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
We thought we could bat a lot of balls on him, and have some players who are athletes, ... When you're pressuring, getting as close to the quarterback as you are, that's got to be an advantage for you. You can't just cover on the back end.
We need to make sure we have an adequate backup at that position. We're trying to work through that right now, either with the players we have on our team or some who are available in free agency.
We respect that, as long as it's taking into account the balance of how it's affecting the player.
We're going to look at this as a two-starter position.
We want to support every player, and I think every player knows he has a responsibility for what to do and what not to do. As a coach, I also feel a responsibility to put a player in the best situation possible so he can have success.
There is no doubt that quarterback is a critical position in every organization. That really has to be something that we look at to make a good assessment on how we move ahead at that position. We like all of the quarterbacks that we have here, but if we get an opportunity to improve the quality at that position, we most certainly will.
There are no comparisons that need to be made. Both guys are outstanding players.
Would we rather have been in a situation where we didn't have to call timeout by having the best block team that we could on the field? Absolutely, but that wasn't the case, ... I felt that it was an important enough situation in the game, because our guys do a pretty good job inside of getting penetration, to get the right guys in there to do the best job of trying to get the kick blocked.
Would we have rather have been in a situation where we didn't have to call timeout? Absolutely, ... But I felt it was an important enough situation in the game.
Would it be better long-term for him so that he can get better and just not be an every week thing for the next however many more weeks if he doesn't have an opportunity to get some rest and get it a little better than what it is right now?
I don't care if you are a coach or player, you have family and personal issues and those things that are of concern. Everybody's safety is of concern. I have a great appreciation for the players and what they were able to do today to stay focused on the things that we wanted to try to get accomplished.
Ideally, we would like to keep many of those players on our roster, but we are simply not able to do that.
The MRI didn't show anything seriously wrong with him. It is day-to-day and I don't know how long he will be out.
If Sam can't play, it may make us make some other changes,