Nick Saban
Nick Saban
Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at the University of Alabama, a position he has held since the 2007 season. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins and three other universities: Louisiana State University, Michigan State University, and the University of Toledo. His eight-year contract totaling US$32 million made him one of the highest paid football coaches, professional or collegiate, in the United States at the...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth31 October 1951
CityFairmont, WV
CountryUnited States of America
I think those are the kinds of decisions we would certainly like to have some input into. Our goal and focus is, number one, to respect the player. Ricky did an outstanding job for us on the field. Secondly, (we want to) respect the decision of the league, relative to what they felt it was necessary to do.
We have a goal for how many explosive plays that we want to make. We don't want to make those explosive plays at the expense of making poor decisions that are going to turn into turnovers and interceptions. Taking care of the ball and managing the game are more important than that.
I'm here to say that we're here to help both guys get better and improve, and we'll make the decisions based on what's best for our offensive team to get better.
I would stop short of saying that Ronnie was 100 percent, but he did do everything in practice. Those decisions will be made on a day-to-day basis.
Well, he just didn't look comfortable all the time in terms of making decisions ... and that's something that you'd always like to do with your players is make sure you're asking them to do things they're comfortable doing. You play to their strengths.
Even though our offensive line did a really good job this year, it is an area of our team that we may be able to add something to that might enhance it even more, especially with the kind of running backs that we have. I don't think we have an older guy on our team who is not capable of continuing to play. I think the issue becomes, can they do it and sustain it for the season? Those are the tough decisions that we have to make, but we are going to have to do that with defensive players because we need to get younger.
Sometimes, just like when players are available, you have to make decisions on whether we should bring someone like that into our organization. It's not about whether you have an opening or not. It's about whether this is a positive addition to our organization. That's what we've done. That doesn't mean that it creates other issues for somebody else.
I think we have two really good receivers. We have Chris Chambers, who went to the Pro Bowl, and Marty Booker, one of the leaders in yards per catch. If we could find someone who would complement those guys, that would certainly be something that would be a secondary priority on offense if we had the opportunity to do it.
I think we still have a lot of areas we need to clean up and improve, and consistency is probably the big one. I don't think we're where we need to be or where we can be.
I think it's something we need to evaluate. It seems the entire preseason whichever quarterback played second has played best.
It happens every week, so it is not fair to the players, in all honesty.
I think there's a pretty good formula for guys who at some point in time were college coaches and then they go to the NFL and, in whatever capacity they serve, they develop even further. When they go back to college, they're even more prepared, and they succeed there.
Jason's thing to me is the speed that he can create very quickly. We've moved him around a little so that maybe we can create other problems, and that's been effective for us.
Jason's thing to me is the speed that he can create very quickly, ... We've moved him around a little so that maybe we can create other problems, and that's been effective for us.