Everything Nick Saban Said Monday of Austin Peay Week

Live Updates from Saban's first official press conference of the week ahead of facing the Governors.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — On Monday afternoon, Alabama head football coach Nick Saban met with reporters as the Crimson Tide prepares for a home game against Austin Peay.

The Crimson Tide is coming off road win against former assistant Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels, elevating Alabama to No. 8 in the AP Poll. This will be the second-to-last home game of the season before Alabama meets Auburn in the Iron Bowl.

Live Updates

• Saban's press conference is slated to begin at noon CT.

• Happy to see his players excited about the comeback win

• Focus is on how to improve and be more consistent, both players and coaches

• Austin Peay is one of the top FCS programs in the country, specifically on defense

• Saban: "Lack of turnovers comes down to player awareness"

• Saban has a lot of positives for wide receiver Ja'Corey Brooks

• Brian Branch is a versatile player and a competitor

• When postseason goals are no longer an option, players have a choice to control their identity

• Terrion Arnold plays well when technique is correct.

• Tyler Harrell is getting healthier

• It's important to have an entire team of guys who aren't in the spotlight but do a great job for the team

• Younger players have done a better job of staying ready compared to previous years

Nick Saban Transcript - Nov. 14, 2022

Opening Statement

"The first thing, it was great to see our players happy and excited to be celebrating a win, a really good win for them, after getting behind in the game 17-7. To come back and sort of play the way we're capable of playing and do things with sort of a relentless competitive sort of spirit and enthusiasm and togetherness as a team, I think was great. And it was really good to see the players happy and excited and celebrating because they were happy that they had put something in something and got a positive result.

"In reviewing the film, obviously I think that we always have to be able to focus on taking advantage of opportunities that we have. But we also have to focus on making sure that we learn the lessons of the things that we do that actually help the other team have opportunities in the game as well. Those are all lessons to be learned.

I think the focus needs to be on our team, what our team needs to do _ each individual on our team and each unit on our team _ what do we need to do to improve? What do we need to try to do a better job with consistency and execution in terms of what we do as coaches as well as how we get the players to stay focused so that we can execute with more consistency.

"Great to see Byron Young SEC defensive lineman of the week. He had a heck of a game. Will Reichard made some real clutch kicks in the game. It's great for those guys to get recognized.

"Austin Peay...Scotty Walden does a really, really good job there. For FCS, these guys are ranked in the top part of their division in just about everything they do. They're really good on defense. They've got one of the Top 10 defenses. They average about 450 yards a game on offense with a lot of balance. The quarterback does a really good job with them. No. 10, (Drae) McCray is a really explosive player that they do a good job of utilizing his talents. They've got a good returner.

"Look, we need to prepare for this game like any other game that we play. We need to be ready to play well. They have enough people on their team to be able to take advantage of any lack of execution. And certainly we want to focus on us being able to execute in a really positive way and try to build on the momentum of having a good second half and improving to finish the season."

Reason for lack of turnovers forced...

I can't. It comes down to player awareness. It comes down to player focus. It comes down to, you know, on defense you've got to be physical. When you're physical, you knock the ball off of people. When you have good cleanup, which means a lot of guys are getting to the ball, a second guy in has a chance to take a shot at the ball. All these things are things that we emphasized and we actually did better in this last game. But only got the result of one turnover. Had another chance to intercept the ball and didn't make the chance. But we've just got to keep harping on it and keep working on it with our players to work on, how do you get the ball out? When do you take shots at it? And try to do it better, because this is something that has a significant impact on games. And we need to do a better job in that regard.

On Bryce Young’s vision, footwork in the pocket when things break down…

“We had three or four of our explosive plays in the game where whatever you wanna call him moving the pocket, making people miss in the pocket. He’s deceptively quick to make people miss, especially if they’re coming at him out of control. But he does a fantastic job of having a feel in the pocket of when he needs to do it, and he’s very good at doing it and his ability to extend plays. And then our receivers have done a really good job of when he does scramble of applying scramble rules to get where they need to get so they have an opportunity to make themselves available for the ball. That was good for us in the game. I mean, I think we made three or four big plays on that kind of thing.”

On what is the next step in Ja’Corey Brooks’ development…

“Ja’Corey Brooks has played really well for us. The guy’s a dog. He plays great on special teams. He’ll block. He’s physical, plays hard all the time, makes contested catches. I mean, I’m sure that if you ask him, there’s always things that you can improve on, whether it’s releases, separating at the top of the break, whatever, and I’m sure there’s things that he can improve on. But he’s one of the guys on our team that I think is a great competitor who has really played consistently all year long for us.”

On what kind of weapon Brian Branch has been with his versatility…

“Brian Branch is a very versatile player. He’s got good cover skills. He’s physical. He’s a good blitzer. For the most part, he’s a good tackler. Although on their long run at the end of the game, he missed the tackle. But I think he’s a really, really good competitor, and his versatility as a player playing Star, playing safety, playing Money, if you don’t have a few guys like that on your team then you don’t have any diversity in what you can do on defense. So I think he’s played extremely well for us and very consistently all year long.”

On the challenge of getting the team to play with intensity when goals are off the table…

“I think it comes down to a lot of things that we talked about last week in terms of, are you going to define your identity as a football player and as a football team? Or are you gonna let other people do it? And being the best that you can be as a player, taking some of the things that have happened to us personally in terms of your pride as a competitor and the consistency in our performance are all things that if you are a competitor, you’re gonna respond. And I think our players did that in this game. Now, the challenge is are we gonna continue it to finish the season?”

Terrion Arnold …

"Well, I mean, you saw the game. I think Terrion Arnold plays really well when he plays with good technique, I think when he has bad habits in his technique, which I’m not gonna get into specifically, he allows the other guy to, you know, take advantage of him on release and doesn’t always put him in a great position to play the ball. But he actually played better as the game went on. And the guy has been a starter for us for half the season. So he’s got experience, he should be able to go out there and play with confidence. And we have confidence in him. But I also think he’s got to stay focused on doing things correctly because it helps him be able to put himself in the best position."

Tyler Harrell no longer a ghost...

"Well, he’s learning. He’s healthy now. He’s learning. He’s getting lots of reps. The guy’s got really good speed, which I think could help us on offense. I think we need to find ways to try to use him in certain situations that could be helpful to giving us some explosive, vertical plays down the field, which there’s been a lack of recently. But he’s making really good progress."

On the importance of unsung heroes...

"Well, I think it’s important to have a whole team of guys like that. I think if everybody is putting the team first and want to do what they can do to help develop themselves so that they create value for their future and opportunities in their future, as well as whatever their role on is the team – you know, do it the best you can do it so the team has the best chance to, sort of, develop the kind of personality as well as the intangibles that you need to be a great competitor. Look, there’s a lot of distractions out there. Guys have to choose to focus on the right thing. Can’t worry about all the stuff – you’ve heard me talk about it before. External noise, rat poison, whatever you want to talk about, whether it’s good, bad or indifferent. When you step on the field to compete, you need to be focused on what you need to do to play the best you can to dominate your box against whatever the challenge is, whether you’re an offensive lineman, a defensive back, a linebacker. It doesn’t matter. That’s a challenge. It’s more challenging now than it’s ever been before. But it’s important for guys that aren’t starters on your team, don’t even know if they’re going to play, aight, to get ready to play so they can take advantage of the opportunity when they do play. Because those opportunities will come at some point, and sometimes it’s when you least expect them. And some of the young guys on our team have done a much better job on that this year than I thought some of the guys did in years past."