Alabama Football: Nick Saban completes his onfield, assistant staff

Alabama Football is finished with hiring new assistant coaches for the 2021 season. Nick Saban is rescuing Jay Graham from the Tennessee Vols.

Nick Saban is reportedly finished with new Alabama Football assistant coach hires this offseason. Wednesday night, Matt Zenitz, Tim Watts and others reported the Crimson Tide’s new Tight Ends and Special Teams coach will be Jay Graham.

Until Nick Saban made the final decision, Graham was probably the fan’s favorite coach in Knoxville, and that includes newly hired Head Coach, Josh Heupel. Graham was a Volunteers’ running back in the early 1990s, playing for Phil Fulmer. He scored 27 touchdowns in his four-season Tennessee career. His 1995 season was his best, with over 1,400 yards rushing, pushing him near the top of Tennessee, single-season rushing records. In his return to Knoxville as a coach, he was the running backs coach for Jeremy Pruitt.

Before coaching for Pruitt, Graham was Jimbo Fisher’s running backs coach and special teams coordinator for two seasons. He had the same assignments for the Florida State Seminoles in 2013 through 2017 and coached with Pruitt in Tallahassee in 2013. From 2006 through 2011, Graham coached running backs and special teams at Chattanooga, UT Martin, Miami of Ohio and South Carolina. At South Carolina in 2011, he was also the special teams coach.

Graham will become Nick Saban’s tenth onfield assistant, replacing Jeff Banks, who left for the University of Texas. See the full list of 2021 Crimson Tide assistant coaches below.

• Defensive Coordinator and Inside Linebackers – Pete Golding
• Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks – Bill O’Brien
• Offensive Line – Doug Marrone
• Wide Receivers – Holman Wiggins
• Running Backs – Robert Gillespie
• Tight Ends and Special Teams – Jay Graham
• Defensive Line – Freddie Roach
• Outside Linebackers – Sal Sunseri
• Cornerbacks – Karl Scott
• Safeties – Charles Kelly

Six of the assistants return from the 2020 National Championship season. The four new hires have a broad range of experience. O’Brien and Marrone are former NFL head coaches. O’Brien was also a college head coach at Penn State. Robert Gillespie left the North Carolina Tar Heels to join the Alabama football staff.

Crimson Tide fans have been concerned losing Charles Huff (new Marshall head coach) and Jeff Banks would be a blow to recruiting. Huff and Karl Scott are No. 1 and No. 2 in 2021 class recruiting, as compiled by 247Sports. With the Crimson Tide’s record to sell and the considerable recruiting ability of Nick Saban, the new coaches should produce as well.

With a new staff in place and NSD next week, hopefully, Nick Saban can slow down enough to hit the golf links. He was in Mobile on Tuesday, supporting his Senior Bowl, Alabama football players and talking with NFL coaches.