Nick Saban Expects to Return to Sideline For LSU Game

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama will likely have its leader back on the sidelines when it takes on LSU this Saturday at 7 p.m (CT) inside Tiger Stadium.

"I'm feeling fine, so you don't need to worry about me," coach Nick Saban said on Monday via Zoom to reporters. "And just to make it clear, I'll be evaluated by the medical staff later in the week and they'll make a determination as to when I come back.

"But I don't anticipate any problems in being able to coach the game this week."

Saban tested positive for COVID-19 last Wednesday, forcing him to miss the Iron Bowl, and, per the SEC protocol, he must be in quarantine for 10 days. The tenth day of his mandated-quarantine will be this coming up Friday.

Offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian filled in for Saban nicely, but Crimson Tide safety Jordan Battle knows how big of a boost his presence will be for the team as a whole.

"Of course it will be big, I mean it’s Nick Saban," Battle said. "Everybody knows that. It wouldn’t change things too much. As you saw, we didn’t have Coach last week and we still stayed the course. Coach [Pete] Golding did a great job with us. Our positional coaches, Coach [Charles] Kelly, Coach [Karl] Scott, they all did a great job keeping us focused.”

Meanwhile, Saban is still leading practice and team meetings from his house, beginning prep on the Tigers, who just lost a road game to Texas A&M, 20-7.

"Obviously we're getting together today and going to watch some film and going to do walk-through type practice today to try to get started on LSU, who is a very, very talented team," Saban said. "These guys have looked exceptionally good at times this year. They're very capable. They have lots of good players on both sides of the ball. Very explosive on offense. Have very good receivers. A couple of good running backs.

"I know they've done some rebuilding with their team this year because of how many players they lost from last year's national championship team. But these guys really played well last week at Texas A&M. Their defense has really played better and better as the season has worn on."