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I know we are all supposed to hate Saban, Alabama, and any other team that's not UF....but this is an outstanding read.
I didn't really know anything about this kid, except he's a bad motherf*cker on the football field. He says in the letter that he's a military brat and got some tough love from his dad. You can tell from the letter that he has his sh*t together.
Anyhow, if you can have an open mind, this is a great read. I hope we can get our program to this level sooner than later:
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/jonathan-allen-goodbye-alabama-football/
Goodbye, Alabama
FEB 28 2017
PHOTO BY KEVIN LILES/THE PLAYERS' TRIBUNE
JONATHAN ALLEN
TEAM CAPTAIN / ALABAMA
Everyone thinks they know Alabama.
Man — everyone.
It’s like I don’t even have to ask people. I can already tell what they’re thinking.
Here, let me try: It’s a boot camp. It’s a recruiting machine. It’s a football factory. It’s a college team in name only. It’s a “win first, everything else second” mentality. It’s a waiting room for the NFL.
Pretty close, right? And listen … I get it.
I thought that too.
The truth is, I wanted that. When I first arrived in Tuscaloosa as a freshman, all I thought about — all I had been thinking about, since the moment I signed with Alabama — was results. I wanted results. I wanted to be great … and that’s it. I wanted to reach my full potential as a football player … no matter what.
But here’s the thing: I wasn’t thinking beyond the “what.” As an 18-year-old kid, I hadn’t even begun to think about the “how,” or the “why.” I hadn’t begun to consider just how much goes into becoming a professional football player. NFL waiting room? Football factory? I was a little anxious, sure, but for the most part … honestly, that sounded perfect to me at 18.
It just sounds funny to me at 22.
And I think that’s because now — having graduated with my degree in December, and having begun to prepare for the NFL draft in April — I can finally see the whole picture. Now, I can see the full difference, between what’s imagined about Alabama and what’s real:
Everything.
PHOTO BY KEVIN LILES/THE PLAYERS' TRIBUNE
Here’s the “how” and the “why” of Alabama football: We’re in this together.
You probably hear that all the time — but at Bama, I’m telling you, we actually live it.
I’ll never forget this one moment from early on in my freshman year. All of us are sitting there, in the locker room, right after practice, and we’re hyped up on this big debate. I’m talking big — like People’s Court, locker-room style. Everyone is chiming in, saying their piece. No one’s budging. Before long, the whole thing gets pretty heated — and I mean heated in the dumbest and best way. You know, the way that any good locker-room debate tends to.
Want to hear the topic? (O.K., but remember … I told you it was dumb.) The topic was: If you split up the Bama roster between the guys who played in the Army All-American Bowl and the guys who played in the Under Armour All-America Game, who would have the better team?
Think about that for a second. (And yeah, sure, think about how annoying that is.) We’re sitting there, doing a fantasy draft … of our own roster.
I forget who won the argument — probably whichever team had more linemen. But the reason it sticks with me isn’t because of what it says about the talent we had. (Yo: a lot.) It sticks with me because it’s probably the last time that I can ever remember any of us talking about Bama football in individual terms. Matter of fact, that argument may have been the only time. Otherwise, honestly, no one ever really thought about it like that. All of the accolades that had been won by the dudes in our locker room … all of the records that had been set — none of that stuff mattered to us.
It’s hard to explain. But, at some point during that first year at Bama, I just … learned.
I learned that, what we’re trying to accomplish here — it isn’t about those things. You played in an All-Star game? Congratulations. You had coaches around the country falling over themselves to land your commitment? Great. You saw on some website that you’re on NFL radars? I bet you are. But the way that we have success here is by moving past all of that. We don’t dwell on where we’ve been, or worry about where we’re headed. We succeed here by focusing on where we are. And where we are is at Alabama.
Together.
PHOTO BY ROY K. MILLER/ICON SPORTSWIRE
And it’s that togetherness — and how willing guys are, out of the gate, to buy into that group mentality — that usually ends up being the difference at Bama between “making it” and not. Everyone here, and I mean everyone, has the talent to play anywhere. This is a place where high school All-Americas can wind up as backups. Where legit five-star recruits can find themselves playing third-string. And if that sounds crazy, well, for some people, maybe it is. Being totally real: Not everyone is prepared for that when they get here. Some guys, and this is no disrespect, just aren’t ready for that challenge, for a level of football that goes beyond being good enough — and becomes more about being disciplined enough.
Alabama football is about having the discipline to see yourself as part of a bigger picture.
When I look back on why I ended up fitting in so well at Alabama, one thing I always come back to is the idea of how I was raised. I was a military brat, through and through, and I was brought up in a classic “military household.” Adoration? Nah. Man, my father gave us chores. He gave us lessons. He gave us responsibility. That’s just how I grew up.
So when it came time for my recruiting process … I don’t know. There was something about it that I just found myself rejecting on instinct. Something about having total strangers, people who didn’t know me at all, suddenly coming up to me and telling me how great I was, was just never going to appeal to me. It went against everything that I had been raised to value, both in other people and in myself. So I knew I had to keep my recruitment short and sweet — and I ended up only taking one official visit.
