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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — On Wednesday evening, Alabama coach Nick Saban held his final press conference before the Crimson Tide’s Week 10 road game against the LSU Tigers on Saturday, Nov. 3. Below is everything Saban said in a brief, post-practice press conference.
Opening statement…
“First, the first thing I’d like to do is I got a lot of messages from a lot of fans, supporters, family, a lot of people I have really good relationships with and one of the bad things about this job is you can’t respond to all that stuff but I do appreciate very much all the birthday wishes. I guess a lot of kids will have a lot of fun on Halloween so we wish them the best, too.
“Things have gone pretty well for us this week. Players are working hard. I’ve talked before about how important it is this time of year to play your best football because it’s how you finish that’s really going to determine the identity of the team. I think a lot of that comes in your ability to make some kind of self-evaluation of… I don’t think you can improve if you can’t self-evaluate.
“There are three things you should always be evaluating. What is my effort? Am I putting in what I need to put in to be able to improve? And how do I stay focused with my mental energy and intensity? Whether it’s a meeting, whether it’s watching film, whether it’s practice, whatever it is… And then, do I know how to do my job? What to do, how to do it, why it’s important to do it that way. Then technically go out there and do it because in games like this, they usually come down to which team executes the best. Blocking, tackling, playing together as a unit. People staying in their gaps, everybody doing what they’re suppose to do, playing with discipline, maintaining your poise, responding to adversity.
“So if you can self-evaluate, you can really stay in the moment a little bit better and it also helps you to improve. I think the players understand what they’re playing against, who they’re playing against, and the quality of team they’re playing against and they’re working hard to get ready.”
On what he’s seen from both punters the last couple of weeks…
“Both guys have really improved. Skyler has improved, Mike has improved. Both guys have improved. Hopefully that will carry over into the game and we can improve our consistency in that area to some degree.”
On difference in LSU’s defense this year…
“I don’t think they do a lot of things different. I think they do things really, really well. I think they understand their scheme. I think they have a really good scheme. I think their players play the scheme well, they have a great understanding of what they’re supposed to do. They have a really good third down package in terms of lots of different guys dropping different places, different guys rushing, mixing up zones and mans. And their players, they’ve got good players and their players do a good job of executing and playing together and they don’t make a lot of mental errors. So I don’t think it’s a different scheme, I just think they do a really good job of executing it.”
On Xavier McKinney and those safety blitzes…
“X is a really good player, he’s very explosive. He’s got really good speed. He’s a very instinctive guy. He’s got cover ability for a safety which I think is really, really important so we make him be the money guy or the sixth DB in the box as much as we can. Same thing we did with Minkah on third down last year. He can do that because he can cover well, he’s a good blitzer. He’s physical, he’s a good tackler. I think all of those things are sort of the modern-day safety. The big, old-fashioned strong safety who comes up and takes on the sweep and kicks out the guard, those days are kind gone. You have to be able to cover people, spread out, cover RPOs. He does a good job as a deep field player as well as in the short areas of the field, which I think is important in this day and age at his position.”
On if his approach in recruiting changes if it’s in Louisiana or the son of an NFL player…
“I think recruiting is all about relationships. People need to feel comfortable with what you’re trying to do, what your philosophy is, the kind of value you’re trying to create for them. I think if it’s a son of an NFL player, they really appreciate it because they’ve been through it and they know what it takes. But it doesn’t really matter where they’re from. Not everybody is looking for the same thing when they go to college. So we have a lot of good things here, we create a lot of value for players, we have a lot of players come through here and leave with the ability to be a lot more successful in their life than when they came. I think that’s the overall goal that we have and I think people see that and people who want to do that are interested in coming to school here. I don’t think it really matters a lot where they’re from.”
On Josh Gattis…
“Josh is a very good coach, he’s a very bright guy. He’s been in some good systems. He has a good understanding of the big picture, offensively. He’s very technical in terms of how he coaches and teaches his players and they have a good understanding. He has a really good personality. But he’s also demanding. He can confront and demand guys when they’re not doing things the way they’re supposed to do them and I think that’s created a lot of consistency in our receivers and it’s also improved their toughness and their mental toughness to sustain. We’ve got some good players and he’s got them really playing well.”
Full video of press conference…
Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports’ personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).
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