After a disappointing two-loss season and missing the College Football Playoffs, many college football analysts and media personalities are sharing their doubts about Nick Saban and the Alabama football team. While Saban coaches his players to avoid the “rat poison” from the media, it’s evident that some players are listening to it and are not happy about what they are saying.
A fired-up JC Latham in particular let the media know how he felt about the doubts and even made some predictions at SEC Media Days on Wednesday.
“Disrespectful," Latham said. "I don’t appreciate that at all. Understanding that I know this group, we’re going to win it all. We’re gonna win the national championship, undefeated, Joe Moore [Trophy], and I want that Outland [Trophy]. Just use every day like a stepping stone, and everybody’s improving. We’ve got leaders who play on that team, and we’ve got a great spirit to the team, so we know what we are capable of doing.”
The Joe Moore Trophy which Latham referenced is given to the nation’s best offensive line. The award was created back in 2015 with the Crimson Tide winning it that year as well as in 2020. Since winning the award in 2020, the Alabama offensive line has been very average, something very uncharacteristic under a Nick Saban-coached team. At times, the unit has been criticized by the media when the offensive line was unable to get any push for the run game. Latham seems to think that things are going to change for the offensive line unit this season.
“We’re going to shock the world,” Latham responded when the SEC Network’s Peter Burns asked about this year’s unit. “I think we’re a really physical group. We’ve got guys who are committed to being great, guys who are committed to giving great effort every single day and understanding what we have to do to be great because obviously, we lost Bryce Young and Will Anderson. We know that losing those two guys, everyone has to step up and do their job.”
At the end of the week, Latham and the Crimson Tide are expected to get even more bulletin board material after the votes are tallied to determine which team the media has chosen to win the SEC. Alabama has been the pick the past seven seasons, but with Georgia coming off back-to-back national championships, the Bulldogs are expected to be the media’s pick adding more “fuel to the fire,” according to Latham.
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