Everything Alabama OC Bill O'Brien and DC Pete Golding Said at Fall Media Day
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — On Sunday, Alabama football conducted its annual media day, with head coach Nick Saban speaking to reporters alongside offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien and defensive coordinator Pete Golding.
While Saban meets with the media on a regular basis throughout the year, media day is the only scheduled time that both O'Brien and Golding make public remarks outside of each postseason.
Here is everything O'Brien and Golding said at Alabama football's 2022 media day:
Alabama OC Bill O'Brien
Opening Statement
“Like I said before, very excited to be here, going into my second season. This is proven to be a very special place to coach. Obviously, the coaching staff, led by Coach Saban, the players here, the support staff, everything is top-notch. It’s really been a great experience for me over the last year and a half.
“Offensively, obviously, we have a lot to replace from last year. When you think about the guys that aren’t here anymore, some of those are guys are on to the NFL. But obviously, with Bryce back, that is a very good thing. We have an excellent quarterback. But when you lose guys like Evan Neal and you lose guys like Jameson Williams and John Metchie, you have to find out who can replace those guys. And it’s very early in camp, and we’re finding that out.
“But on a side note, a very important note, I just wanna talk about John Metchie real quick. John Metchie is a very special guy in this program. Coach Saban, myself, Coach Wiggins, we’ve all heard and reached out to John, and we’ve heard from John. John is a very positive guy, and our thoughts and prayers are with John as he deals with what he’s dealing with. Great football player but an even better person.
“Back to football. We have a very solid returning group of core players, some exciting transfers. But we’re only really in Day 3, we’re starting out here. So looking forward to progressing each and every day. These guys are working hard. They practice hard. They practice with spirit and good energy, and it’s an exciting time to be beginning the season as we get going on 2022.”
On his NFL interest, commitment to Alabama…
“I made a commitment to Coach Saban. Those things come up relative to what your role is in different programs, where you’ve been. I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve had various roles in coaching, so obviously, those things come up. But I made a commitment to Coach Saban. I love coaching here. The players, the coaching staff, it’s been – like I said in the opening statement here – it’s been a really good experience. I’ve learned a lot. I’m very appreciative of Coach for giving me this opportunity.”
On Bryce Young’s work ethic, areas of offseason focus…
“He’s very well-prepared. He puts a lot of work into it. He’s a very bright young man. He’s got great poise, in addition to the talent that he has. But he works very hard every single day to try to get better at certain things, whether it’s footwork or pocket presence or learning different protections and what we can do to adjust different things relative to what we’re seeing from a really good defense, working with receivers on timing and things like that. And all the other things that go into the offense, Bryce does a great job. He’s been a joy to coach. He’s the same guy every day. Very consistent guy, good leader, and it’s just been a joy to coach him.”
On the offensive tackle competition…
“We feel like we have a good mixture of veteran players there with some incoming guys or maybe guys that maybe didn’t just get here and have been here for a year. That position takes a lot to develop. Coach Wolford has done a great job in the six months that he’s been here of working with those guys. To get into the specifics of each and every guy and how we’re doing, we’re mixing and matching. It’s early in training camp. All those guys are working hard. They’re tough, they’re athletic. I feel really good about where we are on the offensive line. Eventually, it will shake itself out as we move through camp. Only in Day 3, headed into Day 4 now, so it’s too early to tell. But all those guys are working really hard, and they’re a fun group to coach.”
On what Jermaine Burton and Tyler Harrell add to the offense…
“Those guys have stepped in. With the addition of Ja’Corey Brooks coming back from last year, some of the younger players that have stepped in, it’s a very hard-working group. They’re well-coached by Coach Wiggins. He does a really good job with that group. It’s a group that has – again, kind of like the offensive line – a mixture of veteran players, whether they came from other programs, and also this mixture of young guys that are in that group. So working very hard, early in the training camp. We like the presence that Jermaine Burton has brought to that position. Tyler Harrell, the presence that those guys have brought to that position. But again, just like the offensive line, it will continue to develop over time. We’re early in camp, like I said, and we’ll see how it all shakes out over the next few weeks.”
On the challenge of adding transfers at WR for existing players...
"I think that’s a great question. I think that’s the way of the world in college football. I’ll leave a lot of that to Coach Saban – I’m sure he’s been asked about that. But I think when you think about the portal, you think about the different things, that’s just the way it is. You’re always going to try to do what’s best for your football team, and that’s what Coach Saban always tries to do. So if there’s a guy out there – or two guys out there — that you think can help your football team, and they’re interested in coming here, then that’s something that we’ll always explore. The addition of those guys – they’re hard-working guys, they’re good guys, they’re good teammates. It’s been, to me, at this point a seamless transition."
