Jonathan Allen made headlines after Alabama crushed Washington in the Peach Bowl when he was reported to have called the Huskies “soft.”
Afterwards, he took to Twitter to defend himself, saying the report was false.
To all the reports saying I called Washington soft that is not true I never said that, at Alabama were taught to win and lose with class
— Jonathan Allen (@jonallen93_) January 1, 2017
I have nothing but the up most respect for Washington and how they came out there and competed today
— Jonathan Allen (@jonallen93_) January 1, 2017
ESPN’s Brett McMurphy is the reporter who circulated the inflammatory comment in the first place. Not surprisingly he responded shortly afterwards with a Tweet of his own.
Your exact quote was: “They were soft. No disrespect, but we could have played better" https://t.co/UqT6hZV7pA
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) January 1, 2017
It’s going to be interesting to see where this goes from here. Alabama’s defense tends to make pretty much every offense it faces look soft, but there is certainly no reason to rub it in after the fact.
As for Allen, he’ll soon be testing his game against the offensive linemen of the NFL, as he’s bound to be a very high selection in the 2017 NFL Draft. There aren’t many “soft” players or teams at that level, so he better be ready.
In the meantime, the Crimson Tide eagerly await the winner of the Fiesta Bowl between Clemson and Ohio State for another chance to bring a championship trophy back to Alabama.