Alabama Football: Tide Coordinators lay out focus for Monday

Both Alabama Football Coordinators, Bill O’Brien and Pete Golding were available to the media for questions on Wednesday. Certainly, no secrets were divulged, but there were perspectives shared to give fans some clues about Monday night.

Job one for both guys was to stay in their lane and not drift into what only Nick Saban can speak about publicly. O’Brien reached the edge of that constraint once, commenting about the transfer of Jameson Williams to Alabama. The Tide coach was asked if getting Jameson was like “hitting the free agency jackpot.”

His answer, compliments of Charlie Potter of 247Sports, Bama Online was,

"You know, it is similar to free agency but without the rules, to be honest with you. There are some rules in college, but the portal is an interesting deal. And I’ll stay away from that. I’ll let Coach Saban handle that."

O’Brien also gave Jameson a rave review, complimenting his work effort, his smarts,

"Excellent speed, excellent route runner, very competitive guy. He’s a very instinctive player. He’s a very smart player. And I can’t say enough about his competitiveness. He’s a player that goes out and practices every day like it’s a game."

Discussing Georgia, O’Brien commented his video review of the game showed more pressure on Bryce Young than the eight quarterback hurries credited to the Dawgs. Even without allowing a sack in the SEC Championship game, O’Brien emphasized the Tide’s pass protection needs to be better in the National Championship game.

Crimson Tide, Defensive Coordinator, Pete Golding disagreed with the notion of it being tough to play a team a second time.

"I don’t think it’s tough having to play somebody twice. I mean I know everybody talks about that and all that. But if you look at the NFL, you’re playing everybody in your division twice."

Alabama football fans have to like such a no-excuses mentality.

Golding seemed to indicate Jaylin Armour-Davis will not be physically ready for Monday. He did not say it but his comments on Khyree Jackson indicated who the starter will be.

"he (Khyree) competes. He’s playing hard right now. He’s got toughness. He’s got the length you want at corner. I think he can play the ball in the deep part of the field. I think he showed that. We just have to cross the T’s and dot the I’s and make sure he’s locked in knows what to do to give us our best chance."

Golding is a bright guy and has been credited with adding some concepts to Nick Saban’s defense. His closing comments on Wednesday gave an indication of how much he thinks as does his boss.

"you can’t get caught up in changing who you are and what you do just because you played somebody a second time …… we know the philosophy, we know what we believe in. It’s about execution, getting everybody on the same page and playing fast."

The Georgia Bulldogs have a strong staff, made up of smart, experienced, determined guys. But for Alabama football fans, listening to Nick Saban whenever he speaks, and listening to O’Brien and Golding on Wednesday, it is difficult to imagine another staff out-coaching the Alabama Crimson Tide.