Demarcco Hellams addresses added motivation by falling in the AP Poll
The Alabama Crimson Tide dropped in the most recent AP Top 25 Poll from No. 1 in the country to No. 2 following their narrow victory over Texas this weekend. Senior safety Demarcco Hellams was asked if the drop in the ranking would be used as motivation moving forward, and his answer probably didn’t surprise Alabama fans.
“No, self-motivation. We don’t need any motivation here, poll doesn’t matter to us, all that matters to us is going 1-0 every week. It doesn’t matter where you’re ranked until the end of the season so that’s it,” Hellams said.
One of the key’s to Alabama’s historic success under Nick Saban has been avoiding outside noise, which the head coach commonly refers to as ‘rat poison. Heading into the season as the No. 1 team in the polls was also viewed as rat poison according to edge Will Anderson, and it sounds like being leapfrogged by UGA and being No. 2 falls into the same category for the Crimson Tide.
Hellams had a strong performance last week versus Texas, leading the team with 10 total tackles along with a pass breakup and a tackle for loss. Despite his strong showing, the team as a whole had some struggles, as they were penalized 15 times for 100 yards and the offense struggled to get into and maintain a rhythm.
Thankfully for Alabama, some late-game heroics on their final offensive drive of the game led by quarterback Bryce Young and a clutch 33-yard field goal by Will Reichard with 10 seconds left in regulation lifted the Tide in a one-point victory. But they’ll surely need to have some stronger showings this season if they want to return to the top spot of the AP Poll in the future.
Nick Saban uses Notre Dame, Texas A&M as examples for getting more discipline out his team
Alabama head coach Nick Saban and his squad squeaked out a narrow 20-19 over Texas this weekend after entering the game as 21-point favorites. Other 20-plus point favorites, Texas A&M and Notre Dame, weren’t so lucky this weekend and lost in upset defeats. Saban spoke on being a heavy favorite going into games, and the importance of preparation and playing at a high level regardless of the opponent.
“What does it mean to be favored by 21 points?” Saban asked. “Well, there were two teams that I know of, maybe more I don’t know of, that were favored by about the same amount that actually got beat. So I guess it doesn’t mean anything, and that’s why we have to play the games, so it’s important for players to learn that they have to focus and prepare for every team and every opponent so that they can go out there and play to the best of their ability. Because sometimes even when you win, you can lose.”
Saban elaborated on how accountability is a key in these situations, and how it is on the shoulders of his coaching staff and his players so be successful moving forward and learn from their last game and the losses of other top teams in the nation.
“So the challenge for us is from top to bottom in the organization is to hold each other accountable to make sure that we’re putting the players in the best position to have a chance to be successful. But we’re also teaching them fundamentally what they need to do to be able to have success, but then they have to be accountable to challenge themselves every day to be able to do it. So that’s kind of some of the things that I think we can learn from a game like this,” Saban said.