Alabama Football: Best-Ever Nick Saban Assistant Coaches
By Ronald Evans
Alabama Football Assistant: Defensive Backs
The Nominees: Kirby Smart (2007-2009 and 2014); Jeremy Pruitt (2010-2012); Greg Brown (2013); Mel Tucker (2015); Derrick Ansley (2016-2017) and Karl Scott (2018)
Self-proclaimed graduate assistant, Nick Saban is not on the list of nominees but he probably should have been included. Nick Saban’ s principles and schemes define the entire defense and are followed by all his defensive assistants. But it has been among the defensive backs where Nick has remained a hands-on coach.
That is not to say, the assistants listed above had minimal impact on the Crimson Tide secondary. On the contrary, they were just as active as any other assistants on the Crimson Tide staffs.
One example of how active Nick Saban has been as a defensive backs coach goes back to Eddie Jackson. The story Jackson tells is in 2013 when he and Amari Cooper were freshmen, Amari was beating him over and over in drills. Saban sternly told Eddie he better keep working because he was not taking him off Cooper. Eddie Jackson may have been the first, but he was not the last SEC defensive back who could not cover Amari. It worked out okay for Eddie, thanks in part, to Nick Saban.
Honorable mention: Nick Saban