Everything Ryan Grub Said After Alabama Football's 16th Day of Fall Camp

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— In Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb's Tuesday press conference, he addressed the team's running back room in the aftermath of Jam Miller's injury, the tight end room, Ty Simpson and the other quarterbacks and more. A complete transcript is below.

On how this season's offense is different than last year:

"I mean, that’s kind of the obvious one, right? It’s like, we’re not necessarily a Jalen Milroe offense right now. Just, Jalen was a super talented runner and that was probably a part of the game plan every week and was smart last year by the offensive staff. So I think that’s probably the biggest difference."

On how distribution of carries is affected by Jam Miller's absence:

"We gotta see a lot here in the next week or so to see who can handle the game plan, who's the most responsible with all their duties."

On what he has seen from the running back room:

" Running back group? That’s a broad question. Seen a lot. Daniel Hill has done a good job providing a lot of protection and I think he’s gotten a lot, lot better at that. As far as with his eyes, super physical guy. I think Daniel has started to run like the back we saw in the spring. Early in camp I thought he was a little bit slow to come to that. Dre (Washington) has great vision running the football. He improves every day, still. I think some of the pass protection responsibilities are things that probably were not in his wheelhouse prior to getting here. Kevin Riley started to show up a little bit. He’s a guy that has really nice vision. Not as big a back as the other guys but runs very physical and is really good out of the backfield."

On Richard Young:

"Oh, Rich Young. Thought you said Richard Newton, that was our running back at Washington. So Rich Young, real similar running backs by the way. Rich has been super physical and has been a guy the last two scrimmages, I thought when we needed a little bit of a spark, to pop a run right up the middle and finish it. He’s done a great job. He’s worked really, really hard to become a better player out of the backfield. Has gotten better at that. Very responsible. He cares a lot. He’s tough, physical and we love him."

On Ty Simpson's performance in the second scrimmage:

"Ty, I think, was 12-of-15 with two drops. I thought he was very controlled. Distributed the ball right where it was supposed to be. I thought his eye were in the right spot. I thought he was very disciplined. We’re trying to put him in some spots in the fringe and stuff like that to see how he would respond and make sure he takes care of the football, keeps us in field goal range, all those things. And I thought he responded really, really well. Had calm demeanor when it was good and bad. There were a couple flows there, we started out really fast again, and did a nice job when we hit a little bit of a lull, I thought he was there to respond."

On how the other two quarterbacks did in the scrimmage:

“Austin [Mack] started really, really clean. Had a nice touchdown drive to start. Keelon [Russell] was doing the same, marched down the field. We had a couple hiccups up front there that put the ball backwards a little bit. But I thought initially in the scrimmage, all three of the guys played really, really clean. Accurate throws, pushing the ball down the field when they could and smart with their checkdowns.”

On adding noise at practice:

"Just like any time. This was the first time we worked it hard, so a lot to improve on there, of course. Anytime you start really getting that in where you’re running plays and using motion and all those things, there’s some bumps on it. I thought they did better as they got more used to it in practice. We’ll continue to work it. That’s something we’ll obviously be ready for.”

On Kam Dewberry and Geno VanDeMark, and comfort level with either player if Jaeden Roberts can't go:

"Very comfortable. Those are two veteran players, very versatile, too. They can both play left or right, so they’re interchangeable. Kam brings a lot of physical presence to him. Geno’s a savvy player that knows how to connect with the center.”

On what the offense will miss without Jam Miller:

“He’s such a stud. He’ll be a value to our team no matter what right now just because of his demeanor and leadership. So, I think that’s one of the things you miss on the field right away is just him being out there. There’s a presence to him when he’s on the field, so we’ll certainly miss that. His explosiveness, his running style, all those things will be missed. But he’s been great. He’s in high spirits. He knows this is a temporary setback, and he’ll be ready to go.”

On how he uses tight ends in unique ways:

“Oh man. A lot of things I can’t talk about. I don’t know. I’ve just always just felt like the tight ends were the equalizer. They’re the guy that can change the box count. They can manipulate what the defense thinks as far as how many people they have relevant to the run fits. So, I think the guys realizing that they’re always part of that and how they can manipulate that for us is truly unique.”

On the health of Josh Cuevas and Danny Lewis Jr.:

“I mean, they’re out there. They’re practicing. So, to me, they’re 100%. They don’t have yellow jerseys on, they’re rolling. I think they’re both repping quite a bit, honestly. At one point, they were only at like 20 reps. They’ve went way past that to where I don’t feel like there’s any limitations."

On the skill set of Cole Adams:

“Cole is a really savvy route runner. He knows how to get in and out of breaks. He understands how to play off the leverage of defenders, read coverages. In the last week and a half, has probably made more contested catches than anybody on the team. That’s one of the things I don’t think you’d necessarily think from a guy that’s a little bit smaller in stature, but he’s very competitive when the football’s in the air.”

On his message to Ryan Williams about dealing with the big stage:

“Ryan kind of does that himself. For his age, he is a very, very mellow guy. He can take it all in, and the moment’s never too big. It’s probably also what makes him a really good player when the big games hit is that he won’t melt in those situations. I think that that part is a little bit built in just because of who he is. But for him, he’s still working on route-running, inside, outside, wherever we put [him]. And just getting to be a better receiver."

On what the offense needs from running backs to succeed:

"For us, it's really putting the stress on the offensive line and tight ends. Being physical up front and creating presence. I think when they do that, if we can establish the line of scrimmage, we certainly have the skill players on the outside. The running game will be key to how far this season can go for us."

On which others, aside from Dewberry and VanDeMark, have stepped up at guard:

"Michael Carroll played a little bit. Olaus [Alinen] has done a nice job. We got good depth there. Those two guys are probably the first two that stand out."

On whether there will be fewer designed quarterback runs with Ty Simpson:

"I mean, to a point. Ty is certainly capable of doing those things. Just probably philosophically, Mike Penix was a good runner. People really wouldn't know that, but we didn't really run him until the playoffs or late, just because it's a long season. You're better off with your starter being able to throw the football in this offense than run it. We certainly look for those opportunities, because I think Ty is a good runner. We'll make sure we'll have things for him. Taking care of him and making sure he's upright is important."

On Kadyn Proctor throughout fall camp:

"He's getting there. He's getting stronger. He's getting there. I think there's a little bit of catch-up early in camp because he wasn't in spring ball, so we're working on the sustainability of him staying on the field, just being in great shape."

On the progress of Jaylen Mbakwe at wide receiver:

"Bak, catching. That's the first thing that comes to mind. Honestly, early in camp he had some drops. He's just getting more comfortable, honestly, playing the position and catching the football. He's doing a lot better job. Probably those first three practices, probably had three drops or so and since then, it just hasn't come back up. He's doing a great job."