Comments from Coach Saban

Re: Comments from Saban

Bamabuzzard said:

I think we need to be careful not to go to extremes either way when trying take something away from A-Day. To say that our offensive line and qb is going to be horrible and issue a final judgement after Saturday is going too far to one extreme. While on the other end saying that we cannot take ANYTHING away from the game is going too far the other way.

I think it is safe to say that we have things that obviously need work and we still have time to work on them. The quarterbacks, no matter how simplified the offense was, needs work. The offensive line is in the same boat. Saban said it at halftime. When the offense and defense is scaled back this far execution and fundamentals become of utmost importance. We struggled with the fundamentals and execution on the offensive side of the ball. I'm not sure how anyone can say otherwise. But at the same time, there's no way we can sit here and say this is how the offense is going to look come August either.

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AGREE...
I know our Offense had better not look like this in late August.
A-day was a work in progress. The introduction of CLK has changed many things,
lots of them will take time to jell.
In August I expect to see a leaner, meaner team.
Our coaches know what has to improve, what has to change before our first game.
Fall Camp won't be a picnic. It won't be another 'Junction Boys',
but it's almost guaranteed to be tough.
There will be a few guys step up their game out of necessity.
A couple of new faces added, and a couple of faces could be missing.

If we indeed played 5-10% of our plays at A-Day, things will most certainly be different
when the play book is opened and our guys are allowed to play without restraints.

We have a lot of things to improve. My bet is that quite a few improvements will be made.

Re: Comments from Saban

Not to pick nits but I think Saban was short changing our receivers. Only 3 playmakers?

Re: Comments from Saban

A day is a zero sum game, defense was going to be miles ahead of the offense no matter what. Doom and gloomers, aj struggled in many an a day and most of our success with the ball will come from the ground game as it usually does. The barns I rules the day over there and their d looked like garbage. So take heart in a balanced game where a couple inexperienced qbs found a way to make plays on a stout defense

Re: Comments from Saban

He's right though. We've got too many playmakers on offense for the QB to be the limiting factor. QB and OL are question marks but I think the OL will get better by the Fall. Sims and Coker need to really grind.

Re: Comments from Saban

Yep, I think this team is going to be ground and pound despite the WR talent. QB play is too much of a variable right now to be thinking far outside the box. Maybe Coker is the solution but to some degree the offense is going to have to ease into him being a field general since he has no game time with the unit.

If this team took on an identity like the 2011 squad then I wouldn't complain. I think that will likely be the scenario for 2014 to be a championship caliber year.

Re: Comments from Saban

yes, there is a lot of work ahead. really not unusual for spring game, but, you got to admit this one is probably the worst in the last 5 years. the offense was so bad, and really did not get better as time moved on. the off line was as bad as I have ever seen even at this point. the qbs had little time to make a play. the rbs had to make a play without good blocking. timing was way off. there is a long way left for season opener, and hopefully we wont experience last years performance like va tech. its hard to tell how good the defense is with the poor play of the offense. I think the play of brown, and geno smith gives us a lot of hope for the secondary this year. def line is brutish, linebackers moved to the ball well. as stated, if the offense was only uses 10 percent of the playbook, you would think execution would be better with the limitations. I remember vince Lombardi use to bragg about his offense used only 7 or 8 run plays, and green bay would execute those so well, the defense could not stop their rush game. well, heres to august, and improvement.

Re: Comments from Saban

All I know is the offense had better be more proficient in scoring TD's instead of settling for field goals!!

Re: Comments from Saban

Bamabuzzard said:

I agree running will be our meat and potatoes but if our eyes are set on a run at a championship we have to have good quarterback play. The game has become more of a qb driven game and it has simply become harder and harder to win a championship without above average qb play.

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I would like to add just one thing. the WR's have to catch the ball. Blake would have looked a lot better if the WR's had of held onto the ball a few more times.

Re: Comments from Saban

I think it is what it is, a spring game..... Not all players even available. I don't recall us ever really showing a lot of offense at a spring game and nothing makes a defense look better than a vanilla offense.

Re: Comments from Saban

The most interesting thing I saw or heard all day came in the pre-game luncheon where Saban spoke to some of the Tide Pride members. A question was asked (by a very well-dressed man of significantly above-average intelligence, but I won't say exactly who) to get examples of what CNS and his staff were doing to "get back to the beginning" as it was in 2007 that they didn't do last year. He talked about his general tenets of the process but then quite candidly said that they weren't giving the players the kind of leeway that the coaches have given in the past few years.

He went on to talk about leadership being "one word away" from manipulation - that "leadership is affecting other people to make them better" and manipulation was doing the same thing for a selfish outcome. That it was easy to spot the true leaders who are trying to make the others around them better vs some of the other folks who are more interested in improving themselves or their chances to make it on the next level.

Finally, he talked about this Freshman class having the hardest time yet adapting to college. He spoke about kids spending time (including his own kids) on Facebook vs with adults and how that leads to a lack of accountability. So when those same kids get on campus they lack the ability to understand that they are immediately and wholly accountable for their actions not only to themselves but to the coaches and their teammates. I got the sense that he's seriously frustrated by this... almost got a "how long do I want to put up with this" feeling from his tone.

On a tactical note he did say that we'd "probably have a freshman starting" on the offensive line this fall.

Re: Comments from Saban

Interesting that CNS says a freshman will probably start at OL. Jackson, the JUCO tackle, is a dominant run blocker and a good pass blocker. He's probably good enough to play LT, and I expect he'll turn out similar to James Carpenter. Shepard and Brown I thought were the best two OL Saturday, which means Jackson is likely to take the LT spot. Which leaves Kouandijo at LG. I wish Grant Hil could get some reps in at that spot, but CNS rarely replaces veteran starters. I wonder whose spot this freshman is gonna take, and who the freshman is.

Re: Comments from Saban

Bamabuzzard said:

Which is why the next wave of coaches are going to look a lot like Cliff Kingsbury at Texas Tech. Coaches like Saban aren't going to continue to adapt to or should I say "put up with" the culture of these players. They'll reach a point where they basically say "I'm done" and walk away. Depending on one's current age today's kids are light years different from just 15 years ago. Technology has drastically changed society and our behavior. Especially among the young people

Amen. I teach them and they are so involved with technology that they can't do anything but technology now.

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