On the backup QBs...
"Both these guys – Jalen Milroe has been here for a little over a year, and he’s really improved in the offense. He’s improved in his knowledge, it’s very important to him. He prepares behind the scenes. I think the coaching that goes on in that room – not just me, but the other guys in that room – has helped. But also Bryce Young has helped. He does a good job working with Jalen and Ty Simpson. Ty Simpson, just having gotten here in January, is a very bright guy. Young player, inexperienced, obviously, but works very hard and tries to get better every day. I think that’s the key. If you can try to improve every single day, I think that’s what football is all about. It’s an improvement game. Who can get better each and every day and put their best foot forward each and every day. I think that’s what both those guys are doing. It’s been a good group to coach. It’s a good room. We’ve got three walk-ons in there that are doing a good job, so it’s been a fun group to coach."
On a possible change in approach regarding this year's running backs...
"I think that would be the same every single year with different skill guys at all the positions. You have to look at what you have, what their skillsets are how you’re going to use them in the offense. At the running back position, we have a lot of talent there. I feel really good about that position with the addition of Jahmyr Gibbs in the offseason and Jace McClellan and Roydell Williams and Trey Sanders coming back. We have Emmanuel Henderson, who’s been added to the mix there. Very, very good position. Another position that, like, you can really watch every single day. They compete, but they’re very tight-knit. It’s a fun group to coach and there’s talent there. So we have to do a good job of figuring out, like what you asked, what are these guys do well when they’re in the game, what are we going to do with them. But that’s a good problem to have. I think that, again, over time – it will be proven over the next 20 or 25 practices, as we go through training camp, how we’re going to use those guys."
On room for improvement for Bryce Young...
"There’s always room for improvement. I think when you look at last year, we studied a lot of, you know, his play last year, what we did offensively last year. We’ve got some new staff members that have brought in new ideas. We’ve talked to Bryce about these new ideas, in addition to maybe some things we both can improve on. I’m in this offense for a second year. He’s going into his third year in this offense. So hopefully you’ll see improvement just in knowledge of scheme and how to use that scheme against the different defenses we’re going to see. But Bryce is always looking to improve. Every single day he comes in there. He’s somebody that goes out to the practice field and is really striving for perfection every day and that’s a great guy to coach."
On any college changes since Penn State...
"Yeah, I mean, my focus is obviously on my job here and what we have to do as an offensive staff to put the best offense out there that we can possibly put out there.
"But with regards to your question, it has changed a lot. It’s changed for the betterment for the game, I believe in some ways. I believe it’s changed for the betterment of the players. Players are in a spot now where they can achieve a lot of things, not just on the field, but off the field. I think we all kind of saw this coming when we were 10-15 years ago. I think Coach Saban saw this coming. He was on the forefront of it. So here it is. We just deal with it. I think we do a great job here of thinking about it – led by Coach – how we’re going to approach it, because it is what it is. You got to adapt. You got to adapt to the times. I think that’s one thing that I’ve learned a ton from, from him, watching every single day how he adapts to the changing times, not only on the field but off the field, and I think we do a great job of it here."
On the versatility of Jahmyr Gibbs...
“Jahmyr is, you know again, having just arrived here in January learning the system, he’s a very bright guy, he’s a very talented guy in addition to the other guys that are there. So Jace, Roy, Trey Sanders — all of those guys played important roles last year, Jace and Roy before they got injured. Trey late in the year played an important role for us. So the mixture of all of those guys at that position is very, very good. We have to do a good job as a coaching staff — that’s another coach, Coach Gillespie, that does a great job coaching that position — and we have to do a great job of making sure we’re doing things that suit their skillsets because they’re all a little bit different. But that’s, like I said before, that’s really a good thing for our offense.”
On the tight end room with Cameron Latu out...
“I’ll start out by saying Cam — it’s unfortunate what happened to him. But this is a guy that’s just a great guy. He’s in the training room that day working to get back. He’s been in there it almost seems like 12 to 15 hours a day working hard to get back. So he’ll be back at some point.
“I think Robbie Ouzts has really improved. Robbie Ouzts is somebody that’s worked really hard to improve, and then Miles Kitselman the junior college transfer that’s come in, he’s a hard-working guy. He’s getting used to the way we do things here, but I think he’s a guy that is a solid player that can help us. And then there’s a lot of young guys. I don’t want to get into all the young guys, but there are some young guys at that position that we really believe can help us, too. So we’ve got a number of guys at that position that can take up the slack while Cam is out and they just need to keep working hard and improving.”
