ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY PRUDENTIAL: ALABAMA VS INDIANA

December 29, 2025

Josh Cuevas

Alabama Crimson Tide

Press Conference

Q. Josh, what does it mean to come back home to California, represent Latinos at the Rose Bowl?

JOSH CUEVAS: It means everything. This is one of the games that you kind of grow up, being in L.A., playing in the Rose Bowl, "The Granddaddy of Them All."

The two places I really wanted to play was the Coliseum and the Rose Bowl. I fulfilled the Coliseum two years ago. And now it's just the Rose Bowl. It means the world to me. I have a lot of family coming, and looking forward to seeing all of them and getting back in my hometown.

Q. How excited are your parents? What have the conversations been like? What have they told you about how excited they are that you're back home for this huge game?

JOSH CUEVAS: They're super ecstatic. They've been calling family across the country, back in Mexico. They've just been nonstop talking about it -- come see Josh play, come see Josh play, this and that.

We were talking about it even two weeks ago after, immediately after we beat Oklahoma in that first-round game, everybody was already preparing flights and stuff to get over here. So they've been talking about it nonstop.

Q. How many tickets did your family get for this game?

JOSH CUEVAS: As of right now I have about seven that I'm pushing out there. But it's not something I'm handling. I'm telling my mom, here, you've got seven tickets, you can divide them how you want to, but that's all I've got for you.

Q. What does it mean to represent the Mexican community out here in a game so big, so massive, national stage, playoff game?

JOSH CUEVAS: It means everything. There's so many kids like me growing up just kind of looking for those kind of public figures and kind of in the sports realm, especially in football, there's not very many Latinos in kind of like the football realm.

But as little kids, growing up, you're kind of looking for those kind of public figures to base your game off of and even seeing if you even have a chance of getting to the next level.

I'm just so grateful I can be that for a little kid here and there. And even for some of my family, little cousins, they'll call me, ask me questions all the time, hey, what do I need to do to get recruited, this and that. I'm all ears for them and here's, like, a resource.

Q. Josh, you were able to come back in the last game. How much healthier are you now than even two weeks ago in Norman?

JOSH CUEVAS: I'm feeling great. Shout-out to our training staff, they're the best of the best. I legit broke my foot in the middle of the season, came back the same season. That's a tribute to them, and, I mean, I'm ready to go for this game.

And given that we've had a little bit of extra time to prepare, a little bit of extra time for guys to heal up, it's going to be even better.

Q. When you had that injury, was there any doubt in your mind you wanted to come back at some point this season?

JOSH CUEVAS: Absolutely not. If there's a will, there's a way. Once they told me that it's not something that's surgical or not something that's super serious or long term, I said, let's get to rehab and rehab it hard.

Q. Going back to your days at Cal Poly and someone tells you you'll be playing in the Rose Bowl in your hometown, what would you say?

JOSH CUEVAS: You're ridiculous, get out of my face with that ridiculous nonsense.

But, I mean, when I started my football journey, I mean, I strived to become like the best of the best and get to the top. So I mean, Alabama, for sure, it was kind of a stretch being at Cal Poly, being in the Big Sky Conference, but it's just, not everybody's journey is straight. I had great mentors along the way, and they just told me take it one step at a time and kind of worry about the next day, and I mean, I kind of did that, stacking days, and look where I am, Alabama. Kind of crazy.