How Alabama is Avoiding the Potential Traps of Being No. 1

The traps placed around the Alabama football facility serve as reminders for the Crimson Tide players heading into the Vanderbilt game.

Alabama defense celebrates with turnover belt / Alabama Athletics

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama director of player development Josh Chapman walked in front of the team on Monday and threw down a bunch of rat traps.

"It's a trap game, y'all."

Various rodent traps were scattered throughout the Alabama football facility like in the locker room, elevators and outside the media room. The Crimson Tide is scheduled to face Vanderbilt on Saturday. Alabama is coming off the biggest win of the season over Georgia and shot up to No. 1 in the AP Poll on Sunday.

"Some teams kinda can relax and be satisfied with that," Alabama captain Malachi Moore said. "We’re not satisfied with anything. We’re excited for this week. It’s a new week and a next opportunity, and there’s money on the floor."

Moore's message to all the young players in the secondary is simple: stay locked in and don't become satisfied. Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack pointed out on Monday how easily success can create complacency.

"We’ve got to do a great job of going from a game that had a lot of attention and a lot of momentum swings and found a way to win to do the same thing over and over again," Wommack said. "Success, if you allow it, will breathe complacency into your program. You have to fight to be able to play to the standard week in and week out. That’s certainly going to be the challenge for us this week."

It's not the first time Alabama's staff has used rat traps to send a signal and avoid a letdown. Last season before the Kentucky game, there were also rat traps laid out to remind the players of a potential trap game.

Alabama center Parker Brailsford doesn't even consider Vanderbilt a trap game. The Commodores are traditionally one of the worst teams in the SEC and finished 2-10 last season, but have shown signs of improvement this season. Vanderbilt beat Virginia Tech in Week 1, and went to overtime on the road against a top-10 Missouri team.

"I think Vanderbilt’s a good team, and we’re just going to get everyone’s best just like always," Brailsford said.

As a program, Alabama is no stranger to being ranked No. 1. The Crimson Tide has held the top spot in the AP Poll more than any other team in history, but this is the first time Alabama has been ranked No. 1 since Oct. 2, 2022. There's always a lot of changes on a roster in a two-year span, but especially with the transfer portal and the coaching transition, there are many players on this year's team who have never experienced the pressure of being No. 1 in the middle of the season.

Brailsford said the team hasn't even really talked about the ranking. Transfer safety Keon Sabb does have experience being on the top-ranked team last season at Michigan, but this Alabama team isn't focused at all on the polls just four games into the season.

"No. 1 for us doesn’t really matter," Sabb said. "As long as we go 1-0, the rankings take care of itself. We don’t really worry about them, just going 1-0 every week.”

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