On why he joined Nick Saban at Alabama...
“You know, it was one of those things where when you get fired in coaching, you find out really right away that maybe you didn’t have as many friends as you thought you did have. And I think when Coach Saban reached out to me and talked to me about this job as they were getting ready for the national championship game, I didn’t feel like — as I talked about it to my wife, Colleen, and our family — I didn’t think it was anything I could pass up. To have the opportunity to work for the great college coach of all time — arguably one of the greatest coaches of any sport — I don’t think you could pass that up. To learn from him, to come into this program and see how he does things, to be an offensive coordinator again with a lot of great players and a great coaching staff, that wasn’t anything that I could pass up. And so we talked about it for about a day and we decided that that was the best decision for our family.”
On how this job has helped him...
“If that’s something that’s down the road for me, again like I said earlier, I’m very focused on trying to improve this offense each and every day and work with the coaching staff to get better. But if I’m fortunate enough to have that opportunity again — and who knows if that will come down the pipe — but if it is, this will be an amazingly invaluable experience for me because you’re able to watch coach every single day work with us as a coaching staff, work with the players, work with the support staff and the process is something that he talks about a lot and you learn about the different processes within the program, and I think that’s something that has been invaluable to me and it’s something that I’ll hold dear to me for the rest of my career, this experience here.”
On hiring former head coaches...
“I did. The first guy that comes to mind is Romeo Crennel. I hired Romeo when I was in Houston. He was a great asset for me at Houston. A great football coach and an even better person. There are probably other guys in there that had some head coaching experience, but Romeo is the one that stands out to me right away.
“What it says about Coach Saban to hire guys that have run programs before is that he is very confident in his own ability. He wants to hire what he believes is the best of the best out there, whatever it is — coaches, support staff around him — and he wants to make sure that he’s doing everything he can to help the players get better. And I think that when you see his track record of who he’s hired here — he’s had some great staffs here — and he’s very confident in what he does, his process, and obviously that’s been proven through time and it’s been for me great to be a part of it.”
Alabama DC Pete Golding
Opening Statement
“Obviously excited to see you guys again. Don’t get to do this a lot.
“Our guys obviously have been working extremely hard this summer. A little different about college football now, those two hours you get to work with them in June and July are huge going into camp.
“First time going in — this is year five for me — we’ve got leadership at every level of the defense. We’ve got old guys obviously up front in D.J. Dale, [Justin] Eboigbe, and Byron Young. Understand the system, understand the expectations. Provide leadership in that group. Obviously we have Henry back in the inside room after a year experience in our system, the process here. We’ve got (Jaylen) Moody that’s been here, obviously, in year five. Got game experience and more importantly knows the expectations and is hungry to earn that starting position.
“And in the back end with [Jordan] Battle coming back and Demarcco Hellams coming back they know how to practice and what it’s going to take. This is the first time in five years at every level you’ve got experience coming back.
“In addition to that obviously we’ve added in some new players, whether it be transfers or freshmen. It’s our responsibility to bring those guys along. I think after the summer they understand what it takes to compete here. Obviously from a defensive standpoint, the terminology, what’s it going to take, and not make mental errors on Saturdays, which is most important.
“I like where we’re at, I think the leadership is where it needs to be, but we’ve got to continue to develop the bottom of the roster, these young guys.
"It’s a new year. I think the guys that are in that room, the D.J. Dales, the Will Andersons, the Henry To’o To’os, I think they remember the last 15 minutes of football they played, all right, and that’s not how we wanted it to be. The bottom line, we didn’t get it done when we needed to. We couldn’t stop the run when we needed to. I think that’s still in their guts. When they come to work every day we want them to remember that feeling just as we remember that feeling and that’s up to us how we practice as a team so we prepare the right way so we don’t feel that again.”
On Jaheim Oatis' weight loss...
“Jaheim obviously he is from Mississippi so I recruited Jaheim. To see his transformation over a four-year period. Jaheim first came to camp here out of eighth grade and got an offer out of eighth grade. Obviously we could see on his tape out of his high school career that he could be really special. You could see a lot of plays where he took a play off and that can get you beat. Looking back, he’s always been a great kid. When he expected to come to Alabama he knew what it was going to take, he knew it was going to be hard. He could have gone to a lot of places where he wouldn’t be asked to do what he would be asked to do here. His knew weight was the biggest thing we had to focus on, and that ended up being one of the biggest [reasons for his] decision to come here was the nutrition with Miss Amy (Bragg), the strength and conditioning , to develop him and get him down to where he needed to be to play good, winning football. And he’s been an unbelievable guy with that, so I’m excited about him.”
