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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Nick Saban spoke to reporters for the final time this spring as Alabama wrapped up camp with its annual A-Day scrimmage Saturday. Here’s a transcript of what he said as well as my takes on what it means.
Opening statement
“I think, all in all, we had a good spring. I really like the spirit and the energy of this team. I think that everybody in spring practice probably gets tired of competing against each other in some point in time, but it was good to go out and play in front of a crowd today. I think that energized players, to some degree, and I was very pleased with the crowd that we had. I think it goes a long way to helping people see what kind of passion we have for the football program and the football team and how we support the team.”
“It’s really simple. It’s all about people being committed to the team, respecting what they have to do to play winning football. Which I’ve said this all spring long, you’ve gotta eliminate some of the negative plays, which would be interceptions, which would be turning the ball over, which would be dropping ball – which we had too many of today. Made some good plays, though, too. Also giving up plays on defense, making mental errors, those kinds of things are what get you beat. That’s what we wanna eliminate.
“The way you eliminate that is players are committed to doing what they need to do to play winning football, which means they’re committed to what they need to do to help the team be successful, and they don’t ignore the things that are important to winning. They respect those things, they buy into them, they do those things every day to create the kind of habits that will enable us to go out and be the kind of team that we’re capable of.
“Obviously, we had a lot of young guys out there, but I think the experience they gained throughout this spring was invaluable and will certainly help us in several positions on our team. And I like this team. I look forward to this team. Are there things that we need to do better? No doubt. And we’ll focus on those things and work to improve so that they’re not issues for us in the fall. But this was a good test, I think. The good guys against the good guys. The ones played against the ones, the twos played against the twos, and I think that makes the game more challenging and a little bit easier to evaluate how people did.”
Tony’s take: Every coach across the nation will tell you they like their team coming out of spring camp. The real keys from Saban’s opening statement are his focus on his unit’s youth and eliminating mental errors. This year’s A-Day wasn’t very easy on the eyes. The quarterbacks were underwhelming, and neither the receivers nor the offensive line helped them out much throughout the afternoon.
Still, as Saban pointed out, there are plenty of young, talented players with room to improve. Their ability to do so will determine Alabama’s success this fall.
On the benefit of having QBs who have been in the program
“I think the people that have been in the program obviously have an advantage, to some degree, because they know the system, they’ve had a lot of reps in the system. But I also think everybody needs to ask themselves, with every position you play, are you playing winning football at that position and can you play winning football at that position?
“And I think that’s a better answer to the question, who can do that the best, and those are evaluations that we have to make as coaches at every position. We’ve tried to build this program here with the guys that we recruit and the people in the program, but we have had a few guys that have come in and made real impacts on the team. And we see an opportunity to do that, we’re always looking for a way to make our team better.”
Tony’s take: Saban was basically asked what is the advantage of sticking with the quarterbacks on his roster instead of trying to fill the starting role with someone out of the transfer portal. There was some transfer buzz surrounding Alabama and Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke earlier this week, but that seems to have died down at the moment.
As Saban points out, it’s important to have a quarterback who is familiar with the system. At this point, any quarterback Alabama would bring in would face an uphill battle to learn the offense by the start of the season.
Still, Saban seemed to leave the door open for the possibility of a transfer quarterback, stating that he needs players capable of playing winning football at each position. Neither Jalen Milroe nor Ty Simpson played what most would consider “winning football” behind center on Saturday. However, that doesn’t mean they are incapable of doing so this fall.
While Saban seems content to go with the quarterbacks he has on his roster, I wouldn’t rule out Alabama showing interest if the right quarterback becomes available in the transfer portal over the next week.
On Alabama’s toughness
“I like this team’s toughness. I think they’re physical, they play hard. We don’t have a bunch of guys that are soft or looking for an easy way. They try to please the coaches. They try to play with intensity. I think we have better practice habits than we’ve had in the past. And I think that mentality gets developed in the offensive line, the defensive line and on special teams, and I think we have some guys that are trying to step up and do that.”
Tony’s take: One of the flaws from last year’s team was its lack of toughness. That doesn’t seem to be the case this year as Alabama players have expressed a focus on doing a better job of setting the tone on both sides of the ball.
Earlier this spring, offensive tackle J.C. Latham talked about the offensive line’s desire to be “ruthless.” Saturday, defensive lineman Tim Smith said the team has to focus on making the choice to bring physicality every play.
On freshman QBs Eli Holstein and Dylan Lonergan
“I think that both guys are making progress. I think Dylan Lonergan has shown that he’s got a little more poise playing the position. He’s accurate throwing the ball. But Eli’s made good progress, too. I think he got in a hurry a few times today, which he was gonna do the right thing, but he also had a couple balls that were dropped that would have helped him. We wanted to get each one of those freshmen at least three series out there. Dylan kind of moved the team a little better. I’m pleased with the progress that they’re making, and I think they both have bright futures.”
Tony’s take: Lonergan was arguably Alabama’s most impressive quarterback on the afternoon, finishing the scrimmage 8 of 14 for 79 yards and a touchdown without an interception. While he’s still got a ways to go before he’s ready to lead the first-team offense, he certainly showed plenty of potential moving forward.
It’s a long shot, but I wouldn’t totally rule out a third quarterback entering starting the competition this fall. We saw Jalen Hurts use the 2016 A-Day game as a springboard to claim the starting job during his freshman season. Could Lonergan do the same?
