Alabama OC Bill O'Brien Rejoins Team in Texas for Cotton Bowl
DALLAS — Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien joined his team in Dallas for the Cotton Bowl on Tuesday morning after spending the weekend isolated due to testing positive for COVID-19.
Both O'Brien and offensive line coach Doug Marrone tested positive for the virus last Wednesday and have since spent their time quarantined in their homes. However, as O'Brien revealed on Tuesday afternoon, both coaches still attended meetings with their players and personnel via Zoom.
“I feel good,” O’Brien told the media on Tuesday afternoon. “Personally, I’m excited to be back. I got in this morning after talking with our trainer Jeff Allen about changes to the SEC protocols and throughout the time I was in Tuscaloosa, I’ve been able to do my job virtually. It’s pretty amazing what technology — you guys probably know more about that than me — but every meeting, every practice I was able to be involved with so it was really, really good back in Tuscaloosa for me.
"Obviously, excited to be here right now.”
Alabama is currently preparing to face Cincinnati in the College Football Playoff Semifinal this weekend. Over the course of the Crimson Tide's first 13 games, the team became known for its solid offense led by Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Bryce Young.
When the news broke of O'Brien's positive COVID test last week, concerns began to grow about the team's ability to practice without O'Brien present. However, Alabama running back Brian Robinson Jr. said that O'Brien's absence did not have much of an impact on the team thanks to modern technology.
“With him not being here, it’s nothing new,” Robinson said. “He’s still doing his job. He’s on the Zoom, he makes sure he coaches the same way with him not being present. It’s more on the players. We have to come out to practice and be prepared to practice hard even with us not having coach present. We know we gotta do everything at a certain pace and a certain speed that he would want us to do it at whether he’s there or not.”
Crimson Tide wide receiver Jameson Williams echoed Robinson's thoughts on the matter.
“We went through practice, you know, other coaches took over his role so it was just, like, the same,” Williams said. “We had a script and everything, but the next day we went through Zoom. He’s on the Zoom, we can hear his voice, he’s drawing up everything, he’s talking to the o-line, receivers — basically going over corrections. So that’s how that was done.”
With O'Brien having rejoined the team, Alabama's offense can now return to normal practices with him on the field. While both players said that things weren't incredibly difficult, having O'Brien in person will no doubt improve his ability to prepare his team for its Cotton Bowl game against the Bearcats.
O'Brien said that the whole virtual coaching process wasn't a new endeavor for him due to his experience with it in the NFL.
“It wasn’t weird only because I’ve had that experience in the National Football League last year,” O’Brien said. “Everything was Zoomed. This has been going on for a couple of years now in our country and I had experience with the Zoom. Really what I think the biggest thing is that coach Saban made everything normal. It was like I was actually there.”
