Bama Head Man Lays It All Out There At SEC Media Days
Another large crowd was awaiting the arrival. SEC Media Days featured, first thing this morning, Alabama head football coach Nick Saban. The guys on the SEC Network called him "The Big Dog", and he is.
Saban had a very pleasant opening statement this morning, welcoming everyone, recognizing the passing of Kenny Stabler and offering condolences to his family, and addressing the football team and their summer since spring practice and A-Day. This is Saban's 14th SEC Media conference, the 9th as head coach of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide.
Saban mentioned his daughter's wedding, and spoke of it as being "a marvelous experience." He mentioned that having lived in 17 different houses across the country, it was nice to have people from all those different areas come to Tuscaloosa to visit and catch up during the occasion.
He spoke of losing "a great ambassador at the University of Alabama in Kenny Stabler recently, and certainly one of the all-time great competitors at the University of Alabama, and in the NFL, and a great friend of ours."
Saban said the team has "done extremely well in terms of their decision-making and judgment. Academics has been a real strong suit for us at the University of Alabama. It goes a little unnoticed, but we actually have been one of the top schools in graduation rate in our conference and on a national basis, also in terms of NPR rating by the NCAA..."
He spoke of a meeting with the team yesterday. He said he wanted "to reiterate to them how well (he) thinks they are doing this summer...working hard, everybody's all in to doing things the way we want them to do them...not a lot of negative energy around...a lot of positive energy, a lot of good character, a lot of leadership. And I think, to continue to build good relationships."
Saban said, "It's important for players to do the right thing, at the right time, the right way, and do it all the time, to have a vision for what they want to accomplish, and to understand the defined process of things that they have to do...personally, academically, and athletically. It takes a lot of discipline to be able to execute that everyday, and that's something we certainly try to get our players to buy into."
Saban had a great comment concerning discipline itself. He said, "Discipline to me is...you know, here's something I know I'm supposed to do, that I really don't want to do...Can you make yourself do it? And then over here there is something that you know you're not supposed to do, that you want to do...Can you keep yourself from doing it?
"So this is the kind of decision-making that creates a moral compass for all of us to help us do the right things, to stay focused on the process of what we need to accomplish our goals and aspirations and something that's certainly going to be important for our team to do a good job of if we're going to be able to have the kind of team that we'd like to have."
Saban then said, "It's going to be a challenge for our team to reestablish the identity that we would like to play with. We want to be more physical, tougher on the line of scrimmage, be relentless in the way that we compete so that we're never affected by what happens in the game that we can keep playing at a high level on a consistent basis...and that we take care of the ball, and do the kind of things to execute with consistency that's going to give our team the best chance to have success.
"These are things that we need to improve on. We did not finish the season the way that we wanted to last year in terms of the way we played. And some of these things, we turned the ball over a lot at the end of the season, we gave up too many explosive plays on defense, we gave up too many points because of a combination of all those things. So, we need to improve, you know, in all those areas.
"So this year's team has its challenges like all teams do. You know, in college football you probably lose 25% of your team every year, which is what makes it great...makes it fun to rebuild. But this year, especially on offense, we're going to have a lot of new faces. And we have some talented players. They don't have a lot of experience, so how rapidly they develop is going to be a key to how well we come together on offense.
"I know you're anxious to ask me about the quarterback situation, but that's going to be one of the keys to the drill in terms of somebody taking the bull by the horns at that position...being assertive, playing with confidence, distributing the ball, executing in a positive way, being a good decision-maker, and showing leadership at the same time. We do not have an experienced player at that position. We did not have one last year....
"So we need somebody to take the bull by the horns this year and be that kind of player at that position. And I think we have several guys that are capable of it. I don't think anybody's come to the forefront as of yet. And I don't think it's something that we can force to happen. I think we gotta let it happen. And I cannot give you a time table of when that's going to happen.
"Defensively we have a lot more experience, a lot more veteran returning players. We're going to have a very, very good front seven. And I think it's important that the secondary does not give up the kind of explosive plays that we gave up at the end of the season last year.
"And I think it's also important that, if we're going to be a no-huddle team like we were last year, I think we have to manage the season better with our team...because I think at the end of the season last year we ran out of gas a little bit. We played more plays, I think, by 170 on defense which is like a couple or three more games. And our players showed it. So we're going to have to do a better job of keeping our team where they need to be so that we can finish strong.
"You know we have some outstanding specialists on our team. We have a great punter, I think a good field goal kicker who seems to be healthy again. And because we have good team speed and depth, especially on defense it should contribute in a positive way to being very, very strong on special teams.
"So even though this team has its challenges, it also has a lot of very good returning players that can provide leadership and example for a lot of other young players so that we can have a very competitive team."
Saban then spoke of the difficulty of this season's schedule, saying it would be very difficult just like everyone else's in this league. "In our league you're going to have to look at it like...there are always going to be seven or eight teams that can beat you...so it's important that you build a team that looks at every game as the challenge, and plays at a high level on a consistent basis so that gives you the best opportunity to have success long term. "
From there Saban took questions.
More from SEC Media Days, and especially the University of Alabama, later today.
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Miss. State Praises Lane Kiffin's Offensive Strategy
Photo Credit: Randy Sartin, USA TODAY Sports
Mullen said, "Lane does an excellent job of trying to isolate players. Last year they had a go-to guy in Amari Cooper. You look at last year. Statistically, he had just about every catch on their team, almost it seemed like. And every opportunity they had, they were trying to get him the ball. We played them, and he had two huge catches. Both times we knew they were going to do that. We had two guys on him and it still didn't make a difference.
"I think Lane does a great job with that. When he (Kiffin) has a star player, he's going to highlight that guy and get him the ball, and you have to find a way to stop him. And that certainly makes it challenging."
Of course Bama lost Cooper to the NFL draft, as well as Blake Sims, the quarterback responsible for getting the ball to him. The Tide must come up with replacements for both.
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Kenyan Drake Came To UA To Be A Winner
University of Alabama running back Kenyan Drake presented himself quite well today at SEC Media days, and represented his school well.
Drake has been with the Crimson Tide for three seasons, but he's been hampered by injuries throughout. In that time he has rushed for 1,087 yards and 17 touchdowns. Last season was cut short due to a broken leg in Bama's loss to Ole Miss.
Drake has been a part of two Southeastern Conference Championship teams, coming in 2012 and 2014. In fact, he was there when Bama defeated his in-state team, the Georgia Bulldogs, in the 2012 title game 32-28.
Why did Drake pick Bama over his childhood favorite Georgia? "I think it was because of the fact that it was Alabama and I like to be a winner," commented Drake. Honestly, at the end of the day, going to Alabama would put me in the best position to be the person I want to be on and off the field."
Bama head coach Nick Saban expects that Drake will contribute to the Tide's offense in a number of ways this season. He showed us a little of his receiving ability this past spring. Some of his teammates are even comparing him to Reggie Bush of the San Francisco 49ers, and former USC standout.
Crimson Tide fans are certainly appreciative of the fact that Kenyan Drake chose Bama.
