Gary Danielson and Kirk Herbstreit on Lane Kiffin And Alabama's Offense

In the past week, CBS Sports commentator Gary Danielson and ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit have appeared on various radio shows and had positive things to say about Alabama’s offense as well as new offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin. The below quotes and summaries were taken from BamaOnline.

Kirk Herbstreit on The Herd with Colin Cowherd:

"“I think Alabama- what Lane Kiffin has done with their offense- I think it’s fascinating. All the Alabama fans and SEC fans when Lane Kiffin got hired (said ) ‘Nick Saban had the audacity to bring in Lane Kiffin to Tuscaloosa.’ Now, they’ve never seen an offense like what they’ve seen so far with an inexperienced quarterback like Blake Sims. I’ve had head coaches and defensive coordinators I’ve talked to in the last week say ‘this is scary now,’ and ‘now it’s officially scary,’ because Nick’s always won with defense and being tough and physical on offense with a good running game, but the scheme and the athletic ability they have at running back and receiver is frightening.”"

Gary Danielson on The Paul Finebaum Show:

"“The way Lane is coaching this team- he’s almost coaching this team on offense like a basketball coach instead of a football coach,” said Danielson. “It’s exactly what he did at USC. If a guy’s hot, he gets him the ball and forces (the defense) to match up. People have heard me do football games, it’s been nine years, in the SEC. One of my constant themes are what I learned when I grew up playing football and what my coaches told me in the NFL- create a pressure point and that pressure point can occur anywhere on the field. It can occur at a weak offensive tackle, it can occur with a great running back or a great wide receiver. That’s what Alabama has now. They have one great wide receiver (Amari Cooper) and Lane makes you tilt your defense to cover him, because he may line up anywhere on the field. He could line up in the slot, in the Y, the X, he can go in motion. That seemed to stress that Florida defense.”"

If you want to look for someone that was unsure of this hire at first, you need to look no further than the writer of this article. One of these days, I will learn to trust the man with all of the rings. During one of his press conferences this week, Saban called out the media for doubting the hire when it happened. “If I did what you all thought when I hired the guy, he wouldn’t even be here”, Saban said. He added, “I got beat up like a drum for doing it and now all of sudden, it’s great”.

Kiffin may not have a successful run as a head coach in various jobs but through four games, he is shining as an offensive coordinator. Not only has the Tide racked up 500-plus yards of offense in each game, they have also maintained their rushing attack by gaining 190-plus yards in all four games.

Gary Danielson and Kirk Herbstreit on Lane Kiffin And Alabama’s Offense

By Chris Hale | Sep 26, 2014