Alabama in-state 4-Star RB target Kevin Riley announces signing time

Alabama player describes ‘dangerous combination’ posed by Michigan in Rose Bowl

Christmas shopping, the NFL and college basketball were all in full swing this past weekend. But on the practice fields in Tuscaloosa, Alabama players were getting back to work.

After a two-week break following the SEC championship game and amid final exams, the Tide returned to practice Saturday and held another two-hour practice Sunday in full pads. Re-acclimating to football was the priority, but the attention will soon turn to Michigan.

Beating top-ranked Georgia has earned Alabama the right to play the top-ranked Wolverines.

“They’re very technically sound, but along with being technically sound, they’re very athletic and gifted. That’s a very dangerous combination,” guard Tyler Booker said Monday on The Next Round. “They have all the attributes, they have all the ability, but once you add technique with it and you add their high football IQ — it’s going to be a really great challenge for us, and I’m looking forward to going against them.”

Michigan’s defense tops the nation in averaging only 9.5 points per game and ranks second in giving up only 239.2 yards per game. Alabama scored 27 points against a top-10 Georgia defense in the SEC championship game, but schematically the Wolverines pose a different challenge than the Bulldogs.

“They’re really one of a kind, because everybody does something differently,” Booker said. “They’re a really good group and they don’t really look like anybody.”

Five players in Michigan’s front seven made the coaches’ All-Big Ten team, including the Lott IMPACT Trophy winner in linebacker Junior Colson.

“You got to recognize that they’re undefeated, and undefeated for a reason,” Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe said last week on The Next Round. “They play hard and the guys in the box — when I say the guys in the box, I mean the linebackers and the D-linemen are really good. They play hard and do a lot of stunts and stuff like that.

“It’s going to be a challenge for us on offense, but I’m excited about that. I think the biggest thing about this team that I’m proud of is we embrace hard, and that’s something we’re going to have to embrace going into this game.”

Offensively, Michigan landed six players on the All-Big Ten coaches’ first team while ranking 13th in the country in scoring offense (37.6 points per game) this season.

“Probably the best running team we’ve faced all year,” cornerback Terrion Arnold told WJOX earlier this month. “They’re going to come in here, man, and they will try to ground and pound you. Then they’re gonna take their shots. We got to make it a throwing game.

“Which, I love throwing games – can’t lie to you. When the ball is in the air, I feel like it’s our ball. We’ve done a great job on defense of creating takeaways and getting takeaways, and just going out there and establishing the tempo.”

Nick Saban said Michigan will be “a little bit different” than any other opponent Alabama has faced this season.

“Offensively, they use a lot of personnel groups,” Saban said last week on The Pat McAfee Show. “They run the ball very effectively. The quarterback is a really efficient player. They have some really good skill guys. The tight end [Colston Loveland] is a mismatch guy and a little bit like Georgia’s guy [Brock Bowers]. They present a lot of challenges based on formations, motions and movements.”

Alabama will continue practice throughout this week, with Saban holding news conferences Monday and Wednesday — the latter being early national signing day. After a break for Christmas, the Tide will arrive in California next week.

“We’re gonna be in uncharted territory – the Rose Bowl,” Arnold said. “It’s a very sentimental place, and a legendary place. We just have to go out there and be legendary.”