On the defensive line...
“I think collectively as a unit, they know what to do, I think it’s important to them, I think they’re playing hard. Obviously, the biggest thing up front is you can’t make your own play. I think sometimes at every level we have guys who press, that want to make plays and instead of doing your job and that’s when explosions occur when we’re not in our gaps, our rush integrity is not right, we get a scramble and create an explosive. I think we’re better as a unit. Coach (Freddie) Roach does a good job of that. We expect good things.”
On potential competition at inside linebacker...
“Henry [To’oTo’o] had a good year. You’ve got good leadership there at the right position. At the Will spot, based on what you’re in, the 3-4 or 4-2 based on what you’re seeing, you’ve got [Jaylen] Moody that’s got experience in the system, you’ve got Deontae Lawson who obviously had a good spring, had a good summer, is having a good fall camp. I think there’s a push right there right now. And then you add young players to that with a Jihaad Campbell and I think Ian Jackson is preparing the right way, practicing hard. We’re moving some guys around and getting those guys to complete and that’s what fall camp is for. Once we come out of camp we’ll see who that guy is.”
On the outside linebackers...
“If you have one elite pass rusher, people can plan for him and chip him and do certain things. When you have two, I think that’s an exciting thing. I think most importantly, you have to be able to stop the run on base downs to get them in obvious passing downs to let these guys rush and do what they do best. But I think the depth at that position is what’s unique. You talk about Will and you talk about Dallas, which Will had a great year and Dallas toward the end of the year really started coming on but Chris Braswell has been very strong. Heavy handed, good pass rusher. We have a lot of depth at that position to where we have to do a lot as coaches to get our best players on the field and what package allows those players to stay on the field regardless of the down and distance and regardless of the personnel you’re going against. I think it’s going to be critical for those guys to be on the field for us to be at our best.”
On Will Anderson Jr.'s work ethic...
“That’s what different about Will than a lot of people. Will has always been that way. He came in hungry, preparing the right way and I think coach uses this term ‘relentless discontent.’ That’s who Will is. So regardless of what individual accolade he gets and all the praise he gets from you guys and all that, it doesn’t change who Will is. Will shows up every day with the same mindset. ‘I’m going to outwork everybody else. I am going to prepare harder than everybody else and I’m going to improve my craft.’ So I don’t have to put expectations on Will. He has his own. He’s the hardest on himself. He’s different from everybody else. He doesn’t let the noise get to him. He’s trying to be the best football player he can be and he’s trying to bring people with him. And that’s a daily job for him that he looks forward to.”
On the dynamics of adding transfers...
“So normally when you take a transfer, you’re saying hey there’s an immediate need at the position or you’d normally go younger and have time develop it. So they’re going to come in and that room is going to think they’re coming in to do what? He’s coming to compete, for competition. But I also think you have to have the right people in the room already, I’m talking from a character standpoint that like to compete and want that. They want someone to bring out the best in them so I think the group that we have in that defensive back room are humble and hardworking guys who aren’t egotistical. ‘Hey coach you can bring in any guy you want, I know I’m going to have to compete. I know I’m going to have to be my best.’ We want the best guy, whoever it is in this room, to play so we can be our best to win the football game.
"Now, from the transfer’s standpoint, I think it’s who is the guy. You have to know who you’re bringing in from a character standpoint because if he comes in and he’s not the guy and doesn’t have a good moral compass and doesn’t have high character, you can have issues. Now, what does that do to your locker room? What does that do to your position group? The ones we brought in, first and foremost, they have to be the right kind of people and secondly they have to be able to help impact our team in some way so I think with all the transfers we’ve brought in, they have both.”
On the interior pressure of the defensive line...
“I think obviously it’s early. We just put pads on yesterday. I think between Burroughs, Jamil Burroughs, I think he has some twitch in there. Byron (Young) obviously. We need DJ [Dale] in there. DJ has been an every down player for us right now. Knows what to do and gives great effort. Believe it or not, I think Jahiem [Oatis] has got a lot more wiggle than you guys think he’s got. So he’s a guy internally that if you leave one guy on him, good luck. But we’ll package that. Jah-Marien Latham, we have a lot of guys who would normally be five-techniques in a 4-2 system that when you get to third down, you bump them inside to the three-techniques and get those guys one on one. I think it doesn’t matter. On third down, if you’re going to rush four guys, who are your four best pass rushers. I don’t give a shit if you call him outside linebackers or d-line or inside linebackers, let’s get the best four guys to rush and put them where you need to put them and that’s what we’re going to have to do.”
