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Bama News
What we learned from Nick Saban during A-Day broadcast
The Alabama coach provided some live commentary during Saturday's spring game.
One of the unique aspects of Alabama’s spring game was a microphone capturing Nick Saban’s commentary both to his players and to ESPN analysts Kirk Herbstreit and Joey Galloway on the field.
Here are some of what we learned during the television broadcast of Saturday’s game:
FIRST QUARTER
-- In their pregame meeting with the announcing crew, the offensive staff said Keilan Robinson is expected to be a “do-it-all guy” for Alabama this season. Robinson, who opted out last season, was listed at running back on the school’s website before being switched to wide receiver last week, then back to running back. He was listed as both on Saturday’s roster, but was used at running back.
-- Offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien told the broadcast crew he is “very confident” in Slade Bolden’s ability to play even outside the slot receiver position.
-- Saban said there will not be a lot different about O’Brien calling plays but “we’re always trying to bring new ideas.” Saban added that it has been difficult for the one returning offensive assistant, receivers coach Holmon Wiggins, to give all the other new coaches the answers to their questions.
-- Saban said he was “pleased” with Bryce Young’s opening drive, which Saban noted ended in a dropped catch by sophomore receiver Traeshon Holden that “would’ve been a touchdown.”
-- Saban said he “really feels good” about the running back position. He noted in particular Roydell Williams has “really played well” this spring. In his rundown of that group, Saban mentioned Williams, senior Brian Robinson, sophomore Jase McClellan and Keilan Robinson -- but not Trey Sanders, who was uniform but did not play Saturday as he recovers from last year’s car accident.
-- Saban yelled to his players that a penalty by the white (first-team) offense late in the first quarter was a “mental error.” Tight end Cameron Latu, who caught an 8-yard pass on second-and-9, was called for being an ineligible receiver downfield because Holden was lined up on the line of scrimmage on that side of the field, instead of behind it.
SECOND QUARTER
-- Quarterback Paul Tyson threw across the field for a third-down incompletion early in the second quarter. Freshman tight end Robbie Ouzts appeared to be open shorter across the middle, and Saban could be heard telling Tyson that Ouzts was “wide open” because the safety, Daniel Wright, was playing “outside technique” against him.
-- O’Brien told the broadcast that tight end Cameron Latu might be the most improved Alabama player this spring.
-- When Herbstreit told Saban that Young looked good at quarterback, Saban responded, “That ain’t the problem!”
-- Saban said of Agiye Hall after his 37-yard second-quarter catch, “[He’s] a really good freshman prospect. We’re trying to get him to where we can move him around some so that we can get him the ball more. He’s been playing to the field the whole time at ‘Z,’ so I told them to move him around so we can get him the ball. He’s one of the most explosive players on this team.” Added O’Brien to the broadcast team of Hall: “He’s going to be awesome.”
-- Playing with the second-team defense during a goal line stand by the second-team offense, freshman linebacker Ian Jackson, from Prattville, drew the ire of Saban about a “spear” call on defense. “C’mon man, you got to know what to do!” On the next possession, Saban sought out first-team inside linebacker Jaylen Moody about the same call. Alabama was without junior linebackers Christian Harris and Shane Lee on Saturday.
-- Saban told Young he was lucky a second-quarter throw toward freshman linebacker Deontae Lawson was “not a pick-six.” It seemed Saban was upset at how Young held the ball on the play.
-- Saban took issue with the speed of the first-team offense on its long drive late in the first half, imploring that group to get lined up quicker.
-- After Tyson took an 11-yard sack late in the first half, his third of the game, Saban told the quarterback, “That’s a sack, Paul,” and could later be heard saying, “Don’t hold the ball.”
-- On the next play, a drop by Xavier Williams along the sideline, Saban told Tyson, “all they’re playing is cover-7. We got [Agiye Hall] on the safety, wide open.” Herbstreit then asked Saban what he wanted to see from the quarterback. “Managing, making good decisions about where they go with the ball,” Saban responded. “Knowing what they’re playing on defense, and manage the situation -- don’t take a sack.”
-- When Young was strip-sacked late in the first half for a defensive touchdown, Saban asked Young if he had two hands on the ball but Young explained that he was in his throwing motion.
-- On Young’s final drive of the first half, with less than a minute on the clock, Saban pulled the quarterback aside and told him he can’t be “wasting eight seconds while we’re calling the play.”
