What They Said After Alabama's Win Over Florida in the SEC Championship Game

Here's a sampling of what was said after Alabama's victory in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday night.

Alabama coach Nick Saban

Really proud of our team for the way they competed in the game. I think I'm really proud of our team for the way they competed all year long. This has been a year of lots of disruptions, a lot of abnormal things happening. The resiliency that our team has shown throughout the season to win 11 games is pretty phenomenal. I think it speaks to the togetherness on the team, everybody sort of buying in, trying to do the things they needed to do to contribute to the team.

The game tonight was we found a way to win. I knew it was going to be a tough matchup with Florida because of No. 84 and No. 1 are really good players, tough guys to cover. They certainly hurt us. We couldn't get the stops on defense on third down that we needed to to get off the field. They ended up scoring a lot of points.

I have to give our offense a lot of credit. They answered the bell pretty consistently in the game, over 600 yards, Smitty had 15 catches, Najee scored five touchdowns, had 178 yards rushing, caught five passes. These guys were pretty phenomenal all year. They certainly delivered tonight when we needed them to.

This is a great team win. Really, really proud of our players. I really love this team. What we've had to kind of go through all season long, to me this is great for our fans, great for the state of Alabama. We're just excited.

I think winning the SEC is really, really a significant thing to me, always has been. I certainly appreciate the coaches and everybody who contributed to developing and helping this team have success this year. Our coaching staff did a phenomenal job. We have a great support staff, as well.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. What is the latest on Landon Dickerson?

NICK SABAN: He has a knee injury. We don't know the extent of it. We'll do an MRI tomorrow and find out. It's pretty serious, I think, but we don't know for sure how serious.

Q. You talked about all the challenges that this year presented for your team. Some of your guys haven't been home. What does that say about the maturity and unselfishness of your team? How much of a pleasure has it been for you to coach them?

NICK SABAN: I think that unselfishness and everybody trying to contribute in a positive way, whatever their role is, has really been heartfelt to me. That's why I enjoy this team so much. I've enjoyed this team all year long.

We found a way to win. I think the relentless sort of competitive spirit that this team has is something that you don't really make or develop. It's just the kind of people that they are. We're really, really pleased and happy that they're going to get rewarded for this. They accomplished something significant that they'll remember the rest of their life.

I mean, you win the SEC championship, you came back 25 years later and show your kids, I was on that team. You can also show them the ring you get for doing it. So I'm very, very happy this team is going to get that kind of positive reinforcement for their efforts this year.

Q. What does it say with the Florida team, coming out in the second half, really pushing back?

NICK SABAN: I fully expected that is exactly what would happen in the game. These guys have too much talent on their team on offense, with their quarterback who does a fabulous job. They have a really good receiving corps. 84 and 1 are really serious mismatch players. Both guys had phenomenal games tonight. Then when we do get them guarded, you get pass interference because they're so big, it's just hard to play.

So I can't say enough good things about their team. They certainly showed a lot of competitive character to come back in the game, keep fighting to get back in the game, give themselves a chance to win.

They were an on-side kick away from having a chance to win.

Q. Time of possession, you really controlled the pace. I know for Florida it was really fast. Was that the game plan coming in, to try to slow them down?

NICK SABAN: We wanted to control the tempo of the game on offense. We knew time of possession would be really, really important. They have a good offense. We have a good offense.

I knew that if we were going to have a chance to win this game, we were going to have to really control the ball on offense, control the tempo of the game, and score points. Even when Florida has lost two games this year, they scored points. 38 and 34 or whatever.

You have to know when you come in to play these guys that you're going to have to score points to win.

Q. We saw the team rally behind Landon. What does that say about the team and what he means to these guys as a player and person?

NICK SABAN: I think he's probably one of the most popular guys on our team. He has great leadership qualities. His impact can affect guys in a positive way. He's got a great personality. I don't know anybody on our team that doesn't really like him.

I think that was demonstrated by how everybody reacted to him getting injured.

Q. Did Najee come to Alabama with those receiving skills?

NICK SABAN: Najee is a really good receiver. He always has been a really good receiver. I think he's worked really hard to fine tune his game as a receiver, learn how to run routes out of the backfield, option routes, different things to get open.

