Alabama football’s mindset ‘completely different’ while preparing for Vanderbilt this season

Oct 5, 2024; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide linebacker Deontae Lawson (0) sneaks a peek into the backfield against the Vanderbilt Commodores during the first half at FirstBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

Alabama football is preparing for Vanderbilt with a different mentality this time around after falling to the Commodores 40-35 in 2024.

The Crimson Tide get an opportunity to avenge the upset loss to Vanderbilt at home in a Top 25 matchup on Saturday. Last year’s loss remains in the back of the minds of several Tide players.

“It’s hard to just throw that one out,” Alabama linebacker and captain Deontae Lawson told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s definitely on the back of your mind, but you got to think, we got 30-some new guys on our team and this is a whole new team. Our mindset is completely different than what it was last year. We’re looking forward to this year and it starts in practice, and I feel like we had a great day today, great start to the week.”

Lawson feels Alabama lacked intensity when it prepared for Vanderbilt last season.

The Tide were coming off a major win over Georgia and were ranked as the No. 1 team in the country when they traveled to take on the Commodores on the road in 2024.

“I just feel like how we approached the game, the intensity and practice,”  Lawson said. “I talked about that last year, like the intensity in practice wasn’t there, like it was when we played Georgia, but I definitely feel like the intensity was there today, and we just got to keep building on that. We already have an edge, man. We already have a chip on our shoulder. We don’t need nothing external to motivate us or anything like that. We know it’s on us, and we all we got. We all we need.”

Ty Simpson was not Alabama’s starting quarterback last season when the Tide lost to the Commodores, but he remembers how it felt being a member of the team.

“I wasn’t playing, but I was on the team, and so I felt how it was last year,” Simpson said. “But the mentality in the locker room this week is… we remember what happened last year. What are we gonna do about it? Even though, it’s not about last year, it’s about us. We’re not gonna make the same mistake again. They’re not the same team last year, neither are we. We’re better in some ways. This is a top 25 matchup, College Gameday coming in here. Like, this is a really, really good Vanderbilt team, and if not one of the biggest games of the year. We need to come in with the mentality, like we have been all our all these past couple games, like a chip on our shoulder, and it’s Alabama against the world.”

Alabama get an opportunity to help wipe away what is a stain on the DeBoer era with a win on this weekend.