Saban's press conference from the last scrimmage has me pretty excited. He described the offense in pretty glowing terms. I had heard lots of pundits praising Harris at the level that Waddle was getting praised last off season. Prior to McMillon getting injured most just thought he would contribute later on in the year. Coach rarely speaks about players the way he did about Harris there, particularly a freshman player. His thoughts on the offensive line made me happy as well. We need to keep some of our guys healthy on defense particularly dline and lb and we should be ready to roll. I think the secondary is going to be a real strength of the team this year, lots of really good players that coach has said really nice things about.
I think you're right that Saban thinks Harris is our best option, even acknowledging his inexperience. He's going to start against Duke.
He might be the next in the coach-on-the-field progression of McLain to Mosley to Ragland. He might be in over his head.
My money's on Saban's evaluation.
As impressive athletically as Harris must be, I just can`t see him making the on field calls for the sets on D. Who then? Moses almost by default? Maybe one of the safeties?
Early on, I agree. No way Harris is ready for that today.
But playing the ILB alpha dog for Saban is at least much mental as it is physical. My guess is that they ease him into that responsibility over time.
Moses and/or Carter (assuming a it's even possible for a DB to get LBs lined up right) call plays while games are still in doubt. Harris tries his hand late.
He'll make his OTJT mistakes relatively insulated from season-changing consequences.
To come full circle: If Saban is gushing (for him, talking about a true freshman), it's not about physical ability alone.
He sees a grasp of the mental aspects well beyond what you'd expect from a guy who, this time last year, hadn't played a game in his senior season of HS football.
I'll be fascinated to see how this progresses.