I think he's gotten very, very good at that kind of stuff. I think our coaches have done a good job of helping him.

Q. The play that John made, forcing the fumble, getting the ball back to your offense, talk about his competitive character?

NICK SABAN: That was a great play, no doubt. I mean, not a great play for us, for them to get an interception. But for guys to keep hustling. We do every day for the first five minutes of practice, we do maybe eight or nine different sort of take-care-of-the-ball-type drills.

He's always on the other end of that. We do circle chase, we do midline, we do stumble bum, stiff arm. He knows exactly what the defensive players are trying to do to get the ball out because we do it every day.

He's the other guy, all right? Tonight he had a chance to strip it out. I'm sure that those experiences of working every day against the defensive players, trying to get it out on him, was where he got the idea of how to get it out.

But it was a big play in the game. We were down in the red zone. When you turn it over down there, it's a double whammy lots of times. So to get the ball back was really important. Then to be able to score was huge because we stayed two scores ahead in the game until the end of the game. That was critical against a good Florida offensive team.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you.

NICK SABAN: I'd like to thank everybody. You guys have done a really good job of promoting our players this year, giving them a lot of positive self-gratification for their efforts. I know they appreciate it. We certainly appreciate it from a program and team standpoint.

You are kind of the conduit to the public in terms of the players, the teams. I think the interest you create is really significant, and appreciate it. Thank you.

Alabama running back Najee Harris

Q. Najee, you're the all-time leading rusher at Alabama. What does that mean to you?

NAJEE HARRIS: I mean, it's an honor to be in that position. But I can't thank the line enough for really making this happen for me. I know my name is going to be on there. But just for the O-line to come and make those holes, really I feel like they should be on the all-time leading rusher, somewhere up there, too.

Q. Do you think you made a statement tonight that maybe you should deserve to be in the Heisman conversation?

NAJEE HARRIS: I ain't worried about that. I feel like the two guys we got up there right now is good enough.

Q. Your coaches always told me you were a great receiver. Now you hold the single season record for runningbacks. Is that one of the reasons you came back to show everybody you can catch the ball?

NAJEE HARRIS: No, man. What? I've been catching the ball since birth. What are you talking about, man? People don't expect it because of the runningback name. The slogan is, Can he catch? I've been catching the ball since I was in the fetus position. C'mon now (laughter).

Q. You have a lot of confidence in your receiving skills. Have you ever sort of went to Sark and said, Throw me the ball? Or he just saw your skills...

NAJEE HARRIS: Pass me the ball? No. We always had amazing receivers. Look at who we got now. No point in saying, Throw me the ball. We have all these weapons on the edge. When my position is called, being a passing play or position, I try to make the most of it. I guess that showed up tonight.

Q. Obviously this year is a little different than others. To be wearing the hat has to be awesome. But going through everything you've been through this year, how awesome is it to be wearing 'SEC Champs' on your hat?

NAJEE HARRIS: Like you said, a lot of stuff happened this year with the COVID, of course, all the injustice stuff. A lot of distractions out there, a lot of stuff going on we should take seriously.

Just to have these hats on, it's an honor. At first we didn't know if we were going to play or not. Just, like I said, to have these hats is an honor.

Alabama safety Jordan Battle

Q. Jordan, if you have a Heisman vote, who would you vote for after tonight's game?

JORDAN BATTLE: You say a Heisman vote?

Q. Yes.

JORDAN BATTLE: I say the whole team. But players, I say players that stood out, offense of course Najee, DeVonta Smith, Metchie, Billingsley, the O-line, Mac Jones.

Defensively I feel like we all made a good step forward today. We didn't have a blowout game like we usually do. We had to drop our you-know-what, man up today. It was a tough game. I like how we finished today.

Q. Jordan, Will Anderson was everywhere in this game. Where have you seen him grow as a true edge center?

JORDAN BATTLE: Will Anderson is a great listener, great learner. He comes in every day, hard work. One of the first guys at the facility in practice, goes hard every play, kills the scout guys, like they're one of the other teams. He works hard every day. We love him. He's progressively getting better each game.

