Malachi Moore Will Trash Talk his Own Coach This Week, an Auburn Grad

The No. 8 Alabama Crimson Tide heads to Jordan-Hare Stadium for the season finale on Saturday for the annual rivalry with the Auburn Tigers.

The Alabama defense has served as the Tide's backbone throughout the season, managing the nation's 14th-overall scoring defense through 11 games.

Ironically, both masterminds behind the 2023 Alabama defense have Auburn ties in defensive coordinator Kevin Steele and defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson.

Robinson, who's been on staff since 2022, was promoted from cornerbacks coach to overseeing the whole secondary during this past offseason. He's been credited by Nick Saban as an excellent teacher and someone the players have a great connection to. His only flaw? He played for Auburn from 1999-2002 and graduated from Auburn University in 2007.

One of the Crimson Tide's leaders, Malachi Moore, said he and his teammates will be sure to spice things up with Robinson this week in practice.

"Oh yeah, definitely. That’s definitely coming this week. But yeah, T-Rob, he’s been doing a great job. He never lets us get too high on ourself. He’s always coaching us hard, always telling us that we can do this better or do that better, but he’s also our biggest cheerleader," Moore said on Monday.

"I think the biggest thing that he’s done is he’s helped us learn a lot of offensive concepts, offensive formations, how the offense is going to attack you, getting extra work with our technique, coaching us up on our technique, just being a really good overall coach for us. We enjoy T-Rob a lot, but we’re definitely going to be trash-talking him this week, the whole week."

Robinson was on the Crimson Tide staff last season, so the transformation can't totally be attributed to the former Auburn cornerback. Instead Robinson has helped his new supervisor, Kevin Steele, construct a more aggressive and fundamentally sound defense in 2023.

Steele's ties to Auburn are fairly strong considering he served as defensive coordinator for the Tigers for five seasons and even spent a short spell as interim head coach on The Plains.

"I would say it probably does mean a little bit more. Going back to where he coached at and playing them at their stadium. He’s definitely going to be a little more fired up than he already is," Moore said.

The Crimson Tide is 12th in the nation in sacks this season and is just outside the top 10 in red zone trips allowed this season. Alabama can cap off its strong year with a victory over Auburn, but a strong defensive performance could mean even more than just another good Saturday in the office. For two of the Crimson Tide coaches, it's personal.