Everything Ryan Grubb Said After Alabama Football's Win Against ULM

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— The No. 19 Alabama football team faces Wisconsin this Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. On Monday, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb held a press conference to recap the Crimson Tide's win over ULM and preview the Badgers. A full transcript of his availability is below.

On Austin Mack and Keelon Russell:

"I expected both of them to play well. They’ve done a lot of those same things in practice and leading to that moment. So, I think you wanted to see how they perform in a stadium full of people and if they can make easy decisions. I think they both did a good job. Took care of the ball, didn’t put it in jeopardy, made some good decisions. Obviously, both had success getting the ball in the end zone, so they did well."

On Michael Carroll and whether the right tackle spot is a competition:

"100% I see it as a competition. All those guys are competing for spots. I thought Michael did a great job. I think there’s something he certainly needs to clean up. But the thing I like about Michael is that he does compete, and what you saw on the field in the game is how Mike practices too. So, he’s a super competitive, physical kid, that I thought did a really nice job for his first time."

On the running backs' performance without Jam Miller:

"Obviously, Kev [Kevin Riley] is a guy that’s made the most out of all of his touches. I think he led the team again in missed tackles forced and that’s one of the things that I think Kevin brings to the table is the ability to make people miss in space, and real reliable out of the backfield catching the football, I think he’s kind of established that. I think Rich [Richard Young] had a couple of really, really physical runs, had a couple of really nice pass pickups where he’s ultra-physical. And then Daniel [Hill] saw a couple plays in between tackles where he’s able to drag some people. So, I thought all of their best characteristics kind of came out in a ton of ways."

On the area where Ty Simpson improved most from game one to game two:

"Decision making. I thought he was extremely decisive. He was very dialed on his reads. He didn’t pass up open players. I thought he played great. I thought he was really, really into the game plan all week and I was really hopeful that he was gonna play very, very well."

On Wisconsin's defense:

"Defensive head coach, there’s gonna be a little extra emphasis on stopping the run and those type of things. And coach [Luke] Fickell does a great job of getting those guys to play hard. So, no surprise that matches on film, other guys running the football, finish plays, extremely physical at the point of attack. For me, I just saw a group of guys that know what they’re doing. Their scheme is clear to them, and they know where to be on the field. So was impressed with just their discipline to be in the right spots."

On how the offense has improved:

“Well, I thought their biggest step forward was honestly the week in practice they had. I know that’s probably not the sexiest thing to say, but they did. They had a good week of practice, and I thought that it really showed. I literally showed them on Sunday that, I got all the information from our strength staff, physical output, they wear those catapults, and I just showed them they practice harder. It showed. I thought that that was something that was kind of cool to be able to show them, back it up with science, but then you watch the game tape, and they played inspired. So, I hope they keep that up.”

On playing Austin Mack in the second quarter and Ty Simpson's response:

“Well, it pissed [former Fresno State quarterback] Jake [Haener] off [when it happened to him], but that’s Jake. It helped, I thought, at the time for him and Ben Wooldridge, who was a really good quarterback. I thought it kind of got him locked in to remembering all the things that he needed to do and be clean on his preparation and prove that he’s the guy, all those kinds of things. A little bit different scenario then, but that certainly was a story that I shared with Ty. I thought in the right way, Ty handled it the right way, just attacked it, kind of dug in, focused more on himself. The toughest part about playing quarterback is not letting outside influences, whether its another quarterback, someone from outside the program, affect the way you prepare. I thought Ty was elite at that week. He just dove into the preparation and did a great job.”

On Ty Simpson wanting to be coached harder:

“That’s not surprising. That’s something that Ty certainly shared with me as well. That was something I told him after the first game was, I told you everybody on the team’s got to look inward, what we can own. I thought maybe I wasn’t hard enough on Ty. I didn’t harden him enough for the moment in the first week and I told him I wouldn’t make that mistake again.”

On Jaeden Roberts:

“Yeah, Jaeden played well. He had about four blocks that I thought were good finisher blocks that you expect out of a guy like J-Rob. I think he’s still working himself into game shape, he was out for a decent amount of time but getting back to where he can play a full football game. He’s still kind of getting through all that, but he did a great job.”