TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Bray Hubbard has had an eventful week.
As the only healthy captain on the team, Hubbard's leadership held an even greater importance in the buildup to Alabama's matchup with Texas A&M. The safety recorded five tackles in the Crimson Tide's 31-20 win over the Aggies that marked a return to form of sorts for the defense, which held Texas A&M to 4-for-12 on third and fourth downs and shut quarterback Marcel Reed down late.
But Hubbard's role as captain meant he had one extra responsibility tonight. He had a birthday celebration to plan for head coach Kalen DeBoer, who turned 52 today and told the team it could do "whatever" it wanted to if Alabama won.
"As soon as I got in the locker room, I was like, I was telling Jeff Allen (athletic trainer), I said, Jeff, I need a, I need a ice bucket full of water, full of ice," Hubbard said. "He was like, 'Alright.' So he gets on his radio, whatever, and he brought me one, and there were there were towels in it to start, and I was like, 'No, y'all got to take the towels out. We can't have towels flying around.'"
The plan was to sneak up on DeBoer and dump ice-water on him, a classic. But nobody had accounted for how much harder it is to sneak up on someone in the confines of a locker room compared to on a field.
"I'm surprised he didn't see it," Hubbard said. "I called Jackson Lloyd over. I was like, 'Jackson, we've got to we got to do this,' and so we grabbed the bucket, and we started walking. And when guys started moving, I was like, 'No, no, no, y'all got to stay.' Like, he can't see this because he's staring dead at us. I was like, 'Can't see us.' And I thought he saw the bucket a couple times. And I was like, 'Keelon, you've got to go around and you've got to try to get his attention on the other side, where he looks away from us, so we can come in.'
Finally, it was time to strike. Hubbard and Lloyd got into range, grabbed the bucket, and the result was a soaked DeBoer.
"I don't even know what happened," Hubbard said. "We just all of a sudden grabbed it and just went, and he turned right into it. And he was completely shocked. He didn't know. I thought he saw the bucket, but he didn't."
DeBoer laughed when asked about the celebration after, saying it was "a cold one." It's hard not to be in high spirits after a birthday victory.
"If you get a win, you can do whatever you want. That's what I said earlier in the week" DeBoer said. "This is really the only birthday gift I was I was wanting, you know, finding a way to get a win tonight. So super proud of these guys."
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