QB Joe Burrow on Donald Trump attending Alabama-LSU: 'The president at the game is pretty cool'
President Donald Trump plans to attend the marquee game of the college football season when No. 1 Alabama hosts No. 2 LSU on Saturday in Tuscaloosa. And Tigers quarterback Joe Burrow has zero issues with that.
"Regardless of your political views, that's pretty cool, having the president at your game," Burrow told reporters Monday. "It doesn't matter whether you're a Democrat or a Republican. The president at the game is pretty cool."
Preparations have already been made for the president's arrival, with gates at Bryant-Denny Stadium opening at 11:30 a.m. — three hours before kickoff — and fans being encouraged to arrive in advance of the start time to account for increased security screening measures.
Fans who attended Game 5 of the World Series experienced similar heightened security and booed Trump as he watched the contest between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros on Oct. 27. That began a string of sports-related public appearances by the president; he attended UFC 244 in New York last Saturday and hosted the Nationals for a White House celebration Monday.
More:President Trump says UFC reception was 'like walking into a Trump Rally'
Opinion:Nationals swing and miss with partisan play at White House celebration
'Just trying to have some fun':Nationals' Kurt Suzuki explains wearing MAGA hat at White House visit
During the national championship game between the Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama in January 2018, Trump stood on the field for the national anthem before leaving at halftime.
A Heisman frontrunner, Burrow has catalyzed an offensive revolution in Baton Rouge this season. The 6-foot-4 signal caller has completed 78.8 percent of his passes for 2,805 yards with 30 touchdowns and four interceptions.
Burrow transferred from Ohio State last year, and he's now had firsthand experience in two of college football's most intense rivalries — Ohio State-Michigan and LSU-Alabama. As for which is the better conflict?
"It's hard to answer that when you're in the middle of both of them," he said. "I think that's a question for me in two years when I look back and reflect on it."