🏈 Saban: No changes for Tide

[BAMANEWSBOT]

Don’t expect Alabama to make wholesale changes moving forward from two straight Sugar Bowl losses.

Coach Nick Saban expects his returning players to pick themselves up and rebuild for another run next season.

“I don’t really think that we’re going to change our philosophy ... ,” Saban said. “That philosophy has helped us win a lot of games, and hopefully it will continue to do the same thing in the future.”

Many of the younger players took to Twitter in the wake of the defeat to show they are ready for an intense offseason.

“We will be back,” freshman defensive lineman O.J. Smith wrote.

Freshman defensive lineman Josh Frazier concurred: “The journey was long. I’m glad for what this team has accomplished. We came up short but best believe we will see u again in the future.”

Saban hopes younger players learned enough from the veterans about preparation and the Alabama way.

They experienced the ups and downs of the season — an early loss to Ole Miss and an eight-game winning streak.

Equally important, they felt the anguish of losing in the College Football Playoff semifinals.

“I think there’s a lot of lessons to be learned from everything that was done here,” Saban said. “I think some younger players get the opportunity to see what it takes to play well in big games, to prepare well for big games.”

Players focused on the team and working together this season. That was the lesson learned from the Sugar Bowl loss a year ago.

Coaches and players felt the 2013 team took winning for granted and were shocked when it didn’t happen like expected.

This year’s team put in the effort knowing nothing was automatic and over achieved at times. The biggest problem was meeting lofty expectations.

Saban hopes those characteristics of hard work carry over into the next season.

“There’s a lot of lessons to be learned when you have success and there’s also a lot of lessons to learn when you have failings,” Saban said. “Hopefully, we’ll learn a lot from this experience and that will help us in the offseason.”

Once again there will be several key players leaving due to graduation and early entry in the NFL draft. It’s going to be another major reloading job.

A new starting quarterback, three receivers and three offensive linemen must be found on offense.

New starting safeties, an outside linebacker and inside linebacker are needed on defense.

Several younger players are ready to fill those positions from the part-time roles they played, but they need to take a big step forward in their physical development in the weight room and game understanding during spring practice.

“You really like to do as much as you can,” Saban said. “And when you feel like you come up a little short, you know, you certainly want to take responsibility for that.”

Jake Coker is expected to take over at quarterback, but Alec Morris, Cooper Bateman and David Cornwell are ready to compete.

Grant Hill, Dominick Jackson and Bradley Bozeman are next in line for more action on the offensive line.

Young receivers such as Chris Black, ArDarius Stewart, Cam Sims, Robert Foster and Raheem Falkins will be a focal point during the spring.

Expect to see Geno Smith, Laurence Jones and Jabriel Washington at safety. Reuben Foster and Shaun Dion Hamilton are the leading up-and-coming linebackers.

Alabama’s string of top-ranked recruiting classes stocked the cupboard, but now there’s an urgency in development.

“We definitely didn’t finish the season how we wanted to but we had a great season,” freshman linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton wrote on Twitter. “I learned so much in this one season. Win, Lose, or Draw our team gone still be together. We gone be back next year I promise!”


Decatur Daily—Continue reading...

 

[TerryP]

Not meant to hijack: It's interesting to me that following the Sugar Bowl win last year, and then their loss this season in the bowl game, OU/Stoops is having a major overhaul on his staff.

Norvell, Co-OC, is out. They are reported to be looking at, at the least, two more coaches being shown the door. One OK news outlet has reported his brother Mike is in the running for the vacant LSU DC position.

Back to regular programming...