Seth McLaughlin had a memorable Rose Bowl for all the wrong reasons. The former Alabama center struggled to deliver clean snaps throughout the season, and it became a major issue during the Michigan loss.

McLaughlin is at Ohio State now and on Tuesday made his first public comments about the issue and the reason to transfer. He declined to speak to the media after the Rose Bowl. McLaughlin said he’s snapped the ball since he was 7, and never had issues. He compared it to a basketball point guard not making free throws.

“There’s a lot that goes into it,” McLaughlin said. “Kind of just, once you have a bad one, you kind of start thinking about, ‘OK, I got to get this right.’ I don’t think I was really struggling from a mental standpoint, it was a matter of it just happened. I can’t really explain what was going on and kind of what went into it, but that’s really in the past and I’m looking on moving forward from that.”

With his experience, McLaughlin said he figured it would be second nature.

“It’s just getting the ball back there — you kind of don’t really think about it,” he said. “You kind of just throw the ball back there. With how many reps that you bank, you’ve got thousands and thousands and thousands of reps. Usually it’s just gonna go back there straight.”

McLaughlin said he’s always thrived off of change, and noted that he’s played for 3 different offensive coordinators, 3 different offensive line coaches and 2 strength staffs. Now there will be more change in Columbus. He considers Ohio State one of the great programs in college football, and coming from Alabama, he wanted to go to a place that’s always competing for championships, has great coaching and great development.

Even though McLaughlin has experience, and the Ohio State offensive line has younger players overall, he said he still feels like a freshman while he gets used to the program.

“Once I earn the respect of my teammates, I can continue on in a leadership role,” he said.

As for Alabama fans after the Rose Bowl, McLaughlin took a wide perspective.

“I’ve heard that somebody pats your back, you can’t listen to them,” he said. “If somebody is knocking you down, you can’t listen to them. Because at the end of the day, nobody knows exactly what goes into it, unless they’ve been in that position.”