Takeaways From Coach Saban on "Hey Coach"

I didn’t get to tune in to “Hey Coach” tonight with Nick Saban due to other things that came up but I did read Al.com’s comments and rundown of what was said on the show. I will try to touch on a lot of them here.

1) Coach Saban once again mentioned how much he liked this team’s attitude. Like I said in a previous post, last year’s team just seemed to have some tension around it toward the middle part of the season until the end of the year. There were a lot of rumors but I won’t mention those because they never really were substantiated. This team seems to support each other. You can hear it in the interviews and see it on the field. That cohesiveness will go a long way.

2) Alabama and Florida have a lot of the same tendencies. Saban said that Florida has a good front seven and a good defense. Coach Muschamp and Saban have worked together and Muschamp more than likely learned a good deal from the teacher. It should make for a fun match-up. Like everyone knows, you have to bring it every week to play in the SEC. By all indications, this Florida is much improved from last season.

3) Coach Saban said that he gave the team a speech about judgement today. He said that in all of his years of coaching, he had never seen the the public have such a low respect for players with all of the recent off the field issues. I wonder if this had something to do with a certain Florida State quarterback shouting obscenities in the middle of the student union? It probably did. As soon as I heard that, I immediately thought “What in the world would Saban do if that was someone on our team?”. I know all of us have probably said something similar but maybe not as vulgar. However, I know for a fact I have never stood up in front of a lot of people and screamed it.

4) The SEC Western Division is stacked. Just look at the polls. Whichever team ends up winning it, it will be well deserved. Coach Saban said that he feels Arkansas is the most improved team and that Mississippi State is the most underrated. If you look at the win and loss records thus far, the SEC West has only lost one game. And that was one SEC West team against another.

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5) Saban on the quarterbacks. You really didn’t think Saban could get through an appearance where the public can ask questions without talking about that, did you? Saban said he has been really surprised at the way Blake Sims has played, but in a good way. He also added that he has disproved a lot of people as well as his teammates. Add me to this list, too. If you would have showed me some tape from Sims in the spring game and some from this season, I would have told you that there is no way that is the same quarterback. He put in a lot of work and I know I’m glad for him. Saban also said that Jake Coker would be performing better if he had gotten to Alabama a little earlier. I think that is the only thing holding him back. You can see that he is good but the game just seems fast to him. Look out next season though.

6) Saban gives credit to a few different players during the show. First off he mentioned, starter and freshman left tackle Cameron Robinson saying that he is just going to keep getting better and better. He’s getting noticed now by the media for his performance. Just imagine at the end of this season and next season. Good times ahead. Saban named JUCO transfer Dominick Jackson has probably the best backup. He’s one of the ones I’m excited about and almost went in to a fit during the last game when he was in at fullback. Saban also said that Jonathan Allen was one of the more consistent players and one of the most improved as well.

7) Saban had a few things on defending the hurry up offenses and offenses in general. He said you have to adapt what you do in practice when you face these teams. As everyone knows, the hurry up offenses can limit what formation you are in because you can’t change but Saban says they believe they have gotten better. With the speed and need for substituting players in and out, he said you need more athletic players ready to go. I think that is why we saw a change in the type of players we recruited this last season. Saban also said you have to have more types of players on defense and we had too many big guys last year.

8) Make some noise. This goes without saying. It’s our first SEC game for 2014. If you are going to be there, make Bryant-Denny Stadium as loud as you possibly can. Alabama fans are smart. If they see the quarterback trying to audible out of the play, they make noise. Leave the Gators holding their ears from the noise and let’s send them home with a loss.

Here is the entire audio from Al.com.

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Takeaways From Coach Saban on “Hey Coach”

By Chris Hale | Sep 19, 2014