-- On third-and-5 with 11 seconds left, Saban told the offense it needed to gain five yards and call a timeout to kick a field goal. Young threw deeper over the middle of the field on third down. Saban told Young on fourth down the “ball’s got to come out quick” with six seconds left, but Young scrambled up the middle and out of bounds as the clock expired, despite Saban’s plea for a timeout.
-- Saban said at halftime he was “very pleased” with Young, noting the dropped passes and protection issue on the strip sack. Of Latu’s 59-yard touchdown, Saban said, “Nobody covered the tight end. We don’t have any defenses like that where nobody covers the tight end. Somebody made a mental error.”
THIRD QUARTER
-- Saban had words for freshman Ga’Quincy ‘Kool-Aid’ McKinstry after the opening kickoff of the second half, telling him not to “walk on the god-damn field.”
-- On a 28-yard catch by Hall early in the second quarter called back by an illegal formation penalty, walk-on receiver Joshua Lanier was on the line of scrimmage along with tight end Major Tennison, causing the flag. “If he’s on, you can’t be on,” Saban reminded Lanier afterward.
-- After back-to-back first down catches in the third quarter, Saban said of Hall, “He’s got good size. He can make a lot of contested catches. He’s got juice. He can run down the field. He made a big play and it got called back because we had an illegal formation.”
-- Herbstreit noted that the coaching staff feels sophomore Tim Smith has the best chance to replace Christian Barmore as a “twitchy” interior pass rusher. Defensive coordinator Pete Golding told the broadcast that Smith has the highest ceiling.
-- During a third quarter interview, former Alabama receiver DeVonta Smith said Young was up to 2 a.m. looking at the playbook the night before road games
-- After Bolden attempted a pass, which fell incomplete, Saban said, “Slade, I can throw it behind my back better than that. I mean, I could whip it behind my back.”
-- Saban told Herbstreit of freshmen tackles Tommy Brockermeyer and J.C. Latham, “they both are gonna be really good players.” The five-star recruits played with the second-team offense (crimson) on Saturday.
FOURTH QUARTER
-- O’Brien told the broadcast team that there is more competition in position rooms at Alabama than in the NFL, partly because of larger roster sizes in college.
-- Saban noted to the broadcast team that freshman quarterback Jalen Milroe, who was not available Saturday to play, flipped his commitment from Texas even after Alabama initially picked another quarterback, Drake Maye, over him. Maye de-committed last year in favor of North Carolina.
-- Saban told the broadcast team about the new transfer rule, in the words of Joe Tessitore, that it will “devastate parity, because only the rich will get richer. [Saban] said, listen, we all believe in players’ rights, but we also believe -- and this is key, because at the end of the day he’s a teacher -- that perseverance equals success, and that you’re taking that away from the process of college football players, in sticking with things.”
-- Galloway relayed that Saban said good players on non-top tier teams will be willing to come to schools like Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson, but that good players will not leave those particular schools. “That’s why he’s saying the rich will continue to get richer, because they will have their choice of players to come here,” Galloway continued.
-- When Tyson threw wide of Hall along the sideline, Saban could be overheard telling Tyson that the slant routes were open on the other side of the field, with more room to throw because of where the ball was placed on the hash marks. Saban could be seen -- but not heard -- having another talk with Tyson after he walked off following a third-and-long throw away.
-- Tessitore said, presumably relaying from the broadcast meetings with coaches, of Milroe, “Everybody is blown away by his pure speed, and he has a really strong arm. The kind of guy that needs to work on some refinement in the passing game, but he’s a different level fast, both quick-twitch and straight-line speed.”
-- Added Herbstreit of Milroe, “When we sat down with the coaches, and even a few of the players, everybody -- everybody -- brought him up to all of us. Someone would leave the room and another person would come in, and we’d ask some of the similar questions -- and somehow it would get back to who’s really flashed, and every person would bring him up.” Herbstreit said O’Brien and Saban need to figure out whether Tyson or Milroe will be the No. 2 quarterback.
-- Saban told the broadcast team that there were 12 players not available or injured for Saturday’s game that would have shown up on the two-deep depth chart. RB Brian Robinson, WR John Metchie, OL Emil Ekiyor, DL Phil Mathis, OLB Will Anderson, ILB Christian Harris, ILB Shane Lee, OLB Drew Sanders and DB Malachi Moore were certainly in that group, while Saban could have also been referencing other players out in Milroe, RB Trey Sanders, OL Darrian Dalcourt, OL Pierce Quick, DL Braylen Ingraham, CB Marcus Banks and P Ty Perine. Freshmen receivers Ja’Corey Brooks and Christian Leary also did not play.