Q. On Florida's offense, every time you kind of pulled ahead, it seems like they came back. What does it say about that team, that coach, that quarterback?

JORDAN BATTLE: Hats off to Florida. Great offense. Great quarterback. Great receiver in Toney and great tight end in Pitts, and great receiver in Trevon Grimes. Those guys are tough. They have very good weapons.

Their offense had a great game today. We had to come to compete. Like I said earlier, finish. That's what we did.

Q. What does it mean to you to hear that Nick Saban says he loves this team, this is one of his favorite SEC title wins?

JORDAN BATTLE: That touches our hearts because we don't hear nice things like that from Coach Saban all the time. Usually it's criticism. When we hear things like that, man, it's like a, Wooh, he actually loves us. We love to hear that (smiling).

Q. The team sort of spontaneously came together around Landon when he got put on the cart. What is it about him that endears himself to that reaction?

JORDAN BATTLE: Great leader. He earned our respect a long time ago when he first got here. Speak to us every Thursday in our team meeting. He tells us to keep finishing, keep competing. We finished tonight. He's always on us about finishing. That's what we did.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the hit from Metchie. Did you give him a lot of kudos on the defensive side of the ball?

JORDAN BATTLE: Of course. He might have converted the defensive side of the ball after that hit. That was a great hit, great moment in the game. They caught an interception. Then we turned the momentum right around when Metchie hit him. That was a great turnover by the offense.

Florida coach Dan Mullen

I'm proud of our guys, how we competed tonight. Continued to battle for four quarters. Really not tonight -- proud of our guys for everything they've gone through this season. Go play an 11-game SEC schedule, never been done before. To go through all the adversity we've had to face throughout the year, starting back to the day we were supposed to start spring practice, to get pulled off the field, to all the questions and the doubts all through the summer if there's going to be a season, to starting the season, having to shut it down after three weeks.

Coming back, going through week after week after week not knowing until Friday morning if you're even going to play a game. To show up and compete every single week. I'm really proud of our guys, everything they did, how they held themselves and played at a high level. Never stopped competing till the clock hit zero.

Q. Dan, no such thing as moral victories. What do you take away from just the way the team rallied? What character did you show tonight?

DAN MULLEN: I mean, I thought we showed a lot of character tonight. Like I said, talk about competing as a team. We're always going to compete. We're always going to battle, fight and play for four quarters.

That was an excellent football team we played tonight, a lot of talented players on their team. Give them credit. That's why they're ranked the No. 1 team in the country, deservedly so.

But, I mean, it showed the character that our guys have. They've shown that this entire season, for everything that we've been through.

Q. In terms of the defense, what is your assessment?

DAN MULLEN: I think four of the five were stops, they got first downs on penalties or they got third down penalties early. I think we made some mistakes.

You're coming into this game, there's things you have to do to win. Win the turnover battle. We didn't do that. We made a bunch of mental mistakes that really hurt ourselves defensively in the first half on third down with opportunities to get off the field, we have some penalties to knock it off the field.

Give up that drive at the end of the first half. All that's disappointing, obviously. Our guys continued to battle all the way to the end, right? That stop there at the end, they gritted it up and got the stop, got the offense the ball one more time.

Q. Talk about what you think this game, very emotional game, coming back against the No. 1 team in the country, will do for the trajectory of your program moving forward?

DAN MULLEN: I think our guys, we got some young guys that have been here, they're going to be hungry to get back here. That's the goal, to get here to this game, go compete.

I mean, usually you're looking at every year this game, some of the best teams in the country are playing each other in this game.

To be here was great for our guys. Obviously we want a lot more than just getting here and showing up. That's what we control. Our focus is going to be getting here again next year, then competing, and to win this game.

I think that will help and that will have great focus for us going into the off-season.

Q. On the final touchdown, fantastic catch in the corner, a lot of weapons over the course of the year. Talk about Kyle Pitts, that he possibly might not be coming back next year, what he's done for the program.

