NEW ORLEANS — They rolled in here Saturday afternoon, on the back end of a wet week and soggy slop, of overcast skies and weather warnings.
It's nothing new, really. Heavy rain fronts come and go, and the city in the fishbowl floods.
This New Year will mark 10 years since the lad from the Seventh Ward was forced from his home, since many areas of this iconic gulf city were destroyed by the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. Ten years since April Justin told her then 10-year-old son Landon Collins that she had a bad feeling about this particular storm, a sense that this wasn't one they could ride out like all those before.
"I love New Orleans," Collins says now. "It will always be home to me."
If there's one thing Collins learned from Hurricane Katrina, one thing that has shaped who he is for the past decade and how he has developed into a two-time All-American safety at Alabama, it's the value perseverance.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS: Alabama vs. Ohio State, Sugar Bowl, 8:30 p.m. ET Jan. 1 | Oregon vs. Florida State, Rose Bowl, 5 p.m. ET Jan. 1 | The Linemakers: Early favorites set in semfinal games
It's not what happens; it's how you respond to what happens.
When you're forced to live with 20 others in a three-bedroom apartment, packed and stacked in bunk beds, in another state because there's no city to return to.
When you've decided to take the most important step of your young life as a senior in high school, and your mother, the one person you hold dearest and closest to your heart, despises your decision because you've turned your back on home-state school LSU.
When you arrive at Alabama as a five-star defensive back, and the transition isn't exactly what everyone said it would be and you struggle to play to your massive potential.
When you're standing on the sidelines two years later and, in a flash of a moment, your bitter rival steals everything with the greatest ending in the history of sports.
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When this season begins and Alabama being Alabama isn't so much a given after all, and the defense — the foundation of the monster Tide coach Nick Saban has built in Tuscaloosa — is a huge question.
"I wouldn't look back on (Katrina) as a nightmare; I look back on it as something I had to experience and overcome," Collins said. "The same thing as the team persevering. That's what we did as a family: We overcame."
When you really think about it, this Alabama team shouldn't be where it is today: the No.1 seed in the first College Football Playoff and the favorite to win the whole thing. It has nothing to do with what has stolen headlines all season (the offense under Lane Kiffin and first-year quarterback Blake Sims), and everything to do with what made headlines since Saban left the NFL for Alabama in 2007.
This defense isn't nearly as talented or dominant as some of the units Saban has had over the past eight seasons. In fact, only the first defense in 2007 was less equipped to control games.
This unit has one surefire first round NFL pick (Collins) and a bunch of complementary players who do just enough to keep the Tide in games until the offense makes its move. And sometimes, it doesn't look good.
Case in point: the Auburn game, a game the Tide desperately needed to stay in the CFP race. Five minutes into the third quarter, Alabama was down 12 and watching numerous deep balls thrown over coverage and turning into big plays. The Tide then gave up three measly points until a late Auburn touchdown with 20 seconds to play.
Or the SEC Championship Game, when Missouri closed to eight points down with four minutes to play in the third quarter because the Tide secondary kept giving up (again) numerous deep balls. The Tigers didn't score the final 19 minutes of the game in an eventual blowout.
"We were exposed in the Auburn game," Tide defensive coordinator Kirby Smart said. "But this defense is different, they're so resilient. They're not going to get down, they just keep playing when bad things happen."
They persevere. Just like the 10-year-old boy forced to live in Mississippi when his home in Louisiana was under water. You may not think it's the same thing, but to someone who has lived both sides of it, real life and sports most certainly interact and become one when faced with adversity.
Graduation and early entries to the NFL Draft gut your experience and depth, and you just move on. You don't rush the passer or cover in the secondary like you once did, and you just readjust.
"There are no excuses around here, I can tell you that," Alabama linebacker Trey DePriest said. "If we're not successful as a defense, it's on us — no one else."
That's what makes the transformation, the perseverance this fall, so rewarding. As unsteady as it has looked at times, this defense has become no less reliable than all of those great Saban defenses of the past.
As Alabama prepares for Ohio State in Thursday's national semifinal, the Tide defense has — statistically, at least — caught up to its history. They're fourth in the nation in scoring defense, and 11th in total defense — and the best defense remaining among the four semifinalists.
"We knew things were going to be different on defense this year, but every defense has its personality," Collins said. "We grew up together because we fought together, we persevered together."
It's not what happens. It's how you respond in the face of the storm.