Photos and Video from Alabama Football's First Cotton Bowl Practice in Dallas

The Crimson Tide conducted a full-pad practice inside AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Joey Blackwell | Dec 27, 2021

ARLINGTON, Texas — Indoors and on the field at AT&T Stadium, No. 1 Alabama football conducted its first practice of the week ahead of its matchup with No. 4 Cincinnati in the 2021 Cotton Bowl.

The players sported full pads and helmets in the session. Despite the temperatures hovering in the high 70s outside, the indoor atmosphere was quite cooler thanks to the roof being closed at the stadium.

On Sunday, Alabama head coach Nick Saban spoke with the media about the process of preparing for big games like the Cotton Bowl and the College Football Playoff.

"Yeah, when you're in the playoffs, it's all about what's happening now," Saban said. "It's what's in front of you right now. This is one of those, you know, you either win or go home type situations, and I think players need to understand that.

"This is a great opportunity for our team. They worked hard all year. I appreciate the effort, the adversity that they overcame, the things that they needed to do to get here, but you didn't, you know, come this far to get this far. So now is the time that you have to realize that, you know, we have to be the best we can be as coaches and every player needs to do the best they can to create the habits that will help them be the best player when the game comes.

"And they're playing against a very good team, a well‑coached team, and a team that's undefeated and had a tremendous amount of success all season long. So, it's not going to be easy. It will be a real battle, and, you know, our players have to prepare themselves the right way for that."

Gallery: Alabama Football Practice - Dec. 27, 2021

Photos courtesy of Alabama Athletics

Published Dec 27, 2021

JOEY BLACKWELL

Joey Blackwell is an award-winning journalist and assistant editor for BamaCentral and has covered the Crimson Tide since 2018. He primarily covers Alabama football, men's basketball and baseball, but also covers a wide variety of other sports. Joey earned his bachelor's degree in History from Birmingham-Southern College in 2014 before graduating summa cum laude from the University of Alabama in 2020 with a degree in News Media. He has also been featured in a variety of college football magazines, including Lindy's Sports and BamaTime.