Everything Nick Saban Said in His Final Press Conference Ahead of Utah State
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama head football coach Nick Saban is slated to host his final press conference ahead of the 2022 season on Wednesday night.
Saban will field questions from reporters at the Naylor Stone Media Room following the Crimson Tide's practice. Alabama continues its preparations for its season opener, which is slated for a 6:30 p.m. CT kickoff against Utah State on Saturday.
Keep refreshing the page for live updates from Saban's press conference as well as video and a full transcript once the conference has concluded.
Live Updates
- Saban's press conference is slated to start at 6 p.m. CT.
- The press conference has started. Saban said that the reason that the season opener will be at Bryant-Denny Stadium is because of a change in the program's approach. Home-and-homes are now the priority compared to opening at neutral sites.
- Saban says that he's not going to give an injury update every week. He said there's no timetable for when the current injured players are going to return.
- "This team does a great job of stunting and pressuring," Saban said of Utah State's defense.
- "I think our guys are anxious and ready to go."
- Regarding Bryce Young's comfort level, Saban said that his chemistry with the new receivers combined with a year of experience under his belt has been the primary contributing factors.
Nick Saban Transcript - Aug. 31, 2022
On how special it is to start the season in Bryant-Denny Stadium...
"Well you know, we always played neutral site games in the past because of scheduling issues and it was a great experience for fans for a long time and we always were able to get a really good opponent to play. But we kinda changed philosophies and tried to get home-and-home games so we could play really good opponents home and away. We think that Utah State is a good opponent and it's great to always play at home. I know the players look forward to it. I think one of the things you gotta realize about playing at home is it's not about playing at home — it's not the crowd, it's not anybody else that's gonna help you play good — it's still about what you do, how you need to play, how you need to go out there and execute.
"So I know the players are always excited about playing in Bryant-Denny Stadium — we're always excited about it — and hopefully this game helps us see where we are so that we can make the improvements we need to make throughout the season to be the best team we can be."
On the team's injuries and where they stand...
"No different. I'm not going to give an injury report in here every week, OK? When those guys are ready to play, we'll let you know. So they all had significant injuries, some of them are practicing in black-shirt jerseys and there's no real timetable for knowing when they're going to return."
On Utah State's defense and its ability to create turnovers...
"I think one of the big things about first games and playing a team like this — this team creates a lot of negative plays. They do a really good job of stunting and pressuring. That's been kind of their forte. They were one of the leading teams in the country last year in tackles for loss and creating negative plays.
"So you gotta be patient, and I think when you get a hat on a hat, you got a really good chance to make plays against them. But that's always the challenge and they've got good players, they play hard, they're physical, they're tough. So I think our guys are anxious and ready to go and see how we go out and execute against what we think is a pretty good defensive team."
On Khyree Jackson's traits at cornerback...
"Well I think we have two guys that have sort of rare length. [Jackson] and Eli both have really rare length to be as athletic as they are, but you gotta use the length to your advantage. You gotta use the length to help you jam people, you gotta use the length to help you bat and swat balls and I think Khyree — both guys — are certainly learning how to do that and trying to do that to their advantage.
"But I think that kind of size is a little unique to the position, but I think there's a lot of bigger receivers now so having guys like that is really kind of a good thing in the long run."
On Bryce Young's comfort in his second year as a starter...
"Well you know, we've got a lot of new receivers and I think the coaches have done a really good job of putting these guys in positions and repping and repping and repping what we're gonna do so that Bryce feels comfortable, that they feel comfortable and the people on the same page relative to the routes that we run, the reads that we make and where the ball is gonna go.
"So I think anytime a player has a year under his belt, he's gonna feel more comfortable. I think he's really comfortable in setting the protections, understanding what the defense is gonna do — recognizing what they're gonna do. I think he gained a lot of experience on that last year. He handled it really well last year, but I think he's even more comfortable with it this year."