I went to see about this school in Tuscaloosa. Pretty good football program.
I didn't really know anything about this kid, except he's a bad motherf*cker on the football field. He says in the letter that he's a military brat and got some tough love from his dad. You can tell from the letter that he has his sh*t together.
Anyhow, if you can have an open mind, this is a great read. I hope we can get our program to this level sooner than later:
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/jonathan-allen-goodbye-alabama-football/
Goodbye, Alabama
FEB 28 2017
PHOTO BY KEVIN LILES/THE PLAYERS' TRIBUNE
TEAM CAPTAIN / ALABAMA
Everyone thinks they know Alabama.
Man — everyone.
It’s like I don’t even have to ask people. I can already tell what they’re thinking.
Here, let me try: It’s a boot camp. It’s a recruiting machine. It’s a football factory. It’s a college team in name only. It’s a “win first, everything else second” mentality. It’s a waiting room for the NFL.
Pretty close, right? And listen … I get it.
I thought that too.
The truth is, I wanted that. When I first arrived in Tuscaloosa as a freshman, all I thought about — all I had been thinking about, since the moment I signed with Alabama — was results. I wanted results. I wanted to be great … and that’s it. I wanted to reach my full potential as a football player … no matter what.
But here’s the thing: I wasn’t thinking beyond the “what.” As an 18-year-old kid, I hadn’t even begun to think about the “how,” or the “why.” I hadn’t begun to consider just how much goes into becoming a professional football player. NFL waiting room? Football factory? I was a little anxious, sure, but for the most part … honestly, that sounded perfect to me at 18.
It just sounds funny to me at 22.
And I think that’s because now — having graduated with my degree in December, and having begun to prepare for the NFL draft in April — I can finally see the whole picture. Now, I can see the full difference, between what’s imagined about Alabama and what’s real:
Everything.
PHOTO BY KEVIN LILES/THE PLAYERS' TRIBUNE
Here’s the “how” and the “why” of Alabama football: We’re in this together.
You probably hear that all the time — but at Bama, I’m telling you, we actually live it.
I’ll never forget this one moment from early on in my freshman year. All of us are sitting there, in the locker room, right after practice, and we’re hyped up on this big debate. I’m talking big — like People’s Court, locker-room style. Everyone is chiming in, saying their piece. No one’s budging. Before long, the whole thing gets pretty heated — and I mean heated in the dumbest and best way. You know, the way that any good locker-room debate tends to.
Want to hear the topic? (O.K., but remember … I told you it was dumb.) The topic was: If you split up the Bama roster between the guys who played in the Army All-American Bowl and the guys who played in the Under Armour All-America Game, who would have the better team?
Think about that for a second. (And yeah, sure, think about how annoying that is.) We’re sitting there, doing a fantasy draft … of our own roster.
I forget who won the argument — probably whichever team had more linemen. But the reason it sticks with me isn’t because of what it says about the talent we had. (Yo: a lot.) It sticks with me because it’s probably the last time that I can ever remember any of us talking about Bama football in individual terms. Matter of fact, that argument may have been the only time. Otherwise, honestly, no one ever really thought about it like that. All of the accolades that had been won by the dudes in our locker room … all of the records that had been set — none of that stuff mattered to us.
It’s hard to explain. But, at some point during that first year at Bama, I just … learned.
I learned that, what we’re trying to accomplish here — it isn’t about those things. You played in an All-Star game? Congratulations. You had coaches around the country falling over themselves to land your commitment? Great. You saw on some website that you’re on NFL radars? I bet you are. But the way that we have success here is by moving past all of that. We don’t dwell on where we’ve been, or worry about where we’re headed. We succeed here by focusing on where we are. And where we are is at Alabama.
Together.
PHOTO BY ROY K. MILLER/ICON SPORTSWIRE
And it’s that togetherness — and how willing guys are, out of the gate, to buy into that group mentality — that usually ends up being the difference at Bama between “making it” and not. Everyone here, and I mean everyone, has the talent to play anywhere. This is a place where high school All-Americas can wind up as backups. Where legit five-star recruits can find themselves playing third-string. And if that sounds crazy, well, for some people, maybe it is. Being totally real: Not everyone is prepared for that when they get here. Some guys, and this is no disrespect, just aren’t ready for that challenge, for a level of football that goes beyond being good enough — and becomes more about being disciplined enough.
Alabama football is about having the discipline to see yourself as part of a bigger picture.
When I look back on why I ended up fitting in so well at Alabama, one thing I always come back to is the idea of how I was raised. I was a military brat, through and through, and I was brought up in a classic “military household.” Adoration? Nah. Man, my father gave us chores. He gave us lessons. He gave us responsibility. That’s just how I grew up.
So when it came time for my recruiting process … I don’t know. There was something about it that I just found myself rejecting on instinct. Something about having total strangers, people who didn’t know me at all, suddenly coming up to me and telling me how great I was, was just never going to appeal to me. It went against everything that I had been raised to value, both in other people and in myself. So I knew I had to keep my recruitment short and sweet — and I ended up only taking one official visit.
I went to see about this school in Tuscaloosa. Pretty good football program.