Everything Nick Saban Said on Wednesday Ahead of Texas A&M
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After Texas A&M beat Alabama last season and offseason drama between head coaches Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher, this Saturday's matchup between the Crimson Tide and Aggies has been highly anticipated for months.
While two early-season losses by Texas A&M have detracted some of the original excitement around the game, it is still a big week in Tuscaloosa with the Aggies coming to town and Alabama back at No. 1 in the polls.
Saban is set to speak to the media on Wednesday evening to preview his Crimson Tide's upcoming matchup with the Aggies.
Follow along for live updates throughout the press conference, with a full transcript and video to be posted after.
Live Updates
- Saban's press conference is slated to begin at approx. 6 p.m. CT.
- The press conference has begun. Right off the bat, Saban refers to his postgame comments from Arkansas regarding maintaining intensity.
- "This is going to be a very challenging game for us."
- "I think the players have responded really well," Saban said of players responding to QB Jalen Milroe's leadership on offense.
- Regarding his challenge at the beginning of the season to his offensive line to play more physically, Saban said that he thinks the game against Arkansas is the best they've played all year.
- Saban said that Texas A&M is a good defensive team.
- "These guys have been the most consistent," Saban said of Terrion Arnold and Kool-Aid McKinstry at cornerback. Said the other players are doing well, but the duo of Arnold and McKinstry have done the most to separate themselves.
- Saban noted DL Jaheim Oatis' power and quickness despite his size. Was very happy with his performance at Arkansas.
- The press conference has ended.
Nick Saban Transcript - October 5, 2022
Opening Statement
"I think this time of year, with these kinds of challenges coming up it's so important, and I talked about it last week, about maintaining intensity for the entire game. I think the important thing about that is you have to do it in practice. If you could do it in practice even when you get tired, even when you don't feel like grinding on, it gets easier to do it in the game because you're creating a mindset basically, enough is never enough. You want to keep on working, try to improve and get yourself ready to learn from what you did today and do it again tomorrow so that you can keep making progress. We're playing a very good team this week that has a lot of good players, they're very well coached. This is going to be a very challenging game for us so we're working on it."
On Jalen Milroe 'winning the team'...
"I think the players have responded really well to what he's had to do. What we try to get our guys to do is focus on doing your job and if everybody does their job, we're gonna have a chance to be successful. It doesn't really matter who's in there playing. I got to do my job. And when I get the opportunity to do it, I got to get prepared to do it and go do it well. Sometimes that's harder for guys to do who aren't starters but I think it's a real test to your character if you can do it so you can take advantage of the opportunity when it comes. Which I thought Jalen did a pretty good job of last week and hopefully we can build on that if he has to play this week."
On the physicality of Alabama's offensive line...
"I think in the last game they showed signs of it. They showed signs of it at times throughout the year, I just think your whole body of work is based on consistency and performance. That's what defines success so that's what we gotta keep working on with them and I do think we're making progress and I do think that this last game was probably the best that they've been all year."
Regarding Texas A&M's secondary...
"Their secondary is good. They're big, they're physical. They're very athletic at corner. They're long. They got good size. Tackle well. Antonio is a really, really good player so they move him around some, he plays some different spots. But they've got, they're a good defensive team. A really good defensive team."
On preparing the defensive line to block passes...
"Obviously we work on matching a hand in pass rush all the time. Trying to get guys to do that. We emphasize it. I think it's a batted ball, it's just like defending the guy and knocking the ball off him. It's a very important play and it can create turnovers. I think you do it best when you push the pocket in the middle so you're closer to the quarterback when it happens and you're defending the middle of the field so he can't see. You try to match the hand where he's throwing it and that's where you get batted balls. That's something we emphasize all the time."
How Kool-Aid McKinstry and Terrion Arnold have separates themselves at corner...
“I think both guys have played well. Haven’t given up a lot of big plays. I think that’s the key to the drill: keeping people cut off in the deep part of the field, playing the ball in the deep part of the field. They’ve been good tacklers, they’ve played the ball in the deep part of the field and they play man-to-man fairly well. So those are probably the most critical factors for them to be successful and the other guys are doing fine, too, but these guys have been the most consistent.”
On the skill of Devon Achane...
“Well, it’s hard. First of all, a running back is a mismatch position in the passing game and they do a great job of running them on difficult routes to cover, especially if you’re trying to play man-to-man. He’s very elusive, he’s got great speed and he’s a great returner on kickoff return. If this guy gets in space, he’s got a burst so you gotta do a great job playing team defense against guys like that and try to minimize the opportunities where he gets mismatched on somebody. I think that’s the biggest issue, but the guy’s really, really a good player and a good receiver, good runner — he’s a good all-around player.”
Regarding the progression of Jaheim Oatis...
“Jaheim is a guy that has a lot of power. He’s got pretty good quickness for his size. He’s gotten in a lot better shape so he’s moving better and he did a really good job in the last game of pushing the pocket, being involved in a couple of sacks. But it’s important that you have more than one guy doing it so you don’t get imbalanced in the rush especially if you’re playing against a really athletic quarterback like last week and probably this week. So I think pass rush lanes are important. Guys can push the pocket, know when to turn, speed to power so they don’t get pushed by the quarterback and stay in the lane — all those things are really important and he’s learned to do that more and more effectively all the time.”
