Nick Saban and Alabama Football Players Stop by Children's Hospital Ahead of Sugar Bowl

By Brian Jones

The Alabama Crimson Tide football team is getting ready to take on Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. But before head coach Nick Saban and his players compete in their final game of the 2022 season, they visited the Children's Hospital in New Orleans and spent nearly an hour with patients, their families, hospital staff and healthcare workers, according to Sports Illustrated. 

Players including Jordan Battle, Jase McClellan, Emil Ekiyor Jr., Brian Branch, Jahmyr Gibbs, Dallas Turner, Ja'Corey Brooks, Kendall Randolph, Henry To'oTo'o, Bryce Young, Will Anderson Jr., DJ Dale, Seth McLaughlin, Darrian Dalcourt, Kool-Aid McKinstry, DeMarcco Hellams and Will Reichard signed autographs, took pictures and played games with the kids. Some of the games that were played were baseball, soccer, basketball, football and even Connect Four. Young, who won the Heisman Trophy last season spent most of the time taking pictures and signing autographs. And Saban got in on the fun as he was seen playing soccer. 

"These kids are great," Battle told Sports Illustrated. "They're inspirations to all of us. It's no better thing than to come out here and spend some time with them after a great practice." The team visited the hospital on Tuesday four days before the team take on Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl at the Cesars Superdome. While the Sugar Bowl is one of the biggest games in college football, playing in that game is a little disappointing for the Crimson Tide because they missed out on playing in the College Football playoff. After reaching the championship game last year, Alabama took a small step back this year, losing to Tennessee and LSU in the regular season. And now Alabama will try to finish the season strong and try to have an 11-win season for the 12th consecutive year. 

"Our team is really excited about having the opportunity to play in the Allstate Sugar Bowl against a really, really good opponent in Kansas State," Saban said when it was announced his team would play in the Sugar Bowl earlier this month. "They've just come off a great win to win their conference. And Coach Chris Klieman has done a fantastic job there with their team, and this is certainly going to be a challenging game for us. They play great on defense. They've got two really good quarterbacks. They've got a really great running back, and there's a lot of diversity in what they do. They're a very well-coached team."

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