SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: GEORGIA VS ALABAMA

December 4, 2021

DeMarcco Hellams

Alabama Crimson Tide

Mercedes-Benz Stadium

Postgame Press Conference

Alabama 41, Georgia 24

Q. DeMarcco, what did you see on your interception? Can you sort of take me through that play?

DeMARCCO HELLAMS: It was kind of a play action pass, and I saw the tight end coming across. I saw Will. He had good pressure on the quarterback. I knew he had to deliver the ball soon. When the ball's in the air, I feel like it's mine every time.

It was a great job by Will, and I just made a good play on the ball.

Q. Just wanted to talk about the quarterback play of Bryce Young. What did you think about it today? Will Anderson walked off saying, "Give that man the Heisman." What do you think about that?

DeMARCCO HELLAMS: If he doesn't deserve it after this game, I'm not sure. Bryce is Bryce. We see it every day in practice. It wasn't a surprise to us. I'm not sure if it was a surprise to you guys out there, but Bryce is a great player. He approaches every day with a hard hat mentality too get the team better.

He never has his head down. It never feels like he's feeling pressure on himself. He's always cool. So I mean, Bryce is the Heisman winner to me, but that's all I have to say about that. He's a great player, great competitor.

Q. On Jordan's pick six, what was sort of the celebration, the reaction like with that? At that point, it was sort of putting the game close to out of reach.

DeMARCCO HELLAMS: Jordan's interception, he's a leader for this defense. He's a leader on this team. I always told him in big time games, big time players make big time plays. Jordan know we needed a play, and he made the play, and he did a great job of finishing in the end zone.

Q. How much did you guys sort of utilize the chip on your shoulder this week? I know that Coach Saban was a little extra fired up just about being an underdog and all that.

DeMARCCO HELLAMS: I know to the outside world, we're an underdog, but to the guys in this locker room, the guys who coach in this program, we never feel like the underdog. We never feel like we're approaching the game, expecting to lose. We come out every game expecting to go 1-0.

So we just took that as a sign of disrespect for everyone who doubted us, everyone who doubted this defense, everyone who doubted this offense. We came out to make a statement today.

Q. The offensive line, I feel like, got a lot of doubt too, just sort of after a rough week last week. How impressed were you by them and what they were able to do against as good a defensive front as Georgia has?

DeMARCCO HELLAMS: Georgia had a great defensive front. They have a great defense. I was extremely proud of our O-line. I saw how they approached this week in practice, approached every day with a hard hat mentality. At the end of the day, the game has to be played. The media can't play the game for you. The game has to be played.

The O-line, they did a great job today protecting Bryce and creating holes for the runners. And it was a great team win today.