Just a Minute:Three Things Alabama Fans Should be Thankful For
In the spirit of Thanksgiving this week, Austin and Katie each provide three things Alabama fans should be thankful for.
Transcript
00:00 Welcome into Bama Central's Just a Minute. We have a little holiday edition
00:04 on this Tuesday with Thanksgiving coming up on this Thursday. So in the spirit of
00:09 Thanksgiving, Austin, we're gonna give the people three things that they should
00:13 be thankful for this holiday season, this Alabama football season, this Alabama
00:18 athletics season, however you want to look at it. What's your first thing that
00:22 Alabama fans should be thankful for right now?
00:24 Alright, this first one's an assumption. So if this ends up not being the case and
00:28 things take a turn that we don't expect, then I'm sorry. But first thing we're
00:32 gonna be thankful for is Jalen Milrow coming back next year. You know,
00:37 obviously you came into this year with a new quarterback. You didn't really know
00:39 what to expect. You didn't know who it was gonna be. You know who it is now.
00:42 He's had a great end of the season here. He's even in Heisman races now. And next
00:47 year, from everything we should probably know, he's probably gonna be back. And
00:52 for that, you should be thankful because you'll have a quarterback that's got a
00:54 lot of experience and will really be in the front seat for the Heisman Trophy
00:58 next year.
00:59 Yeah, I like it. My first one was in a similar vein that Alabama fans should just be thankful
01:04 for Jalen Milrow's development this season. And in turn, the whole team, Saban has said
01:09 that him growing more confident and comfortable has spread to the whole team. We obviously
01:14 all saw what happened in week two against Texas, and we're still kind of seeing the
01:17 repercussions of that now for Alabama in the CFP rankings. But week two and week three
01:21 weren't pretty for Alabama, but here they are at 10-1 heading into the Iron Bowl. And
01:25 a big part of that is because of Jalen Milrow's development, the way Tommy Reese has started
01:28 game planning for him more in the offense as a whole. But that's my first thing. Second
01:34 on my list, switching up from football a little bit, is the way Natos has Alabama basketball
01:40 rolling. They're off to a 4-0 start. Now, the tough part of their schedule begins this
01:45 week. So we'll really kind of see what this team is made of. And they have a pretty brutal
01:48 December, when I do the basketball ranking story, and I see you got Creighton in the
01:52 top 10, Purdue in the top 10. You got a player's zone. It's going to be a tough schedule coming
01:56 up. But it looks like, once again, he's got this program in a spot where if you're somebody
02:02 that grew up watching Alabama basketball, you can really only dream of having this type
02:05 of consistency of being a tournament team year in and year out, and possibly more on
02:11 the line. So that's my second one. Austin, what about you?
02:14 Yeah, I've got the coordinators down. Tommy Reese and Kevin Steele. Nick Saban was put
02:18 behind the eight ball a little bit this year, not only at quarterback, like we mentioned
02:21 before, but at the coordinators. I mean, he lost both of them, and he replaced them. And
02:25 at first, things were not going so great. Fans, you guys were not very happy. But now
02:30 you look up and you see Tommy Reese is a semifinalist for the Broyles Award. You see what Kevin
02:34 Steele's done with that defense. The coaching has gotten a lot better this year, I think.
02:39 And I think they're two of the biggest reasons for that. So be thankful for Tommy Reese and
02:42 Kevin Steele. Not sure you would have said that a few months ago.
02:46 Yeah, and that's a good one. It was funny listening to Saban talk about Tommy Reese
02:51 yesterday. Obviously, they nominated him, so they think he's done a good job. My third
02:56 and final reason the Alabama fans should be thankful this week, not only is it Thanksgiving
03:00 week, but it's also the Iron Bowl. So you should be thankful that Auburn is six and
03:04 five because Nick Saban historically cannot beat eight win or more Auburn teams. And so
03:10 this is not guaranteeing an Iron Bowl victory, especially not in Jordan Hare. Austin's going
03:13 to have more on that coming this week. But it should give you a little more confidence,
03:19 a little more comfortability that the Auburn Tigers don't have eight wins this year in
03:24 year one under Hugh Freeze. And so it's a sign of good things heading into the Iron
03:29 Bowl, even in Jordan Hare.
03:31 Yeah, and this last one, it kind of puts a bow on all this stuff. Alabama is playing
03:35 meaningful football in late November. And if you just real quick, close your eyes and
03:40 go back to September 16th. And remember what happened in Tampa a week after losing the
03:45 way you did against Texas on your home field. I don't think many people would have thought
03:48 that this would be the case that you would be 10 and one sitting here going to Auburn
03:52 with a chance to play for an SEC championship the week after. So be thankful that you get
03:56 to watch these games, these games that mean something. If you're an Auburn fan, obviously
04:01 this game means something to them too. But not everybody thought that not everybody watching
04:06 this thought that this team would be where they are right now, back in September, and
04:09 they are so be thankful for that.
04:11 Yeah, I remember us in that press box, joking that we might be back in that Tampa press
04:17 box for a bowl game of that level instead of you know, now Alabama is in the playoff
04:22 hunt. And it all continues this weekend in Auburn. If they don't win that game, they're
04:26 out. It doesn't necessarily mean they're in they still need some help. But Austin and
04:32 I along with the bare minstrel crew will be down in Auburn this weekend covering the Iron
04:36 Bowl, of course. But that'll wrap up today's just a minute. Have a very happy Thanksgiving,
04:41 everyone.
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