Nick Saban bristles at idea resting Tua Tagovailoa vs. The Citadel
No, Alabama will not rest Tua Tagovailoa or any of its other players when The Citadel visits Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday.
And Nick Saban is annoyed you would even ask.
Alabama routinely schedules an FCS opponent, usually from the Southern Conference, for the week before the Iron Bowl. Last year it was Mercer. The year before was Chattanooga. This year The Citadel and its option offense will make the trip to Tuscaloosa.
“This is a challenge for us and our players. We certainly look forward to it,” Saban said. “We respect every team that we play. We certainly have to look at what they do and make sure we’re sound against it. I think it will be a team effort.”
Tua Tagovailoa will play
Tagovailoa, the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, left Saturday’s game against Mississippi State after taking a hit to the knee. He has been dealing with a knee sprain for the last month or so, but Saban said Tagovailoa is “OK” and will be able to participate in practice this week.
But if you thought Alabama would consider limiting the amount Tagovailoa plays just because The Citadel is an FCS opponent, you don’t know Saban.
“No. Why would we do that? To say this isn’t an important game or he doesn’t need to play? I think we need to do a better job of the people playing around him doing what they’re supposed to do so he doesn’t get hit. And he needs to do a better job of stepping up in the pocket and getting rid of the ball, which he had several opportunities to do,” Saban said.
“Some of these hits could be avoided by better execution, and I think that’s what we’re going to focus on, not trying to take a guy out of the game so he can’t improve or do what he needs to do to get better.”
‘I’m not really interested in any of your suggestions’
To wrap up the press conference, Saban got a question about how healthy his players are at this point in the season. That led Saban back to the point — one he makes seemingly every year — about respecting the opponent.
“We’re not going to take the approach in any game that we play that we’re not going to play players and take guys out and do all this and play somebody else and assume that the opponent that we’re playing is not capable of being very competitive,” Saban said.
“That can be your mindset. That’s not my mindset. That’s not our mindset. That’s not going to be the mindset of our players. I’m not really interested in any of your suggestions about how we should manage our team and what we should do to get better regardless of what you think just because we’re playing the Citadel.”
Classic Saban.
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