'They've Experienced It': Visits from Former Players Important to Josh Cuevas

The Alabama tight end doesn't take opportunities to hear from former players lightly.

Josh Cuevas (80) in a game against Florida State. | Alabama Athletics

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— The way Alabama football played in its 31-17 loss to Florida State was a far cry from many of the Crimson Tide's efforts in prior years under Nick Saban. In year two under Kalen DeBoer, the No. 21 Crimson Tide finds its season on the ropes early in part because it sustained the kind of loss that has become unfamiliar to the program.

The much-maligned performance in the opener brought no shortage of attention during and after the fact, and this week, the topic of criticism from former Alabama players to the 2025 Crimson Tide team was brought up. Tight end Josh Cuevas values insight from former players tremendously.

"I do appreciate when former players come in and talk to us. That's something that I don't take with a grain of salt. They've experienced it. They've lived what we've lived. Any experience that I can gain from them, even just by word of mouth, is great," he said on Tuesday.

Cuevas himself hasn't been paying a tremendous amount of attention to the noise surrounding the team outside of that space. Part of that is down to the fact that the redshirt senior hasn't been spending much time on social media.

"It doesn't really bother me," Cuevas said about negative remarks from past players. He had 31 yards and a touchdown on three catches against the Seminoles. "Pretty much in the season, me personally, I'm not really around social media like that."

Some of that criticism was levied by former quarterback AJ McCarron, who won two national titles in a row as the starter and went on to a pro career that spanned roughly a decade. McCarron was in Tallahassee at the game and didn't like what he saw.

"I just didn’t see enough heart from guys on this team," McCarron said on "The Dynasty" podcast. A common refrain since the defeat has been that Alabama simply didn't play hard enough. The players agree.

"Absolutely not. Everybody sees it watching film. Everybody’s not running to the ball. We addressed that at practice today," Wolf linebacker Qua Russaw said during a press conference Tuesday.

Ahead of this weekend's home contest against Louisiana-Monroe, the objective for current Alabama players boils down to displaying an improved, elevated and re-energized effort compared to what was put on display at Doak Campbell Stadium.

"We've got to get better, man. That's it. We've got to get better. We've got to play harder. We know that. We've just got to get better. That's it," senior wide receiver Germie Bernard, who was Alabama's best player in the Florida State game by an appreciable margin, said on Tuesday.