DAN MULLEN: I think, you know what, he's shown he's the best tight end in college football. I mean, he's a dynamic play-maker all over the field. You can play him inside, play him outside, a great blocker. I think he's a guy that obviously I think has worked his tail off to put himself in the position he's in.

He's a great young guy. I mean, worked his tail off even to be able to play today. Then come out and had a huge game. I mean, he's a great high-character young guy, great leader in the locker room. He's a tremendous worker. I think his drive shows out there on the field where his performance has gotten to.

Q. After the Kyle Pitts touchdown, take us through the thought process of the timeout.

DAN MULLEN: That was bad clock management on my part. We should have had it ready to go for two. Our thought, though, is we're going for two right there, we're going to try the on-side kick. We're here to win. Would have given us two two-point conversions. If we didn't get the first one, we'd have to get the second one to tie. If we got the first one, all we needed there was an extra point to win the game at the end. That was the thought process to go for two.

That was a bad job by me, we had to use that timeout there. Would have loved to have that timeout and given us an extra 40 seconds of the ball to try to get the and-one touchdown.

Q. You've shown you can get here and that you can hang with Alabama. What is the next step to the program winning this?

DAN MULLEN: We got to get a little better up front on both sides of the ball. Our guys play hard. You look, they're a little more physical I think at the line of scrimmage than we were. We got to get a little bit better up front. Get back here, get another shot at them next year, or whoever is here from the West. I don't want it like you guys all freak out like I just trash talked everybody else on the other side of the league.

I want to get back here, take a shot at whoever comes from the West next year.

Q. Kadarius Toney, another monster game today, the effort he's put out the last two weeks. Is that a representation of the kind of person he is?

DAN MULLEN: Yeah, I mean, he's an awesome, awesome young guy. I mean, came here, you get to know him, he's probably not the easiest person in the world to get to know at first. Once you get to know him, he's a tremendous, unbelievable man.

I mean, his work ethic, his competitive nature, his desire to be great. That shows out there in everything. He's a great route runner, got tremendous hands, has learned to have a great feel for the game on how to get open. You can hand it to him out of the backfield. Heck, he's got an unbelievable arm, could go line him up as quarterback.

He has a very, very bright future ahead of him in the game of football.

Q. What was the mood in the locker room? What was your message to the team?

DAN MULLEN: You know what, I think everybody's extremely disappointed. We wanted to win the game, expected to win the game. A little bit somber. It's probably the last time this team ever plays together. That's a tough deal.

I think there was a lot of guys that really care about each other, have really worked hard to get here to this point. I know there's a great deal of disappointment in the locker room, but there's also a lot of respect for everything that everybody on this team went through and did for this year. There's a lot of love for the guys and the family that this team is.

Q. Will you turn down a bowl game?

DAN MULLEN: I have no idea. We just played this game, so... I know you want to go run with everything, you guys like to blow things way out of proportion and everything. That was really the last time this team will play together, I imagine. Whatever the future holds, I imagine this team as a whole of how it is will be the last one played here. You guys, I know you want to run and make stuff up all the time, so go do that, if you want.

Q. How do you process a loss like this? You have to be drained right now emotionally, physically.

DAN MULLEN: I'll be honest with you, this season has been emotionally draining. Hard to say teams have gone through what we've gone through, right? I think that was our eighth consecutive SEC game. It's amazing the emotional and physical toll that takes on your body for the players.

Coaches, we'll be fine. We'll get back to work tomorrow and get this program headed back in the right direction. Not in the right direction, I think we're headed in the right direction, get this program back to getting on path, try to get here again next year to compete for a championship. I think you guys know that. I say I want to be a great program, a program that competes for championships on a consistent basis. We want to do that.

I do know for our players this season has been a massive emotional and physical tolls. That I'll be honest, I don't know anybody else in the country has been through. I don't know anybody that's played eight consecutive SEC games right now. I don't know anybody that's played eight consecutive conference games.

I'm really proud of our guys for their commitment and desire to battle and fight.

Q. When you're thinking about what you'll do, replaying it, what is going to stand out? What will you replay and focus on?