On the defense's leadership...
“I think it’s huge. Every good team that I’ve been around is player run. Obviously in everything we do, here’s the expectation and here’s the standard but if the people under you aren’t upholding that or pushing the people around them too, you’re not going to get what you want. So I think it’s huge that it’s spread on both sides of the ball. I think a lot of times you see certain teams where it's loaded on one side — I’m not saying from a talent standpoint — I’m saying from a leadership standpoint, one side slips. I think this is a unique team where we have leadership in the right spots on both sides of the ball that is important to them. They do it the right way and they bring people to them. So yeah it has to come inside out and not always top down.”
On his offseason DUI charge...
"Anytime you're in a leadership role in anything you do, you've got a responsibility. Every day we talk to our kids about making good decisions, that there are consequences for making bad decisions. And I made a very poor decision that affected a lot of other people than just myself. And it was selfish. And it opened up a lot of emotions for a lot of people, because people can be affected by making that decision. And I was wrong, and I've got to suffer the consequences for it. And I've done a lot of things in my life, obviously, to adjust what I do to become a better person for it, as a father, a husband and a coach. When I told the team, I met with them that next day. I said 'Look, man, I can tell you anything I want, but I've got to show you.' To provide that leadership and get the trust back from the team, that I've made a mistake, I've learned from it, and move on."
On this season's cornerbacks...
"From a game experience standpoint, Khyree [Jackson] comes back with game experience from last year. Kool-Aid had game experience from last year. You bring in a guy that had SEC game experience in Eli Ricks, then we've got some younger guys that have been here at least a year. Terrion Arnold is really flashing. Every day, those guys have got to come in and compete. That's what this camp is about. We're going to get through this camp, we're going to find the best two corners. It's not who's listed at right corner, who's listed at left corner, we're moving that around daily. We're giving them all an opportunity to compete against the best guys, and see who can cover our ones. I think every day, that is a battle that we're moving around to see who comes out on top. I think there are five guys right now that are pushing to see who's the best, and we try to find a way to rotate the others."
On Jaylen Moody...
"I think the biggest thing, he knows this, is consistency. There are always flashes that you'll be able to see and say 'Hey, there it is,' but then you come back the next day and the inability to be able to stack it, and then the next day, it's like 'No, that's not it, that's going to get us beat.' Whether it's on the field or whether it's off the field. It's consistency in the decision-making process, and a preparation. And once he's out there, play fast.
"We've seen more of that, but we've got to get the pads on and put him in a live environment once we have the scrimmages, and really evaluate it to make sure we've got the best guy at that spot."
Regarding his job of recruiting...
"I say 'I work with the greatest coach of all-time at the University of Alabama, what the hell is wrong with you?' No, obviously, recruiting has changed a little bit over the years. When I was in Division II and I-AA, it was about 'Hey, who has the best relationship? Who is willing to outwork everybody else? Who is the guy that's going to help them make a decision, and why can we do it better than anybody else. It's still like that for some guys. But for most, let's be honest, it's not. At that point, all they want to know is 'What is in it for me?' You get to learn under the leadership of the best coach to ever do it, here is the strength and conditioning aspect of how we can make you better. Now you're using more of 'What do I have to enhance their experience as a student-athlete for them to get what they want, and that's the NFL. And the process, however you need to use the University of Alabama's brand, Nick Saban, to market your name, image and likeness to allow you to make more money while you're enrolled as a student-athlete. I think the University of Alabama, and more importantly Nick Saban, allows young people to do that better here than anywhere else. I think if you've got a good product in anything you do, that's easier to sell. You've still got to develop a relationship, you've still got to identify it right, and give them what they need. That's a piece of it. I know who I am, regardless of who it is. They're either going to like that or they don't. It's my responsibility to find the information for them. Hopefully we have better stuff than everybody else and they make the best decision for them."
On the defense's roster on paper...
"I don't look at all that. I come in every day 'How can we improve today?' When I normally leave this building at night, I feel like we're about to get our ass whooped. It's just normally that type of day. And it's coming back the next day with 'How can we take more steps?' We're fortunate to have some good players. They've still got to prepare the right way, practice their butt off, so we can get it on Saturday. But we've had great players here in the past, so it's buying in, doing the right thing, competing every day, pulling people with you, and let's see what happens."