On Jalen Milroe and Ty Simpson
“I think the big thing we were working on with the quarterbacks is fundamentally what they have to do to be able to process what is the defense doing, all right, get a pre-read of what are they playing. Are they playing Cover 2? Are they playing Cover 7? Are they playing 3-deep zone? So that you have a plan in your mind, ‘This is where I’m reading, this is where I’m going and this is the progression that I wanna go through,’ and trust in that and believe in that and not start drifting around in the pocket before you give up on what your read might be.
“Because I think we have pretty good skill guys, I think we have guys that can make plays and as a quarterback, it’s not only just the plays that you can make – and I like both guys’ athleticism to be able to extend plays and get out of trouble and make plays with their feet, which they did a couple times today. But at the same time, I think we’ve gotta work on going through progressions and develop confidence in the passing game so that we can distribute the ball to other people who can make plays more effectively and more efficiently.”
Tony’s take: The tools are there, and so are the weapons around them. The question is whether or not Milroe and Simpson will be able to put everything together by the fall. While neither of Alabama’s returning quarterbacks looked great Saturday, both are capable of leading Alabama’s offense. It’s just a matter of the light bulb going off and them playing up to their talent level. It’s not a given that will happen by the fall, but everything is in place for both quarterbacks to succeed moving forward.
On Malachi Moore
“He’s actually played safety all spring long. He didn’t play Star at all because we’ve been developing Earl (Little) at Star. But when we had a couple guys get in the portal, they were both Stars, so Malachi had to go back and play Star, and Earl, who’s been practicing a lot with the ones, actually had to play with the twos because it was the best thing for the team for us to get through today and have two guys that had experience at that position.
“But Malachi’s just a very instinctive player. He’s got lots of reps at doing the things, like some of the blitzes, we’re reading the tackle. If he sets deep, we’re gonna come underneath. A lot of the other guys hadn’t had the experience doing it that he’s had, so that makes him an effective blitzer because he’s reading it the right way. But he’s a smart player, he’s very instinctive and he’s been a good leader in the secondary all spring long.”
Tony’s take: Based on Saban’s response, it sounds like Moore will still move to safety after lining up there for most of the spring. Still, the senior defensive back proved Saturday that he has the versatility to effectively plug a hole in the secondary on short notice. That will come in handy as Alabama will inevitably be dealt injuries this fall.
On freshman RB Justice Haynes
“Justice is a really good player. He had a great spring. He’s got great maturity about him. You wouldn’t know he was a freshman if you didn’t know better. Nothing is too big for him in terms of learning, going out and executing. He’s not intimidated by anything. The guy’s got toughness. He can run behind his pads. He’s got good speed. He’s a good receiver. He can make you miss. So I think he’s got a really bright future, and I think he will contribute to the team this year.”
Tony’s take: Saban continues to speak highly of Justice Haynes. While the freshman running back managed just 24 yards on 10 carries, he ran the ball hard and added a pair of short-yardage touchdowns. Haynes also showed off his pass-catching ability out of the backfield, leading the crimson team with four receptions for 40 yards, including a 6-yard touchdown from Lonergan.
On what he wants to see from the WRs
“We’re looking at the big picture, so we’re looking at the 15 days in total of how those guys played. Isaiah Bond had a really good spring. Ja’Corey Brooks had a good spring. Jermaine Burton had a really good spring. I think (Malik Benson), who made some catches at the end of the game today, has got a chance to be a real contributor. (Emmanuel Henderson) is getting better all the time, made a really nice touchdown catch today. I think we’ve got the right combination of people at that position. We still need to pay better attention to detail in route running and sort of get a better, like, chemistry between quarterback and receiver so that we can develop confidence in the passing game.”
Tony’s take: There were too many drops on A-Day, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to write off Alabama’s receivers. As Saban said, the unit had a solid spring. As far as Saturday is concerned, it was nice to see Malik Benson come on strong late in the scrimmage. The junior college transfer led all receivers with five catches for 70 yards, capping off the day by hauling in a 9-yard touchdown from Milroe. According to sources, Benson has been one of Alabama’s most impressive receivers this spring and should play a key role in his first season with the team.
On young players vs. players with experience
“We’re gonna play the guys that give us the best chance to win. I make all our decisions based on winning, who can play the best. It doesn’t make any difference if you’re a fifth-year senior or a freshman. If you’re the guy that can go out there – and if you took all the players on our team, you think the players on our team don’t know who the best players are? They absolutely do. So if you’re a coach and you don’t play the best players, you’re not gonna have the respect of your team because they know who the best are. They know who they have confidence in. They know who they trust and respect that are gonna go be able to be accountable to do their job. You can’t lose sight of that.
“So it really has nothing to do with age. It has everything to do with accountability and are you dependable to go out there and do your job. Whether a good thing happens or a bad thing happens, you’ve gotta play the next play. So we use all these things as learning experiences so guys do grow and develop the kind of maturity they need so that they can play in difficult circumstances, and obviously, guys with experience should be able to do that better. But they have to prove that they can do it just like the young guys do.”
Tony’s take: Sure, Alabama has a young team, but that won’t change how Saban goes about putting together his depth chart. The head coach has always put the best players on the field, and that won’t change this fall regardless of the lack of experience on either unit.
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