Tide fell to Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs in the College Football Playoff National Championship.
After the loss, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young (who won the most recent Heisman Trophy) and Will Anderson (who won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy for defensive player of the year) finished up a press conference with Saban.
But before they could make their way to the locker rooms to change out of their uniforms, Saban stopped the two stars and asked reporters if he could say one more thing.
At the end of Bryce Young and Will Anderson’s press conference, Nick Saban stops them from getting up to say: “These two guys that are sitting up here, they’re not defined by one game.”
He finishes by stating how proud he is of those two players.
What it’s all about ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/VTeiaeDzeB
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) January 11, 2022
Saban, who could tell Young and Anderson both felt dejected by the loss, had this to say:
“You know, these two guys who are sitting up here? They’re not defined by one game. These guys played great for us all year. They’re great competitors. They were great leaders on this team. They contributed tremendously to the success of this team and we would not be here without them. Both of them take responsibility for the loss but both of them contributed in a lot of ways, in a positive way, to giving us a chance to win and a chance to be here to have an opportunity to win. So I just want to thank them for that and let everyone know how proud I am of these two guys.”
While the sting of losing a national championship game has got to hurt, it would go a long way to have a coach go out of their way to show that kind of appreciation for the effort along the way.
Even though the moment was primarily to help lift the spirits of the players, perhaps there were some young football players watching the interaction that may feel more inclined to want to play for Saban after seeing the compassion he showed Young and Anderson.
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