Staff Players of the Week
Offense: Richardson, Vlachos, Warmack
Defense: Upshaw, Watkins
Special teams: Sunseri, Smelley, Maze
Presser highlights (Coach Saban)
Offense: Richardson, Vlachos, Warmack
Defense: Upshaw, Watkins
Special teams: Sunseri, Smelley, Maze
Presser highlights (Coach Saban)
- Coach Saban likens Alabama vs. Florida as a fighter who takes a punch, gets staggered and proves he can come back: "In boxing, you never know if you have a good fighter until he takes a punch."
- "We must eliminate mental errors that give opponents opportunities."
- Giving team a light walk-through day today, says it was pre-planned and something Alabama does every year: "I like to give the team a break when it plays six games in a row to keep them fresh."
- On Vandy: "Unlike what people have a perception of, this team is 3-1 and a good team"
- C.J. Mosley will do some things on the football field, remains to be seen how he'll be for the Vandy game.; Eddie Lacy will be wearing a boot for a few days.
- C.J. Mosley only plays in certain personnel groups. A lot of things come into consideration regarding the decision of, who will play. Nico Johnson replaced him in nickel;Dont'a Hightower took his place in dime defense. There were other personnel moves.
- Johnson did a good job filling Mosley's role. He plays the run well, which was important in the last game. Alabama played man-to-man to start the game, then switched to zone. It wasn't because of Johnson they played zone. "Nico did a good job in the game," Saban said, "I thought he played well in the game."
- "Hard for me to imagine anybody had a better game than Trent Richardson had anywhere in the country"
- Looking forward to playing at home. Homecoming is a tradition that is important to people. I want the team to make fans happy
- Fourth quarter finishing is "something that we try to build as part of the program"
- AJ McCarron making good decisions, not turning ball over or forcing passes
- Coach Saban wants to be more explosive in downfield passing
- Balance is most important thing for UA offense, first down is often best time to throw the ball - especially for a team that can run
- Cade Foster's kickoffs are not high and short by design. "I wish he'd kick it into the stands" Foster does a good job in practice. He needs to carry it over to games. Coach Saban compared it to when he incorrectly hits a golf shot and said, " I can't tell you why!"
- Coach Saban says he thinks officials have done a good job, and it's obvious when he doesn't think they make the right call
- "We really haven't played worth a damn in the first quarter" this season. "We play better as it goes because we make good adjustments"
- "In the more emotional games, players are probably more emotional and think less, which leads to more mental errors"
- The sack and non fumble. "I really think the officials got it right on the field. It was called a fumble. The bean bag went out. ...I thought the officials got it right. Maybe they could have explained it so everyone understood it. But they got it right."
- On this game not being one where players get too excited about: Challenge is for players to practice well, good practice leads to good fundamentals
- Consistency, not identity, is the main focus for Alabama. The toughest thing for players to do is practice, Saban said. That leads to good fundamentals. Identity, "I see some areas where I want to see it grow and develop. They have shown character. ...I'm sure it will get challenged in the future."
- UA played more zone because of UF's bunched-up offense and crossing patterns. "It was more favorable schematically"
- Saban on Jesse Williams: "He grew up playing rugby or whatever they play in Australia"
- Coach Saban on his message to AJ: "I was trying to get him to settle down." Said it was the third or fourth time he had to tell him
- "I was trying to get him to settle down, settle down, settle down. Then I probably said something I shouldn't have said, because when your daughter tells you ... it really makes you feel bad."
