Everything Nick Saban said following Alabama’s 2023 A-Day Game
On a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Tuscaloosa, Nick Saban and the Alabama football team completed the spring football activities with the annual A-Day game inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.
In an intense battle, the Crimson team outlasted the White team with a 30-21 victory to earn the famous steak dinner.
We now have all offseason to debate which quarterback should take the reigns of the Alabama offense this fall when the Crimson Tide take on Middle Tennessee State on Sept. 2.
Following the conclusion of A-Day, Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban would make his way to the podium to wrap up spring football with a press conference.
Let’s take a look at everything he had to say!
Opening statement
“I think, all in all, we had a good spring. I really like the spirit and the energy of this team. I think that everybody in spring practice probably gets tired of competing against each other in some point in time, but it was good to go out and play in front of a crowd today. I think that energized players, to some degree, and I was very pleased with the crowd that we had. I think it goes a long way to helping people see what kind of passion we have for the football program and the football team and how we support the team.
“The way you eliminate that is players are committed to doing what they need to do to play winning football, which means they’re committed to what they need to do to help the team be successful, and they don’t ignore the things that are important to winning. They respect those things, they buy into them, they do those things every day to create the kind of habits that will enable us to go out and be the kind of team that we’re capable of.
“Obviously, we had a lot of young guys out there, but I think the experience they gained throughout this spring was invaluable and will certainly help us in several positions on our team. And I like this team. I look forward to this team. Are there things that we need to do better? No doubt. And we’ll focus on those things and work to improve so that they’re not issues for us in the fall. But this was a good test, I think. The good guys against the good guys. The ones played against the ones, the twos played against the twos, and I think that makes the game more challenging and a little bit easier to evaluate how people did.”
On the benefit of having quarterbacks who have been in the program awhile
“I think the people that have been in the program obviously have an advantage, to some degree, because they know the system, they’ve had a lot of reps in the system. But I also think everybody needs to ask themselves, with every position you play, are you playing winning football at that position and can you play winning football at that position?
“And I think that’s a better answer to the question, who can do that the best, and those are evaluations that we have to make as coaches at every position. We’ve tried to build this program here with the guys that we recruit and the people in the program, but we have had a few guys that have come in and made real impacts on the team. And we see an opportunity to do that, we’re always looking for a way to make our team better.”
On the toughness, physicality of this Alabama team
“I like this team’s toughness. I think they’re physical, they play hard. We don’t have a bunch of guys that are soft or looking for an easy way. They try to please the coaches. They try to play with intensity. I think we have better practice habits than we’ve had in the past. And I think that mentality gets developed in the offensive line, the defensive line and on special teams, and I think we have some guys that are trying to step up and do that.”
On freshmen QBs Eli Holstein and Dylan Lonergan
“I think that both guys are making progress. I think Dylan Lonergan has shown that he’s got a little more poise playing the position. He’s accurate throwing the ball. But Eli’s made good progress, too. I think he got in a hurry a few times today, which he was gonna do the right thing, but he also had a couple balls that were dropped that would have helped him. We wanted to get each one of those freshmen at least three series out there. Dylan kind of moved the team a little better. I’m pleased with the progress that they’re making, and I think they both have bright futures.”
On the positives, challenges for Jalen Milroe and Ty Simpson
“I think the big thing we were working on with the quarterbacks is fundamentally what they have to do to be able to process what is the defense doing, alright, get a pre-read of what are they playing. Are they playing Cover 2? Are they playing Cover 7? Are they playing 3-deep zone? So that you have a plan in your mind, ‘This is where I’m reading, this is where I’m going and this is the progression that I wanna go through,’ and trust in that and believe in that and not start drifting around in the pocket before you give up on what your read might be.
“Because I think we have pretty good skill guys, I think we have guys that can make plays and as a quarterback, it’s not only just the plays that you can make – and I like both guys’ athleticism to be able to extend plays and get out of trouble and make plays with their feet, which they did a couple times today. But at the same time, I think we’ve gotta work on going through progressions and develop confidence in the passing game so that we can distribute the ball to other people who can make plays more effectively and more efficiently.”
On Malachi Moore as a blitzer
“He’s actually played safety all spring long. He didn’t play Star at all because we’ve been developing Earl (Little) at Star. But when we had a couple guys get in the portal, they were both Stars, so Malachi had to go back and play Star, and Earl, who’s been practicing a lot with the ones, actually had to play with the twos because it was the best thing for the team for us to get through today and have two guys that had experience at that position.
“But Malachi’s just a very instinctive player. He’s got lots of reps at doing the things, like some of the blitzes, we’re reading the tackle. If he sets deep, we’re gonna come underneath. A lot of the other guys hadn’t had the experience doing it that he’s had, so that makes him an effective blitzer because he’s reading it the right way. But he’s a smart player, he’s very instinctive and he’s been a good leader in the secondary all spring long.”
On freshman running back Justice Haynes
“Justice is a really good player. He had a great spring. He’s got great maturity about him. You wouldn’t know he was a freshman if you didn’t know better. Nothing is too big for him in terms of learning, going out and executing. He’s not intimidated by anything. The guy’s got toughness. He can run behind his pads. He’s got good speed. He’s a good receiver. He can make you miss. So I think he’s got a really bright future, and I think he will contribute to the team this year.”
On what he wants to see from the receivers in terms of drops to help the quarterbacks
“We’re looking at the big picture, so we’re looking at the 15 days in total of how those guys played. Isaiah Bond had a really good spring. Ja’Corey Brooks had a good spring. Jermaine Burton had a really good spring. I think (Malik Benson), who made some catches at the end of the game today, has got a chance to be a real contributor. (Emmanuel Henderson) is getting better all the time, made a really nice touchdown catch today. I think we’ve got the right combination of people at that position. We still need to pay better attention to detail in route running and sort of get a better, like, chemistry between quarterback and receiver so that we can develop confidence in the passing game.”
On evaluating young players
“We’re gonna play the guys that give us the best chance to win. I make all our decisions based on winning, who can play the best. It doesn’t make any difference if you’re a fifth-year senior or a freshman. If you’re the guy that can go out there – and if you took all the players on our team, you think the players on our team don’t know who the best players are? They absolutely do. So if you’re a coach and you don’t play the best players, you’re not gonna have the respect of your team because they know who the best are. They know who they have confidence in. They know who they trust and respect that are gonna go be able to be accountable to do their job. You can’t lose sight of that.
“So it really has nothing to do with age. It has everything to do with accountability and are you dependable to go out there and do your job. Whether a good thing happens or a bad thing happens, you’ve gotta play the next play. So we use all these things as learning experiences so guys do grow and develop the kind of maturity they need so that they can play in difficult circumstances, and obviously, guys with experience should be able to do that better. But they have to prove that they can do it just like the young guys do.”
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