BAMANEWSBOT
Staff
Opening statement:
I was a little bit more encouraged today by the energy and enthusiasm that we had in practice. I think always in the spring it's a little bit inconsistent and it seems like the longer you practice, the more inconsistent it gets, but today was a really good day. I think the players need to understand that having the right energy and enthusiasm in practices helps them create the right habits so they can play at a high-level and that they're not affected by the circumstances that they're in.
Hopefully when we go out in A-Day, we will see more game-like situations for players. The format for A-Day is to create the best competition that we can. The White team will consist of the first defense and the second offense. The Crimson team will have the first offense and the second defense. So the ones will always play against the ones. It's the most competitive way that we can have the game. The twos will always play against the twos. Most competitive way for them. It's a steak and beans game, so the winner (gets to eat steak). So (the winning team) gets tablecloth, flowers, waiter, everything they want. The other guys get paper plates and a big pot of beans and that is it. So being the commissioner, I can manipulate my way to the side that I want. Even though pork and beans are a favorite, these are never the favorite (laughter).
So we are really looking forward to Saturday. We hope we have a great crowd. I think I need to let the fans know that the support of A-Day has been something that has been a tremendous asset in helping us build the program here. It's a real positive for the recruits. I think it's important that they see that kind of support, energy and enthusiasm. I think it's a real special thing for all the players to see that so many people have so much interest in what they are doing, that it creates a little bit of a mindset of, 'What I'm doing is something special.' I think that's important to the players. I also think that, because we set the standard here for how spring games sort of get evaluated, because we had so many people (in 2007). And I've talked so many times about our first A-Day here, which was now 11 games ago, the 95,000 people that were there sort of set the tone for being able to build something special. That's something special that sort of contributed to it. But because of that, everybody now tries to get as big a crowd as they can, as if that's going to be something that's going to help them promote the kind of energy and enthusiasm to catapult their program forward. So like everything else that we do, we want to do it better. We don't want to stay the same. We don't want to be complacent. So we'd love to see a great crowd out there to show the support that we have for the program, our team, our players and certainly the image that we want to portray to all the visitors that we have. The game is going to be on ESPN, so tremendous exposure for the University and the program. We want to create a very positive atmosphere.
We're excited that a lot of our former players who were great players here are coming back for A-Day. Not only guys that played for us, but those who have had great careers here in the past and worked so hard to sort of establish the kind of tradition that we have here, which is what makes this place a special place to be the coach. Some of our guys that are going to be back are Dont'a Hightower, Mark Ingram, Derrick Henry, Andre Smith, Marcel Dareus, CJ Mosley, Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix, and a lot more. We are always excited to have some of these guys back. Some guys (in the NFL) are starting OTAs this week and would like to come back, but can't. But we're always excited to have players come back. I think it's a great indication of the kind of experience the guys had here when they were here. They come back and be great ambassadors for the University and the program and support the players that are here now.
On the progress the young QBs have made this spring:
I've been really pleased with the progress that all three of our quarterbacks have made. I feel really good about these guys. It'll be interesting to see how they do when they get out there on their own, even though it will be limited what we do on offense and defense. But (it will be interesting) to see how they lead, how they compete, how they keep their composure and how they respond to adversity, if there's any created in the game. But I've been real pleased with all of our quarterbacks this spring. I think the thing that I've tried to emphasize with the quarterbacks is that we've got to focus on execution and not trying to make plays all the time, because that's when you get in trouble. Just execute the play that you're supposed to the way it's supposed be executed and believe and trust in that and that's what's going to help us make plays rather than trying to create and force plays. Got to focus on the process of what you have to do to make it a positive play. Our consistency in doing that has gotten better and better all spring.
On the placekicking:
First of all, we recruited somebody (Joseph Boluvas). I think everybody needs to get used to the fact that we didn't have a punter in the spring (2014). J.K. (Scott) became the punter and was one of the best punters in the nation as a freshman. We recruited a longsnapper (Cole Mazza) and he was one of the best longsnappers, that will probably end up playing in the NFL for some time. He did it when he was a freshman. We've recruited a freshman longsnapper (Thomas Fletcher) now who's out there (this spring). We have a kicker coming in that we really like, so he's going to be in this competition in the fall. I can't say how that's going to work out, but we have high hopes that he will do a good job. J.K. (Scott) is very, very good at kickoffs. He has done kickoffs in the past. He is good at long field goals. The competition there is that we have a guy (Andy Pappanastos) that is pretty accurate, but doesn't have a real strong leg, and we have a guy (J.K. Scott) that has a really strong leg that can kick long field goals. So we're going to have more of a situation like we had with Jeremy Shelley in years past where he kicked the short ones and somebody kicked the long ones. I'm comfortable with that situation with those two guys. Do we need to improve that? Yeah, but I think everyone can improve in every position. I also think that the competition that is coming in may enhance that as well.
