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The Alabama football team survived a major test this past weekend on the road against Texas A&M, and the Crimson Tide improved to 5-1 on the season with the win. After their early season loss to Texas, Alabama has seemed to find their stride a little bit in the past few weeks, and a big reason is because of some improvements on defense. The Crimson Tide are obviously very well-coached as they have one of the best to ever do it, and it is showing with the steps the team has taken in such a short time. One major key to those defensive improvements is Jaylen Key, who transferred to Alabama from UAB.
Jaylen Key has turned out to be a great transfer portal addition for Nick Saban and Alabama football, and Key is loving the experience he's having at his new home.
“It was just about preparing for the next level and finding the best place for me to do that as far as coming somewhere where the staff, the whole building just really accepts you,” Key said according to an article from On3. “Really helps you come in and make it as comfortable as possible, and that’s what really went into everything. … The people are next to none here.”
There's no place like Alabama
Going from UAB to Alabama football is a big change, as the Crimson Tide are consistently one of the best programs in the country. The experience for Key has been special, and it really hit when he first played a game at Bryant-Denny.
“How much it means to play here,” Key continued. “That’s one of the biggest things I would say just coming from UAB to here, you don’t really understand. You kind of see it in the media or you might see it on social media, you kind of see it on the news or whatever. But you don’t really understand how much it means to actually play here until you actually put the jersey on and run out of Bryant-Denny Stadium.”
Another big change from life with UAB is the level of competition. The SEC might be having a little bit of a down year, but there are still a lot of tough games on that Alabama football schedule.
“Every week, you’re going to be going against a good opponent,” Key added. “SEC play is going to be tough. Everybody wants to win. It’s going to be a dog fight. So just going into every week, you’re playing somebody that’s good every week. You have to be mentally prepared to go into that. You have to be mentally prepared to go through practice every week to prepare for those games, which is pretty strenuous. You’ve got to be mentally prepared to get the playbook down for that week, the game plan.”
Jaylen Key has confidence
For some people, it could be daunting going from a group of five school to the SEC, but not for Jaylen Key. He was always confident that he would be just be fine, and he was right.
“I wouldn’t say I had really any doubts about it coming in,” Key said. “Of course, you’ll always be nervous with moving to something new. That’s always something that’s human-like – you’re always going to be nervous. But I kind of already knew that it would work out for me when I did get here. Then it’s just about putting your head down and working.”
Jaylen Key has been a great addition for this team, and the Crimson Tide can go far with him continuing to excel in the secondary week in and week out.