DAN MULLEN: I mean, there's a lot. Hey, the little mistakes we made during the game, how do we get that stuff fixed. How do I make sure that we're not making the little errors in the game that cost us the game.

Florida quarterback Kyle Trask

Q. Kyle, after the sack and the game is ticking down, what is going through your mind? Seems like you were having a little emotion going on as the game ended.

KYLE TRASK: Yeah, it's just a tough loss. I mean, we worked extremely, extremely hard for this game. We prepare like no other. We were clicking on offense. We were rolling pretty good. We just ran out of time.

We go down to score, we kick the extra point to win the game. If we just had a little bit more time, we're sitting here the SEC champions.

Q. At some point will you sit back and have a chance to look at what you did this year on a personal level?

KYLE TRASK: I mean, probably not today (smiling).

Yeah, my time at Florida has been unreal and special. I've grown so much physically and mentally. So, yeah, I mean, it's just a really tough loss. We worked so hard.

We earned the right to be here. We played our tails off. At the end of the day I got to give credit to Alabama. But I think we just ran out of time.

Q. What was it like to be in the middle of that one? Exciting to watch. What was it like being in the battle?

KYLE TRASK: I mean, you love it. That's why you play football, is to play in games like these. No one in the world gave us a damn chance. We believed in ourselves. The only people that truly have an effect on the game are the people in the building. We worked so hard. Like I said before, we just ran out of time.

Q. Coach made a comment that this is the last time this team will be together. I'm sure he's implying maybe some opt-outs and things. You would want to go through a bowl game together, I would assume? Are you going to bond on that and try to win that last game together?

KYLE TRASK: I mean, yeah. As of right now obviously we don't know what bowl game we're in. I mean, I don't have a whole lot of information regarding, like you said, opt-outs and stuff. I don't know about all that. We'll just have to see in the near future.

Q. What do you think this does for the future of the program, go toe-to-toe with the team that's dominated this league for so long?

KYLE TRASK: Definitely should put some respect on our name. Like I said, no one gave us a chance. We knew we were fully prepared to come out here and win the game.

But, yeah, I mean, this team is going to continue to get back to Atlanta. Hopefully we'll get the victory in the next coming years, hopefully next year.

Q. You talked about being here in 2016, holding onto that, the backpack. You saw what it took to get back here. What will it take to make that next step?

KYLE TRASK: You got to keep your foot on the gas pedal. You get to the game, you can't get complacent, we made it to the SEC championship. You have to keep on taking those jumps and improving. I think Coach Mullen and his staff are going to keep that pressure on. He's going to do just that. We're going to have a great team next year, as well.

Q. You've got an extra year of eligibility because of COVID. Have you considered that at all or do you feel like you're heading to the NFL?

KYLE TRASK: I haven't really thought too much. I'll talk with my coaches and my family, make that decision in the future, the near future.

Q. Moving forward, if you had a message to Heisman Trophy voters, what would be your message to them? What would it mean to you to be a finalist?

KYLE TRASK: I mean, it would mean everything to be a finalist. It's such an honor. Just to have been in the conversation this whole season has been an honor. Basically my message would just be to evaluate the level of play throughout the entire season.

Q. Did you get an explanation from the coaches about the timeout after the touchdown before the two-point conversion? What was the conversation on the sideline?

KYLE TRASK: I'm not exactly sure what was going on. We were just kind of out there on the field, sideline, back on the field. We weren't really sure what the plan was. Coach told us we were going to go for two.

I'm not 100% sure. I believe he just wanted to get a good play called in to get the two-point conversion, then we could get a stop or get an on-side kick, then we could kick the extra point to win the game.

Q. KT, Copeland, I know it hurts tonight, but what will the legacy of this offense be?

KYLE TRASK: I mean, if you look at the big picture, you just think of explosiveness. The amount of explosive plays we had this whole season, with all the guys that you named, it's unreal. I can't even imagine what it's like being a defense and you turn on the tape, we're winning all of our one-on-one matchups, making plays.

Yeah, it's been a pleasure to just have all of these play-makers around me. It really helped me out. It made our offense a lot more efficient.

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