The Alabama Crimson Tide are in rare territory by their standards.
At the season’s halfway mark, Alabama is 5-2 and 2-2 in conference play. Alabama lost two or more conference games just three times in Nick Saban’s 16-year tenure, and each season came after a National Championship victory, softening the blow a bit.
While it seems likely that new head coach Kalen DeBoer will eventually figure things out, Tide fans and national media members have been upset with the coach and team.
This week, however, former Alabama running back and 2015 Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry sent an uplifting message to DeBoer and the team, noting that they’re still Alabama, no matter what anyone says.
“You’re still the same ‘Bama team. Did you have some adversity? Yeah. But that doesn’t define you, it’s about how you overcome it. You’ve gotta have leaders step up, embrace that role more than ever, the team gotta be closer more than they have been to be able to go on this run. Is it going to be hard? Yeah it’s going to be hard. But you’ve gotta embrace that challenge. I still feel like y’all the same ‘Bama team. Y’all gonna play defense, you can score from anywhere on the field, you’ve got everything you need to be a championship caliber team, you just gotta go out there and do it.” Henry said on The Triple Option podcast via On3.
As of now, Alabama has just two matchups left against AP Top 25 teams this season. They face the No. 21 Missouri Tigers in Tuscaloosa this week, then head to Baton Rouge to face the No. 8 LSU Tigers. The Tide then have the Mercer Bears, Oklahoma Sooners, and Auburn Tigers on their schedule. If the team can get back Missouri and LSU, things may turn out just fine in DeBoer’s inaugural season.
[On3]
