Tyler Booker Statement on Transition and DeBoer

"Give it to the spring, and think about your legacy. I've been blessed enough to be starting since my freshman year, and now to be considered a leader on the team in a time of transition like this... that's my legacy. I dont think a dollar amount could buy my legacy away from here."

"I feel like the best way to go about this is to embrace the change,” offensive lineman Tyler Booker said.

“Coach DeBoer has already made a great first impression,” Booker said. “The people who have entered the portal really didn't give him a shot. They probably already had their mind made up that they were going to leave. In my mind you've got to give it until the spring. You gotta give the guy a shot. I feel like (Director of Athletics Greg) Byrne made the right hire. I'm very excited to see how successful we are with him.”

“Coach DeBoer, he's come in and he's brought a lot of new energy, a lot of young energy and I think he's gonna do a great job with the program. He’s definitely a player's coach. He listens to our opinions and what we have to say and what we think on certain aspects of the team. For him just coming in and allowing us to voice our opinion, allowing us to have input on certain things and allowing us to tell him the traditions that we like, and the traditions of Alabama, since he essentially doesn't know anything about the university. Coach Saban had his way of doing things that worked for 17 years. So yeah, it’s great to have a coach like DeBoer where you can build a relationship with him, and we’re definitely off on the right foot.”

“As people get to know Coach DeBoer, they're gonna realize that he's very different than Coach Saban,” Booker said. “But that's a good thing. It wouldn't be helpful to him or us if he came in here trying to be Coach Saban. What we told him is, ‘Coach, just be you.’ He's been nothing but that since he's been here, and it's very different. So we're all just embracing it. From the moment I met Coach DeBoer you can just feel the energy and excitement that he has. You can see how great of a leader of men he is. I can see that in just the few hours I've known him. He said he's big on relationships and that he wants to have a relationship with us.”

He’s already met with the leadership council. In that meeting it was clear that DeBoer is open to a melding of what’s special at Alabama and what he’s done for years in his experience as a head coach.

“What I took away is that he's very receptive to change,” Booker said. “He's very open to it, but at the same time he's gonna stay true to himself. Like he's going to adapt and adopt some of the traditions and cultures that we have here, but he's also going to bring his own that made Washington successful, that's made him successful to this point that allowed him to be so successful to be offered his job. He's very open to change and I feel like if other people are as well we can have a great thing going on here. That's why I'm so excited to stay and give it my all.”

LINK

Booker has been one of my favorites ever since watching his recruitment. Fantastic young man.