Alabama player takes playful jab at Nick Saban over SEC pick

Nick Saban didn't pick Alabama to play for the SEC football championship, so Crimson Tide lineman Tyler Booker threw a little good-natured shade at the former coach.

Alabama Crimson Tide offensive lineman Tyler Booker had some jokes for Nick Saban after the ex-coach's SEC prediction. / Gary Cosby Jr.-USA TODAY Sports

Alabama Crimson Tide offensive lineman Tyler Booker threw a little gentle shade at Nick Saban at SEC Media Days after learning that the ex-head coach predicted that Texas and Georgia would play for the SEC football championship.

"He always said, 'Don't let some guy who lives in his mom's basement determine how you feel,'" Booker said. "So I'm not going to let a guy who plays golf all day determine how I feel."

Golfing is certainly something Saban has been doing plenty of since retiring from Alabama this offseason, but the NCAA-record seven-time national champion head coach has also been taking on other roles as a media analyst, which he will continue when football season starts.

In his role as an SEC Network pundit, Saban projected that it would be the Bulldogs and Longhorns, and not the Crimson Tide, who would meet in Atlanta for the league title.

But he's still holding out hope that his successor, Kalen DeBoer, can put Alabama in position to win.

"I believe in our Alabama team, too," he said. "And I believe in [quarterback] Jalen Milroe. I just think the question marks in the secondary, until those get resolved, it's hard to sort of jump on that bandwagon."

No rat poison for the Tide, as Saban would say.

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