Captain Tyler Booker had to think a second how to answer the question.

How will he remember the 2024 Alabama football season?

“It was a tough one,” Booker said to begin his answer.

The Crimson Tide finished 9-4. It had highs like beating Georgia at home and LSU on the road to go with lows such as losing to Oklahoma late in the regular season and to Michigan 19-13 in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Tuesday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

“I am very appreciative for the season,” Booker said. “I won’t forget it. I know it didn’t go the way that we wanted, but I feel like everybody is going to grow from it.”

Alabama didn’t make the College Football Playoff and failed to win 10 games for the first time since 2007. It also didn’t win the SEC. All of those things were among the Crimson Tide’s goals going into the season.

“There’s a lot of could’ve and what ifs,” defensive tackle Tim Keenan III said. “We have been inconsistent in certain areas and we need to do a better job with that. I’m glad that we did overcome the things we overcame. We just have to do a better job with that.”

Inconsistency marred Alabama’s season. It’s what cost it a playoff spot and even the ReliaQuest Bowl. The Crimson Tide flashed the ability to compete with the best. But it also showed an inability to always play at a high level no matter the opponent.

Still, Alabama can’t go back and change that. The season’s done. So multiple players expressed a grateful big-picture look at the season to go with their frustration about shortcomings and losses.

“For all of us, we had short and long-term goals,” quarterback Jalen Milroe said. “One thing that is certain is the commitment level and that we stayed grounded throughout the whole process. That is what I take away more than anything: How much I love being around the guys that we had in the locker room and the coaching staff, everything involved with it.”

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.