South Portico
2:04 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Roll Tide! (Applause.) Everybody, have a seat. Have a seat here. It is a great pleasure to welcome the Alabama Crimson Tide to the White House — again. (Applause.) I want to congratulate them on winning their 15th National Championship — and their third in four years. They are starting to learn their way around the White House. (Laughter.) I was thinking about just having some cots for them here, they’re here so often — except we couldn't find any that were big enough. (Laughter.)
Now, before I begin, I want to extend sympathies to the family of Mal Moore, who passed away last month, after a career that spanned six decades as a player, a coach and athletic director at Alabama. Mal did more than just about anybody to make this program what it is today. Our prayers go out to all the members of the Alabama community who knew him and loved him.
Now, last year obviously also had a lot of bright spots for the Crimson Tide. From the beginning of spring practice, the best teams in the country had one goal and that was to try to at least be as good, if not better, than Alabama. But the Tide kept on rising to the occasion and they never let up.
Back in January, with the whole country watching, this team lined up against the number-one ranked, undefeated Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, and dominated from the first possession. At halftime it was 28 to zero. That's when I stopped watching. (Laughter.) When the clock ran out it was 42 to 14. And they left no doubt who was the best team in the country. And after the game, the Notre Dame athletic director said, “They're not just better than us. They're better than everyone.”
And that was no accident. A few days after winning the title last year, Coach Saban was already back to work. And even after losing some pretty big names in the draft last year, he and his terrific coaching team made sure that they did not lose a step.
AJ McCarron showed the kind of poise that very few 22-year-olds possess — passing for more than 2,900 yards and 30 touchdowns on the season. I hear he’s coming back for one more year, because apparently the rest of the SEC defenses haven’t suffered enough. (Laughter.) So he’s going to subject them to a little more pain.
Then there were the seniors, who finished their four years with a combined record of 49 and 5, which I think is pretty good. Barrett Jones ended his career as one of the most decorated football players in Alabama history — even playing in the National Championship game with torn ligaments in his foot. After the game he said, “It was painful,