TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — No, Alabama doesn’t have another new analyst. However, Nick Saban doesn’t mind the way Bill Belichick looks in crimson.
Belichick, the head coach of the New England Patriots, was in Tuscaloosa on Tuesday to take in Alabama’s Pro Day. However, instead of Patriots blue, he sported a crimson Alabama pullover as he watched former Crimson Tide players participate in drills inside of Hank Crisp Indoor Facility.
“I didn’t give it to him,” Saban said with a grin, “but I’m glad he got it.”
The two coaches’ friendship spans back the early 1990s when Saban served as Belichick’s defensive coordinator when he was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. More than two decades later, the two are the most successful coaches in their respective levels as Saban has won six combined titles with LSU and Alabama while Belichick is coming off his sixth Super Bowl with the Patriots last season.
While the two are usually kept busy, Pro Day offers a yearly opportunity to reconnect. According to Saban, the conversations often span beyond the game.
“We’re personal friends, so we talk about kids and grandkids,” Saban said. “And then we talk about personnel because they’re interested in guys that they bring to their team. And then we’re both kind of still very involved in the football part of what’s going on, so we’ll talk quite a bit about Xs and Os. It’s a wide range of things.
“And then there’s a little storytelling that goes with it, too, because we go back a long ways and we had lots of kind of experiences that we both kind of learned from.”
Quinnen Williams shares surprising injury story
Quinnen Williams’ awe-inspiring season just got a little more impressive. The former Alabama defensive lineman didn’t do much during Pro Day as he continued to nurse his right pinky finger which underwent a procedure following the NFL Combine.
At this point, Williams has already done enough to convince NFL teams that he’s worthy of a top-five pick in this year’s draft. However, he continued to amaze Tuesday by revealing the details of his injury which occurred during the Iron Bowl.
“It got caught inside of a helmet,” Williams said of his pinky “and once I tried to make a move, it went a different way. And I just played with it throughout the season with it and it messed up some ligaments inside it.”
Despite the injury, Williams tallied eight tackles, two for a loss and a sack the following week against Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. He registered five more tackles, including 1.5 for a loss, during Alabama’s run in the College Football Playoff.
While he was able to play through the pain during the season, Williams wasn’t about to risk his high status with a sub-par performance on Tuesday.
“There’s just different stuff going on with my finger that I didn’t want to reinjure or mess with,” Williams said. “So I really stood on my Combine performance and I feel like I did a great job at the combine to show the coaches and show the scouts and show the world that what I did on film calibrates into the person I am, not just a one-breakout-season player.”
Williams registered a 4.83 time in the 40-yard dash during the combine, the fourth-fastest time recorded from a player 300 pounds or more since 2003. Interestingly enough, he claims he’s previously been clocked at 4.78 in training.
“It was crazy but I had way better numbers in training,” Williams said, “so I wasn’t really satisfied with the number I hit.”
Ale Kaho makes Pro Day appearance
All eyes were on the former Alabama players participating in drills Tuesday. However, a current Crimson Tide player caught some attention with his appearance at Pro Day as well.
Sophomore linebacker Ale Kaho was seen overlooking his former teammates Tuesday after being absent from Alabama’s first two practices of spring camp. Saban previously provided a vague response when asked about Kaho following the Crimson Tide’s opening practice, stating the linebacker had “some issues that he’s dealing with.”
Last week, Kaho posted on Instagram that he’d “be back real soon.” However, he wasn’t on the field when the team resumed practice Monday.
“He’s still transitioning. He’s taking his time, feeling himself out, still trying to get better,” linebacker Dylan Moses said. “I’ve been in his shoes before, trying to build and see where you fit at in the process. Ale’s going through that process. I’ve been helping him out, trying to be a big brother to him.”
Alabama returns to the practice field Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. CT.
