It recruits athletes from all over the nation, but it means more when someone from the state of Alabama gets an opportunity to play football at the University of Alabama.
Malachi Moore wanted this moment throughout his life. He worked his way through little league and Hewitt-Trussville (Ala.) High School to earn a scholarship offer for the 2020 class. Moore continued a trend that was remarkable in the 17 years under Nick Saban as head coach.
Before the 2023 season, every recruiting class that came through the program at least captured one national championship ring. Some classes got multiple titles, but Saban made sure each class at least graduated with one ring.
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Moore watched marquee players such as Dallas Turner, JC Latham, Kool-Aid McKinstry, and Terrion Arnold — all from Alabama’s 2021 signing class — enter the 2023 NFL Draft without a national championship.
It hurt him to see those guys not leave with a ring, but he also wants another one on his hand.
Four years have passed since Moore watched the confetti fall on him and his teammates as national champions. He saw the Tide lose to Georgia in the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship Game (2021 season), miss the CFP in 2022 after two regular season losses, and fall to Michigan in overtime at the Rose Bowl to finish last year. Moore was voted a permanent team captain by his peers in 2023, but the new coaching staff saw him set a tone in summer workouts that got everyone’s attention.
He has only lost six games in four years, but Moore wants national championships. Alabama has not won one in three years, and the fifth-year player wants to change that. JaMarcus Shephard, Alabama’s wide receivers coach, talked about Moore’s tone-setting moment on Wednesday in an interview via Tide 100.9. He said Moore’s words made him realize he is no longer at Washington, but Alabama.
“We were breaking a huddle and one of our players, Malachi Moore, he was breaking the huddle for the team,” Shephard said.
“And he said, ‘Everybody get in here. Get in here! Hey listen, let me tell you what: I’m tired of losing around here! I’m tired of losing around here!'”
Shephard was wondering where this mentality came from for Moore, especially after Alabama won 12 games last season.
“Honestly, that’s when it really brought it to the forefront and really gave me a sense as to where I was at,” Shephard said.
“In that moment, it really clicked and I said, ‘Yep, we’re at Alabama.'”
The mindset and expectation is different for the Crimson Tide than any other program.
Alabama fans, players, and coaches are motivated to win national championships. Wallace Wade started everything, but Frank Thomas, Paul W. “Bear” Bryant, Eugene Stallings, and Nick Saban kept it going. A season without a national title is considered a let down or a “rebuilding year” to Tide fans. After three years of no national championship, Moore is hungry to get back on top.
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Stephen M. Smith is the senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
