What Nick Saban Said About the Florida Gators
Although their College Football Playoff hopes all but vanquished, the 8-2 Florida Gators have plenty to play for in this Saturday's SEC Championship against the 10-0 Alabama Crimson Tide, in Atlanta, Ga.
A win, which would be unexpected following this past weekend's crushing loss to now-4-5 LSU, would give the Gators their first league title since 2008, as well as first under head coach Dan Mullen. The motivation of contending for a national championship may not be there anymore, but Mullen expects his team to go out fighting nonetheless.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban would expect no less, either. He spoke highly of Florida's squad in the SEC Championship coaches teleconference on Sunday.
As Saban went into detail on his history against Dan Mullen, his thoughts on Florida's offensive playmakers, and defensive coordinator Todd Grantham's scheme, we've broken this story into sections regarding each subject Saban spoke on.
Saban's history against Mullen and his ability as a play-caller
"Well, we played him at Mississippi State when he had a great quarterback, Prescott, Dak Prescott. I think what Dan does is he really utilizes his personnel well, moves people around, tries to create mismatches with formations and motions and shifts. Makes it difficult for the defense to adjust. Had great concepts in the passing game.
Certainly his players do an excellent job of executing it. I think he's probably one of the best play-callers in the country."
On quarterback Kyle Trask's strengths, and his backstory
"I think he does a really good job of getting the ball in the right place relative to reading the defense and knowing the offense like he does. He's very accurate with the ball. I think those two things are probably the most important things. Makes a lot of good decisions that gets the ball in the hands of the play-makers. They certainly made their share of explosive plays this year, that's for sure."
***
"I know he's had a tough road coming up, just like kind of [Alabama quarterback] Mac [Jones] has. But I have a lot of respect for guys that stick with it, persevere, come through a lot of adversity, go through growing pains. When they get an opportunity, they take advantage of it, do it extremely well.
Kyle certainly has done that. Has had as fine a season as any quarterback in the country. I can't say enough positive things about him. But I do have a lot of respect for guys that come up the hard way that way. It's good to see that there are guys that play the game that still do that. It's good to see them have success after they go through those ups and downs and adversities."
On tight end Kyle Pitts, and wide receiver Kadarius Toney
"Kyle Pitts, he's a fantastic player. His size and speed and athleticism, all those things make it very difficult to guard the guy. He's a very versatile player. He can play tight end, he can play on the line, he can play off the ball, out as a receiver. They move him around a lot. Creates a lot of issues and problems for you, no doubt. Probably as well as anybody we played against for a long time."
***
"[Toney] was an outstanding high school player. His quickness and ability to run jerk routes and change direction, get in and out of breaks, is fantastic. I just think he's a really complete player as a receiver, especially when he's in the slot. He's a difficult matchup, creates a lot of problems.
We'd love to have him here, I can tell you that."
On Florida's defense, and Grantham's scheme creating negative plays
"Well, they're very athletic. They got a lot of team speed. They do multiple things to pressure you, multiple coverages, try to disguise what they do extremely well.
I used to coach with Todd a while back. Have a lot of respect for him as a signal caller, a guy that will put together a really good game plan. I'm sure they'll do something that will create some problems for us. We'll have to adapt and adjust. Our players will have to do a good job of trying to execute against them because they're a very, very good unit."
***
"I think they do present a lot of challenges. A lot of it is making sure you get the protections right, point out the right Mike so you can get a hat on a hat. That's not just Mac's job, that's also the offensive line's job. You can't block them all. Everybody has to be on the same page of how to get the ball out quickly so you don't take negative plays.
I think that's the big thing we have to do a great job as coaches in preparation of not allowing them to make a lot of negative plays. I think they kind of feed off that on defense."
