Photos and Video from Alabama Football's First Cotton Bowl Practice
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Under mostly cloudy skies with temperatures hovering in the low-70s on Thursday afternoon, Alabama football conducted its first practice in its initial preparations for the 2021 Cotton Bowl at the Thomas-Drew Practice Fields.
The Crimson Tide sported shells (helmets, shoulder pads and shorts) on its first day back to practice following the conclusion of finals week at the University of Alabama.
Thursday morning also provided a media opportunity for both running back Brian Robinson Jr. and defensive lineman Phidarian Mathis. Now that the team's first practice is behind them, it is now just 15 days until No. 1 Alabama faces No. 4 Cincinnati in the College Football Playoff Semifinal.
Mathis noted that preparing for the College Football Playoff is much different than preparing for a typical game.
"It’s a whole different focus," Mathis said. "We get to spend a lot of time in here and just watch a lot of film and get to prepare without worrying about school. I think that’s a great deal for us."
Now that classes are behind them for the remainder of the season, players can now concentrate solely on football and preparing for their matchup with the Bearcats. Robinson said that now that the distractions of classes are out of the way, it's time to get back to work.
“I think that’s a great opportunity for our team to just focus in on what we got to do, prepare for our next game," Robinson said. "It brings us some life as team, you know just being done with classes and having that off our shoulders for a couple weeks. So that gives a lot of guys who may have been struggling with class or having problems with school, just kind of be able to practice and be ready for the game stress-free, not having to deal with school or anything other than football right now."
Gallery: Alabama Hosts First Cotton Bowl Practice
Photos courtesy of Alabama Athletics
