Nick Saban updates Alabama’s injuries for Sugar Bowl against Clemson
Alabama’s defense has been banged up throughout the latter half of the season, and while the Crimson Tide will have a few players back for the Sugar Bowl against Clemson, they will also be without some key defenders.
Linebackers Dylan Moses, Hootie Jones and Shaun Dion Hamilton will not play against the Tigers.
Moses was injured during a practice for the Sugar Bowl. He has played in 11 of Alabama’s 12 games and started the final two of the regular season.
Jones played in all 12 games this season, with 11 starts, before being injured against Auburn. Hamilton started the first nine games of the year before suffering a fractured kneecap against LSU.
With that said, Alabama does have some linebackers getting healthy at the right time, including Columbia native Christian Miller.
“We do have Mack Wilson, and a couple outside linebackers, Christian Miller and Terrell Lewis, that have been able to practice and come back and play,” Saban said. “We’ve had a significant number of injuries on defense, some are back and we’ve lost some other guys.”
MUTUAL RESPECT
Clemson and Alabama will meet in the College Football Playoff for the third time in three years on Monday.
The two teams split the previous two matchups and have a lot of respect for each other. Tigers coach Dabo Swinney has joked that he is ready to face a different team, but Alabama cornerback Minkah Fitzpatrick said he is not tired of facing the Tigers.
“No, that means we’re in a good place if we’re seeing them, so no, I’m not tired of them,” Fitzpatrick said. “They’re a great team, so, you know, as a competitor I love playing other great teams, because I want to get myself better, I’m getting them better, and there’s a challenge every single time we play them.”
LOOKING BACK
It has been 25 years since Dabo Swinney played in the Sugar Bowl as a member of Alabama’s team.
Clemson’s coach reflected on that trip and previous trips to New Orleans minutes after the Tigers arrived at the airport.
“We’re staying in the same hotel, practicing at the same site. It was just funny. My mom gave me a picture — we were home for Christmas — and she gave me a picture. I was in the street tap dancing with a tap dancer and a bunch of people gathered around when I was 10,” Swinney said. “You don’t have those pictures anymore but it was like something out of a box … I guess it was the ’80 Sugar Bowl, ’79 season. So that was my first time to ever experience anything like that and came back here 10 years later as a player at Alabama, as a freshman against Miami in ’89 and then again in ’92 when we won it all. But I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to the beignets. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
This story was originally published December 27, 2017 at 7:51 PM with the headline "Nick Saban updates Alabama’s injuries for Sugar Bowl against Clemson."