Alabama's Leaders Motivated by Rose Bowl Loss to Win National Championship

Tyler Booker wants to win a national title with this year's Crimson Tide team.

Alabama OL Tyler Booker at 2024 SEC Media Days / SEC

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer was intentional with the three players he chose to represent the Crimson Tide at 2024 SEC Media Days. Two of the three, quarterback Jalen Milroe and defensive back Malachi Moore, are returning captains. And the third, offensive lineman Tyler Booker, will likely be voted one of thee permanent team captains at the end of the season.

When Alabama went through the transition between Nick Saban and DeBoer, these three players were the glue that held the team together and have continued to lead the team throughout the spring and summer.

"These guys have just been special from the beginning," DeBoer said Wednesday. "Probably three of the guys that when I really look at it and all the craziness with the transition and coming into the program myself, three of the guys that just never wavered from the beginning.

"They just really believed in themselves. They believed in the program. They believed in our coaching staff as we continue to present and make the hires. But they just really have stayed steady, and because of their leadership, I feel the culture has continued to grow."

For Booker, there's a big reason why he stayed with the Crimson Tide.

"We’re gonna stay here, and we’re going to win a national championship because we haven’t won a national championship yet," Booker said. "Malachi has one from his freshman year, but we want one as our team. We want this to be our team, our national championship. We have the talent in house to be able to do that. We were seven points away from winning a national championship. We can't lose sight of that.”

During Saban's tenure at Alabama, every four-year player won at least one national championship. This year's senior class has not yet won a national championship, with Alabama's last title coming in 2020. At only three full seasons, it is currently the longest stretch between national championships since Saban won his first with the Crimson Tide in 2009.

Alabama upset No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship game last season to secure a spot in the College Football Playoffs before losing to eventual national champion Michigan in the Rose Bowl. The Crimson Tide held a fourth-quarter lead on the Wolverines, but Michigan scored the game-tying touchdown with 1:34 to send the game to overtime.

Michigan got the ball first and scored a touchdown. Alabama was stopped on fourth-and-goal from the 3-yard line on a quarterback sneak, and the Wolverines got to run off the field in celebration as blue and yellow confetti fell in Pasadena.

"We were blessed and fortunate to be in the college playoffs, one game away," Milroe said. "What burn do you need more than being that close to the championship? And so for us, we're passionate about each other and also passionate about achieving short-term goals and long-term goals in this process and we can all reflect from it. We shared the same experience from Coach DeBoer with failing to achieve a national championship so now it's about refocusing and focusing on our spring 2024 football season."

It isn't just the final play of the Michigan loss that has stayed on Booker's mind this offseason, but the entire game.

"The whole Rose Bowl, not just the last play, is fueling us to this year, Booker said. "We understand we fell short, and we were so close to our end goal. We're going to let that drive us this year, but we're not going to dwell on it too long, we're going to look forward to this upcoming season. But the Rose Bowl is something we talk about like whenever you don't feel like working hard, just think, we didn't work hard enough in that game.”