Two Alabama defensive players echoed the same warning for Thomas Castellanos and FSU

Thomas Castellanos' comments last month certainly made an impression inside the Alabama football facility.

The new Florida State QB said in June that Nick Saban wasn't there to save Alabama anymore, echoing a growing sentiment nationally that the Crimson Tide isn't the same program post-Saban that they were. Alabama's 9-4 season a year ago opened itself up to that now-rampant thought process.

It'll be up to Alabama to change the way people think in 2025. And that starts with Castellanos, who they'll see immediately in the season opener at Doak Campbell in Tallahassee.

Though Castellanos tried to walk back those comments this week when he was at a workout that featured new Alabama WR Isaiah Horton, a Miami transfer, it's too little, too late for the diminutive signal-caller who transferred from Boston College.

Deontae Lawson and Tim Keenan issue a warning to Castellanos and Florida State

Senior defenders Deontae Lawson and Tim Keenan didn't have much to say about Castellanos' comments. But what they did say said it all.

They both echoed the same sentiment: that all disrespect will be addressed.

Lawson and Keenan are two of the leaders of this year's team, and it's clear that they are echoing the sentiment of the entire locker room. Nothing more really needs to be said. Alabama will see Castellanos and Florida State in six weeks in Tallahassee, and they will address it with their play on the field.

Alabama continues to live by the mentality this offseason of being about action, and not about talk. Alabama wants to be about it, and the only way to be about it is to live that principle. They aren't going to get into a war of words with opposing players. Everything will get settled soon enough.

It's a throwback mentality for some of Nick Saban's best teams and nastiest defenses in Tuscaloosa. There's a viral, NSFW clip of former Alabama DL Damion Square talking about that mentality about a decade ago. He says, and I'm paraphrasing, "they talk (junk) because they're scared. We ain't talking no (junk). We're going in their house, we're blowing that (place) up, and we're going home."

That's the goal for Alabama when they play Florida State in the opener. It's about sending a message, not just to Florida State, but to the rest of the country, that rumors of Alabama's demise were greatly exaggerated.

An annhiliation of the Seminoles on the road to open the year would go a long way in doing just that.