Nick Saban
Nick Saban
Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at the University of Alabama, a position he has held since the 2007 season. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins and three other universities: Louisiana State University, Michigan State University, and the University of Toledo. His eight-year contract totaling US$32 million made him one of the highest paid football coaches, professional or collegiate, in the United States at the...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth31 October 1951
CityFairmont, WV
CountryUnited States of America
We just want to continue to be able to let them develop and progress. We're not disappointed in anybody. We're actually encouraged by our ability to throw the ball with consistency in the game by all the quarterbacks.
We thought we could bat a lot of balls on him, and have some players who are athletes, ... When you're pressuring, getting as close to the quarterback as you are, that's got to be an advantage for you. You can't just cover on the back end.
He did some straight-line running (Monday). He threw the ball some. He took some easy drops. So it's not like this guy is not at a point where he can't start doing some things. Now, I didn't see all that. I'm just going on what the trainer and the people doing the rehab with him did. But he was there early and stayed late and worked hard. We were pleased with what he did.
We've been able to move the ball a little bit better,
We have a goal for how many explosive plays that we want to make. We don't want to make those explosive plays at the expense of making poor decisions that are going to turn into turnovers and interceptions. Taking care of the ball and managing the game are more important than that.
He's still hard to block. He does a great job of using his hands. He still plays with a lot of power. He still can rush and block people back to the quarterback. He's very instinctive on the field -- batting balls down and making a lot of plays. I think the guy is an astounding player and I think he's had a really good year doing what they expect him to do.
It was a close call. You don't want the game to come down to that situation if you're playing like you're supposed to for the 60 minutes in the game. Secondly, we need to be (holding) the ball so it's not close.
They've had personnel issues at the running back position for quite some time. They are getting those guys back now and I think those guys are playing better and better. I think they're as healthy as they've been all year. I think that's the key to it. They ran the ball effectively down here. Heath Evans was basically playing tailback. I don't think there is anything wrong with their running game; I just think that they haven't had all the players available in all the right spots being healthy this year that can help them develop the running game more quickly, but it's certainly developing nicely now.
The offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage much better in this game. When you run the ball for five yards per carry, that's a good job. And we had pretty decent protection for the quarterbacks.
Ronnie did a nice job in the game. I'm sure nobody feels worse about fumbling the ball in the situation at the end of the game than he does and that's something that we'll have to learn and grow from.
There are good players at every spot. Including 16.
The players showed a lot of pride in their part to establish an identity we're trying to form here,
There are a lot of things we think Chris Chambers is capable of doing and to have success like this will help his confidence and maybe we'll continue to see some big-play potential there, that we've always thought existed.
When you have reached the pinnacle as a player of what you have always aspired for, what's your motivation? ... Some guys just work their tail off because they want to be good. It's important to them and their pride. Those guys have a better chance to succeed than the guy who did all of that to get here, and now all of a sudden the things that got him here don't seem to be important anymore.