Crimson Tide Coach Nick Saban Talks USC and ‘Going Country’
By Chris Hale
Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban kicked off another season for Hey Coach! on Thursday live from Bob’s Victory Grille in Tuscaloosa, Al.
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Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide will depart today for Arlington, Texas, as the team travels to be in the Lone Star to prepare for Saturday’s big game with the USC Trojans.
You may think that the football conversation on the first night was hot and heavy and it was. However, as a musician, one thing definitely caught my attention.
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Saban told Eli Gold, the other media members present, and the fans listening there at Bob’s or at home about his music. According to the head coach, his iPod in his car currently has around 100 songs with selections by Michael Jackson, the Eagles, the Rolling Stones and even added that he programmed some country on there. Saban said that country music superstar Alan Jackson was his neighbor at Lake Burton and he had started listening to some of his music.
He did talk some football, though. He is still sticking to his guns about the Crimson Tide quarterback situation for the Tide against USC. That is Cooper Bateman and Blake Barnett competing for the starting job but he also added that no one has been eliminated from the competition. Saban also said that if he knew, he wouldn’t tell anyone there so I think that means it will be Saturday just before kickoff before we know.
During one of the telephone calls, Saban mentioned to PeeWee from Grand Bay that Jonah Williams could possibly be moved to center.
Saban did bring up the depth concerns on the defensive line and in the secondary and said that would be something to watch this season. The talent like last year is relatively the same, but it’s the next wave to come in that has his ears perked up a bit.
Two other Tide players Saban mentioned were O.J. Howard and Gehrig Dieter. Saban said that Howard had improved every single season he had been in Alabama but the Tide coaching staff hadn’t done a great job of getting the ball into his hands. I think we saw those changes start to come back late last season. On Dieter, he described him as crafty and compared him to the sure-handed Richard Mullaney. I’ll take that.
Against the Trojans, the Tide will more than likely see some RPOs or run, pass, option plays. The good news is Saban was told by the league that there would be more illegal man downfield plays called.
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Before heading home to prepare to travel, Saban reminded the fans that Alabama will always have that target on its back. He also mentioned fans taking a step back to enjoy it all. I started to remember this games around 1985 so yes, I know exactly what he means.