On whether Bo Scarbrough and Damien Harris will participate in A-Day:
I should've mentioned this, Bo Scarbrough has done everything in practice. The goal for Bo was that he comes out of spring practice and he thinks he's one-hundred percent and that he can do everything and he has no problem. He took almost every rep in practice today. Are we going to let him play in A-Day? No, because we haven't banged him around a lot. There's no sense in doing that. Damien Harris has a sprained foot. He has not practiced and will not be in A-Day. B.J. Emmons is doing some things, but he's still not one-hundred percent from his foot injury that he suffered last season, so he's not going to participate in the game. Shaun Dion Hamilton is also not one-hundred percent from his (knee) injury that he suffered in the SEC championship game. So those four guys are the guys who will not play in the game. Three of them are running backs, so that leaves us with three guys (running backs) and a couple of others. So that's the situation that we are in from an injury standpoint.
On how much of the offense will be shown on A-Day:
My theory on it is that we want to stay basic to try to get better execution from the players, especially some of the younger guys, the backup players that don't have the knowledge and experience. But the second part of that is that it would be very foolish to do things that are new to our offense that we would show our opponents that we play early in the season by doing them in the spring game. So if the goal of spring practice is to play better in the season, why would we do anything that would enhance our opponents' ability to prepare for us?
On what Coach Saban gets out of being involved in DB drills during practices:
I don't think when I was growing up in West Virginia there was a diagnosis for attention deficit. There was none. I probably have it. So if I'm not doing something, if I'm not busy, if I'm not shaking my leg... Terry punches me in church, because I'm shaking my leg. She punches me in church, because when we're standing up, I'm rocking like this. So I would probably say that I have some deficit in some way that has never been diagnosed. It's a way that I keep myself busy. It's a way that I feel like I contributed to help the players.
I told the story many times before. Buddy Ryan was a good friend. I used to go when he was the (defensive) coordinator with the Bears and I was at Michigan State as a coordinator. I would go visit the Bears. He became my friend. When he became a head coach, we played them when I was with the Browns. He was having a bad season and everybody thought he was going to get fired. It was toward the end of the season and I went out and talked to him in pre-game. I said, 'Buddy, what is the biggest difference between a head coach and being an assistant?' He said, 'I was always somebody's best assistant.' He didn't say it in an arrogant way. He said, 'I was not my best assistant.'
What I learned from that is, he was the best defensive coordinator in the history of ball probably and had the best defense in the NFL in the history of ball and gave up the fewest points. So if you become a head coach, why wouldn't you contribute in the area where you have the most expertise rather than allow somebody else to do it? That's what I took from it.
So I was always the secondary coach. I've always liked it. I've done it everywhere I've been. I did it when I was in Miami. I think the way ball is now, it's hard to just have one secondary coach. You need to split up a lot. We have a limited number of coaches. For me to be somebody's GA in the secondary is probably helpful. I enjoy it with the players.
I enjoy the relationships with all the players, but I don't root for the defense. I don't root for the DBs. I look at everything objectively from a team standpoint. I want us to do well on offense as well as defense. But I feel like I can make the best contribution to the team in that area on defense and on special teams. So that's where I try to spend most of my time. And I enjoy it. I like it. I'd be bored to death standing (around). I'm not criticizing anybody that ever stood in a tower, but I would I have a hard time getting through practice that way.
On UA's rarely having scholarship underclassmen transfers come into the program:
We usually don't have any room. If you've got 85 guys on scholarship, that's all you can have. Last year was the first time in a long time that we have not had 85 guys on scholarship, because of the attrition that we had with some of the guys that left. If those guys were here now, they would probably be starting. So they left and went somewhere and sat out or went to junior college or they went somewhere, but now they'd probably be starting here if they just stayed here. I don't understand why, but it's not my choice or my decision. We try to provide the best possible support for the players that are here when they're here to help them be successful in every way that we can.
On Coach Saban's radio comments today that the staff protected Jalen Hurts last season, and on what has been done to develop him this spring:
We said that the number one goal was to help him become a better passer. We have spent a tremendous amount of time on that this spring. I think he's made progress. Just the way we practice, it's a system that we have, it's how he's coached in the system so that he has a better understanding. It's trying to do the things in the passing game that he's capable of executing. I think he's made really, really good progress.
I think one of the most difficult things for young quarterback to do is probably to be a dropback passer. So we tried to create ways, and I'm trying to be very positive, and I was in agreement with what we did to try to create ways we could throw the ball and make explosive plays in the passing game without doing a whole lot of dropback. Call it what you will, but it was because he was a freshman and we didn't want to ask him to do a lot of things that he wasn't comfortable doing. Is that a bad thing? We won 14 games that way.
If we had thrown the ball a little bit better in the last game, maybe it would've been different. But if we play better defense the last three times they had the ball, it would've been a little bit different too. There's a lot of things that you could talk about that contributed to it. Would we do it the same way again? There were times we probably could've tried to develop that a little bit more and maybe in game situations put him in those situations a little more so that it might've benefited him a little down the road. But that's a big assumption that anybody could make, because nobody knows if that would be true or not.
On if safety Deionte Thompson, who was recently arrested on assault charges, will play in A-Day:
He's still cooperating with law enforcement and we're just going leave it that way for now. He's back here in school. First of all, I still don't have all the facts surrounding this circumstance and situation and what went on. Until we find that out, I really have no intentions of taking action until I know what I'm taking action for or about. But he is back. He did cooperate. But we're just going to continue to let him take care of those issues and I'll address it when we get more information.
