What Nick Saban Said During His Wednesday Press Conference Ahead of Texas A&M
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — On Wednesday evening, Nick Saban will take to the microphone with the media on final time before Alabama football's trip to College Station to face Texas A&M this Saturday.
Here is what Saban had to say on his final night with reporters this week:
Nick Saban - Oct. 6, 2021 - Texas A&M Week
Opening Statement
"I think it's really important for players to be able to generate their own 'want-to' when it comes to goals and things that you want to accomplish relative to your team, your season and your own personal performance," Saban said. "I think that you've got to sustain that every day — and I know that's difficult — but that's something that's a challenge to each and every one of the players on our team.
"It doesn't always have to be because somebody disrespects you from the other side or you get motivated for some external reason. It really should be all about internally what you want to accomplish, what you want to do. Everybody's got to respect winning: what it takes to win, the kind of preparation, the kind of work ethic in practice, the kind of habits you gotta create so that you have an opportunity to do that.
"I think this is one of the best teams we've played all year from a personnel standpoint, they've just had some tough breaks," Saban said. "Probably the best team in the SEC last year. Could've been in the playoffs and they got 15 starters back so I think we need to have great respect for what we're going to have to do to have success against this team in this game.
"We all lost — it's not a coaching thing — but Fuller Goldsmith was a young man that was really close to a lot of the players here. [He] meant a lot to Terry and I. He's been battling leukemia since 2007, which is about when we came here. The spirit that he showed — the positive energy and attitude and being a great chef contributing to the nutrition program here, coming to practice, coming to the games — I think that I'd just like for Scott and his family to know that our thoughts and prayers are with you and we're very saddened by his passing this week."
What kind of progress have you seen from Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell regarding stepping up for Drew Sanders?
“You know, I just got on Josh about this. If I talked earlier today about ‘em, why do I have to, like — it’s like a double-header in baseball with the same guy pitching both games. So, I talked about the progress that they both made this morning so I guess I’ll repeat myself right now: both guys are young guys that’ve got a lot of potential. They’ve played some in games, they’re getting all the reps in practice. We’re going to do as much as we can to bring those guys along and we got faith, trust and confidence that they’ll be ready to go in the game on Saturday.”
How does Chris Owens' high football IQ benefit him on the field?
“Chris Owens is a very bright guy. He’s got a great IQ personally, he’s a great student, he’s one of the finalists for the Campbell Award — which is one of the most prestigious awards that any player can be honored to be a finalist for — and it carries over on the football field. He’s very instinctive, he understands what we’re trying to do, he’s got lots of experience and I think it helps him dramatically. To be able to anticipate what’s going to happen and be able to maximize his performance on the field.”
What do you guys do to help a center when missing snaps from shotgun?
“Well, I think that you just gotta keep working it and the guy’s gotta have a feel for it and a rhythm for it and it’s how hard it is, it’s how high it is, it’s how sideways it gets. Sometimes those issues come when a guy is blocking in a certain direction. So you know, you just gotta really stay focused just like putting. You gotta really stay focused on exactly what you’re doing and sometimes when you’re trying to block some big guy that’s lined up in front of you, maybe you lose sight of that a little bit. But we had a couple in the game Saturday that we’re trying to clean up and I think it really is helpful to the quarterback to be able to operate the timing of plays when we get the proper snaps so it’s one of the most important things that we have to get straightened out and be consistent at.”
What style of runner do you believe Roydell Williams is and how would you assess him?
"Roydell’s played. Played a lot against Southern Miss. Gained 100 yards. Roydell is a good back. He’s got good explosion. He can run behind his pads. He’s tough. He’s got speed and burst. He’s a good receiver. We have a lot of confidence. Other than the Southern Miss game, he’s carried the ball a few times other than that. But he got some good experience in that game so hopefully that’ll help his confidence and he’ll be ready to take on a bigger role now with the offense. And we’re confident that he’s very capable of doing that.
What are your thoughts on Texas A&M tight end Jalen Wydermyer and how can the Aggies use him to expose the defense?
"He is a very good player. He’s a big body. He’s very athletic. Can drop his weight and get out of a break so it makes him difficult to cover because of his size and athleticism and we certainly had a difficult time with him last year. I mean, he was responsible for several third-down conversions where we just couldn’t get him covered. Hopefully we’ll do a little better job this year.
"And I think that they do a really good job of utilizing him in this offense, so we need to know where he is at all times. There’s no doubt about that."
