Nick Saban, Alabama captains address crowd at Walk of Fame ceremony
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban and captains from last year’s Crimson Tide team spoke to a large crowd of fans at Denny Chimes on Saturday as part of the school’s Walk of Fame ceremony, which honors all of its permanent team captains.
Dallas Turner, Malachi Moore and Jalen Milroe – as well as new head coach Kalen DeBoer – joined Saban in the shadow of Denny Chimes before the trio had their cleat and hand prints immortalized on the Quad of Alabama’s campus. For Saban, it was his first time speaking to a crowd in Tuscaloosa since he retired from his longtime coaching post on Jan. 10.
“This is the first time I’ve got to address a group that I’m not the coach, I’m one of you. I’m one of the fans now,” Saban said. “This is a great tradition that we have, the captains of the team have a legacy that withstands the test of time relative to anybody coming back here, their children coming back here someday to see what they’ve been able to accomplish.
“This last year’s team is probably one of the teams that I’m most proud of for the progress that they’ve made. The whole LANK idea of not starting out very well and everybody working so hard to improve. And these three guys had as big an impact on that as anybody with their leadership. The example that they set, they were a person that other players on the team could emulate – their work ethic, their perseverance, how they cared for the other players on the team and made us a team.
“These guys are responsible for that. I can’t thank them enough for their hard work and all that they did to make the team what it was. And you can be proud of the SEC Championship, the playoff that they were able to establish for themselves, and I’m very, very proud of that team and I’m very, very of these guys for all that they did.”
Saban continued, “I’d also like to thank you, the fans, for 17 years of your support, which made the program what it is. When we stepped on this campus 17 years ago and there were 95,000 people at the A-Day Game, that set the tone for what Alabama was gonna become, what this program was gonna become and it was all because of you being a part of the team and the support that you gave us. And I know the players appreciate that more than you know.
“So thank you very much for your support. Thank these guys, thank you for being here today to honor these guys because they certainly deserve it because they did a fantastic job for our team last year as leaders. So thank you very much and Roll Tide.”
Watch all four of their Walk of Fame speeches in the embedded video at the top of the page.
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