Alabama visits Donald Trump at the White House
Alabama made the trip to the White House on Tuesday to celebrate its National Championship Game win over Georgia.
The team gathered on the lawn of the White House as both President Donald Trump and Nick Saban made remarks. Trump attended the game and walked onto the field for the national anthem.
The president remarked that Alabama’s players were going to be “very rich” as he took to the podium and noted that he was at the game when talking about Alabama’s comeback from a second-half deficit.
“I was watching, I said coach, not looking too good,” Trump said.
He then recognized players like QB Jalen Hurts, WR Calvin Ridley and OL Bradley Bozeman, who proposed to his girlfriend on the field after the game. Trump then went on to note Alabama’s game-winning touchdown pass from backup QB Tua Tagovailoa — who Trump simply called “Tua” — to WR Devonta Smith.
“On the very next play, Tua dropped back to pass, launched a ball from near midfield — I was watching — and the entire country watched as arms lifted up and Devonta Smith caught that ball for the win. And that was an amazing win.”
Trump had left the game at halftime and flew back to Washington D.C. in the second half. According to a pool reporter, he did not stay on Air Force One to watch overtime.
We landed at Andrews just as Alabama missed the game winning field goal. Trump is not staying on the plane to watch overtime.
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) January 9, 2018
Trump also made sure to note that he won Alabama decisively in the 2016 presidential election.
Saban spoke after Trump’s remarks and then the team’s captains gave Trump a No. 17 jersey with his name on the back. The coach also said he called some recruits from the White House, which is truly a power move. “Hey kid, you want to be here with me sometime in the future? You should sign with us.”
Nick Saban tells me he called recruits from the White House.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) April 10, 2018
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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