Alabama Athletics
What Nick Saban Said as Alabama Opens Texas A&M Week
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. —Alabama handled business against Ole Miss on Saturday, and Nick Saban improved his record to 24-0 against former assistants with the win against Lane Kiffin.
Now the Crimson Tide turns its attention to a road matchup against Texas A&M that was anticipated to be one of the biggest games of the season but has lost some of its luster after the Aggies lost in back-to-back weeks to Arkansas and Mississippi State.
Saban will address the media on Monday as Alabama begins preparing for Texas A&M.
Nick Saban- October 4, 2021
Opening Statement
"Part of the same thoughts as after the last game. Players played hard in the game, stayed focused. I think the offense did a great job of controlling the tempo of the game, played very well. Offensive line did a really, really good job of controlling the line of scrimmage. Obviously, B-Rob had a great day. Bryce did a good job of taking what the defense would give. I think the defense played hard, got really critical stops at critical times in the game which gave us great field position and set up some scores with the turnover. There’s one thing we probably need to continue to develop is our ability to finish, whether it’s a tackle, whether it’s a block, whether it’s a quarter, whether it’s a game, whether it's, you know, stacking positive performance from play to play, game to game, practice to practice, however you want to put it. I think that would help us be a little bit more consistent.
You’ve got the players of the week. We’re proud of B-Rob for being national player Walter Camp and SEC Player of the Week, and Will Anderson being the Defensive Player of the Week. So always great to see our players get recognized for positive performance.
I think this is a very challenging game that we have coming up against a very good team. These guys have 15 starters coming back from one of the best teams in the country last year. This is a very challenging place to play. Jimbo does a great job getting his team ready to play. He’s a very good offensive play caller. They got a great defensive team. They’re one of the top defensive teams in the country, one of the tops in the SEC in points allowed. 12.5 points a game is really, pretty phenomenal. They’ve got some really good players up front. They’re really good in the secondary. Offensively, they’ve got a great back in [Isaiah] Spiller. Ainias Smith is a really good wide receiver, a very versatile player, punt returner, kickoff returner, can catch and run it, beat you deep, you know, really good player all around. They’ve got a really good tight end, so they’ve got a lot of good players. They’re really good on special teams. They’ve got good team speed. They’ve got really, really good specialists, punter and kicker. This is all around a really, really good team. Maybe the best team we’ve played to this point from a personnel standpoint. This is a game that we’ve really got to get our mind looking forward to the challenge that we have which is going to be pretty significant.
Injury update on running back Jase McClellan
Jase is uh got a knee [injury.] He’ll be out for the year. He’s going to have surgery tomorrow, so he’s out.
On all the different targets on offense, and the strain it can put on opposing defenses
Well I think that it's what we want to do. We’ve got a lot of players that are capable. I think when you play a team like we played last week who drops eight guys a lot, the quarterback has to do a good job of reading the defense. So it's not so much about trying to get the ball to a particular player as it is to reading the defense and, you know, hitting the soft spot whenever possible. And I think Bryce did a really good job of that. A consequence of that is we had a lot of guys involved in the passing game.
On why he thinks Alabama has gotten off to good starts
“I guess it says something about good preparation, and the players have good intensity to start the game. I think, you know what we keep talking about is how can we sustain that? How can we keep that energy level up for 60 minutes in the game?
Hopefully, you know, we learn a lesson about it’s not just how you start but it's how you finish relative, especially when you're playing on the road, which is what I hope we learned at Florida. We got off to a good start, and then you know started to you know be pretty average in terms of how we executed and what we did. And the consequence of that is that the other team gets the momentum of the game and comes back on you, so we have to be able to continue to get over the hump and keep playing in every game.”
How much does he trust the offensive line and how much have they progressed
“I think they've improved every week as they gain experience and knowledge and play together. I think there's been, you know, steady improvement, but each week’s a new challenge. And we’re going to play against a really good front seven this week, so this will probably be the most challenged they've been, you know, all season long. So, to continue to progress is I think going to be a really key part for us to have success against this defense.
On Traeshon Holden and development of younger receivers
“Traeshon has been the most consistent guy. He's gotten the most playing time. We need for some of our younger guys to step up, show maturity in terms of preparation and ability to execute, knowledge and sort of follow the lead of some of the other guys in terms of how they practice, how they prepare ,what they do. I think that's going to be really critical for us as we move down the road.”
Voices rising on defense about how important finishing games are?
Yeah, I think I’ve talked about that we have quite a few young guys on our team – we don’t have a real senior-laden team. I think the more the younger guys have success, the more confident they will be in terms of how they express their leadership to affect other people. We got a lot of young guys that set a really good example in terms of how they do things. There’s two parts of leadership, though. You got to have people who lead but you also got to have other people on the team that recognize leadership and follow along and take the example that they see and implement that in their play and believe that’s going to beneficial to help them get what they want. Creating the right habits is something that every player needs to understand the importance of that so that you’re well prepared and when you do get an opportunity, you’re going to be able to take advantage of it.
How would you describe Will Anderson’s speed?
I don’t know – how do you describe speed? The guy’s got initial quickness, he’s got power. He’s got enough speed to rush the edge and challenge the edge. He can turn speed to power in pass rush, so if they do cut him off, he walk the guy back. The guy plays with tremendous competitive character. Gives great effort all the time. He’s got a lot of pride in performance. He works that way every day. He works that way in practice. I don’t know how you describe what you’re asking me, exactly. I can describe the player. And he’s been very, very productive so far for us this year.
On how Roydell Williams is coming along now that he'll have to take a bigger role with McClellan out
I don't think there's any question we've got a lot of confidence in Roydell. He's played well when he's had the opportunity to play. He's got some extensive playing time in the game BRob missed against Southern Miss. We're very confident in him.
Jase is a very good player. Did a great job as a runner, as well as a blocker as well as very good special teams player. We have to replace him in a lot of areas on our team, but we do have confidence in Roydell, and I think he'll do a good job. Trey Sanders is going to get more opportunity now and he's got to be able to step up and continue to make progress as well.
Will they switch anyone else to running back with only three scholarship players left?
We'll probably look at some of that, see how it works out. If some guy has experience playing that position, we'll see how they might be able to develop and be an emergency guy. We've got several guys in mind but we'll kind of see how it goes.
On the importance of having depth at running back
Well, it's really important but we've kind of lost two guys at the position. I mean, five is a good number to have and now we have three. But I think that would be the case at any position. You lose two or three guys at any position, and it challenges your depth. So that's the case. And hopefully you don't get snake-bit and lose a bunch of guys at one position, which really can have an impact on your team.
On what defensive lineman Phidarian Mathis brings to the table
He's done a really good job. He's showing leadership. He's setting a good example. He's playing hard in the games. He is being very productive, so we're very pleased with what he's done to this point. He's always been a guy that plays hard, tries to please the coach and do everything he can to help the team win. It's important to him, and those are the kind of guys you love to have on your team.
