Everything Ryan Grubb Said Ahead of Iron Bowl

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb spoke to the media Monday morning to recap the Crimson Tide's win over Eastern Illinois and look ahead to Saturday's rivalry matchup with Auburn in the Iron Bowl.

Here's everything he had to say:

Full Transcript

On the tight ends...

"I thought Jay Lindsey showed up, had a little bit of physicality in the run game. Kaleb kind of got extended into roles and spots he hadn’t normally been in when Josh was around. So it was great to see him try and navigate that a little bit. Had a nice catch on the sideline from (Keelon). Really, it was kind of focusing on those two guys and see what their ability was going to be in the game.”

On calling the Eastern Illinois game from the sideline...

"“It was great. It's something I have been thinking about since, honestly, the beginning of the year. And the last few weeks, it's kind of been adding up on me a little bit. And I just thought that I could make a difference, honestly. Some of it was for me, selfishly, to make sure that my communication with the coaches, the players was where I want it to be so I feel good about the plays that I am calling the next series. But even just being down there with Ty and Keelon and Austin was great. Obviously I think the world of Nick and trust him. He does just a fantastic job with those guys on the sideline. But for me, just being right there in the thick of it of being able to make the adjustments that I want to make felt really good. It was great being down there."

On Ty Simpson's performance against Eastern Illinois...

"I think he had one that he wanted back. Obviously the interception at the end of the half shows the kind of player Ty is. He’s selfless, asking for the ball in a 50/50 situation. A guy who is worried about stats wouldn’t have done that for the team. So don’t worry about that one. The layered ball on the two throw, it just needed a little bit more air on it, honestly. He just underestimated how deep that guy was and Ty makes that throw as good as anyone in the country. Certainly knows he could have waited to the next window or layer that. But I thought he had good command early in the series, had a couple of good run checks, had box counts where we needed it to be. I was happy with where he’s at and he did a good job, a great job, honestly, of supporting Austin and Keelon when he was out.

"I was just making sure. I wanted to give a shoutout to my guy. He had one to Lotty, that’s correct. He had a sideline throw available to Ryan that he could have made. Little bit of miscommunication between him and Lotzeir. He definitely didn’t want to force that one on the inside, you’re correct.”

On the Iron Bowl rivalry...

"The Iron Bowl is everything. You got to win. In the season, rivalry week, you’re just thankful to be in a place that has something and it means so much to the state and to the program. Certainly with our players and in the program, nobody is taking it for granted. And we’re excited to be a part of it and get in the thick of it with the guys. So they know what it’s all about.”

On his history of calling games from the sideline...

"There’s a lot of factors that go into it. I did it a few times at Fresno. Some of it has to do with comfort level with two parts. Number one, the people that you have in the box as far as eyes in the sky, and then also where you’re at with the guys on the sideline. So I tend to focus more on the positive part, meaning the guys that are in the box for us, Tyler Hughes and Mitch Dahlen, are as good as it gets. Those guys both have been in our system for a number of years. So whatever information I need to collect that I don’t think I have a good enough vantage point on, I normally get accurate information from those guys. So I have a lot of confidence with that and I felt like, just again, the collaboration on the field, the in-game adjustments can happen quicker for me and the rest of the guys."

On building from EIU win, focal points heading into Auburn...

"Well obviously we’re happy to be able to put the ball in the end zone running the football. Guys did a good job with that even late in the game. And I know, level of opponent and all those things, but I’ve been in those games where you’re playing games like that and you really struggle to even get consistent four or five-yard hits. So I thought the guys did a great job. I think Kalen said we played 80-something guys so to be able to operate at the end where we had some clear run hits at the end of the game, were awesome.

"And then moving forward, again, I think Auburn’s a great defense and our opportunity to continue to build on eliminating negative-yardage runs, which we’ve got two weeks in a row with none right now and that’s something from a communication standpoint that we want to continue to build on. And we really didn’t put the ball down the field as much this last week as we normally do. So making sure you can balance that out with the play-action game."

On the run game against Eastern Illinois, his favorite Thanksgiving side...

"Wow. OK, first one I would say, you know, again, it really does come down to communication. I know that’s a really boring response but our ability to identify the right people and to have the double-teams headed to the right pole is where it all starts. And you don’t want to set the bar so low that it’s like ‘Hey, we’re not getting negative yardage runs.’ You want explosive runs as well, but those don’t happen until you can make sure you get the box set the way you want it. And for us, that’s where it all begins, and then I think we can continue to build off that, what the guys have done the last couple weeks.

"Probably not a side dish, but I like pecan pie."

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