Five things we learned from Alabama’s time at SEC Media Days
Nick Saban and Alabama’s three player representatives made the rounds at the Grand Hyatt Nashville on Wednesday and touched on several topics. The Crimson Tide quartet fielded a variety of questions, some good and some not so much, and shed light on this year’s Alabama team ahead of the season. Here are five things we learned from SEC Media Days.
Alabama motivated by preseason disrespect
In his opening statement Wednesday morning, Saban said this team seems to be “pretty hungry this year and motivated,” and that was evident from some of the responses offered up by the trio of players that accompanied the head coach to Nashville. Alabama finished the 2022 campaign at 11-2 and missed out on the College Football Playoff for only the second time. And with two of the best players in the country now in the NFL in Bryce Young and Will Anderson, some pundits have lowered their expectations for the Tide. The returning players have thoughts.
“Disrespectful,” offensive tackle JC Latham said. “I don’t appreciate that at all. Understanding that I know this group, we’re going to win it all. We’re gonna (win the) national championship, undefeated, Joe Moore, and I want that Outland. Just (use) every day like a stepping stone and everybody as a group. We’ve got leaders who play on that team, we’ve got a great spirit to the team, so we know what we are capable of doing. We know we’re capable of being great.”
Still no separation in Alabama’s QB battle
Undoubtedly, the biggest question for most on Alabama’s day in Nashville was the latest on the quarterback competition. While he did not name a starter, Saban confirmed what many believed – this is a 3-man race between returning players Jalen Milroe and Ty Simpson and Notre Dame transfer Tyler Buchner and even explained how the Tide is dividing the summer reps among the three signal-callers. There are six weeks until Alabama kicks off the 2023 season, but Saban is in no hurry to call the competition behind center, comparing it to baking a cake.
“Grandma Saban used to bake the best cakes in the world,” Saban said, “and I used to stand by the oven when I was a kid and say, ‘When is this cake going to be done? When is this cake going to be done?’ She said, “If I don’t let it go through and take it out of the oven too soon, it will turn to mush and it won’t be a really good cake.’
“So I think we have to sort of let this develop and make sure we let the cake bake until somebody separates themselves. And all the players are working hard. They all have a good attitude. They are all competing well.”
Lots of high praise for Rees
Not only will Alabama have a new quarterback and several new starters on the offensive side of the ball, but it will have a new coordinator calling plays. Bill O’Brien is out, and Tommy Rees is in, and the former Notre Dame play-caller seems to have made a strong first impression over a handful of months in Tuscaloosa. He has yet to call plays in an actual game, but the players are relating more to the 31-year-old offensive coordinator – something they claimed in the spring – and Saban repeatedly showered Rees with praise, despite their 40-year age gap.
“First of all, I still feel like I’m 39,” Saban said. “And Tommy’s great. He’s mature. He does a great job presenting to the players. He has good relationships with the players. He’s very bright. He understands the game. He’s a very good quarterback coach in terms of helping guys improve at that position, which I think is critical. We don’t have any issues.
“He’s very respectful of what we wanna do and how we wanna do it, and the guy’s hungry, wants to learn. I think he’s one of the brightest young coaches that I’ve been around for a long time.”
Signs of a more physical Alabama defense
Similar to Rees, Alabama’s defensive attendees, Kool-Aid McKinstry and Dallas Turner, had a lot of positive things to say about new defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, who is trying to show the players the “true Alabama standard.” While he is a new hire, Steele has been in Tuscaloosa before, serving two previous stints on Saban’s staff, and knows what is expected on that side of the football. McKinstry said the entire defense has been swarming to the ball in summer workouts, and according to a key player on the other side, that unit has been more aggressive.
“Even in like the 7-on-7s throughout the summer, guys are 11 hats to the ball, making sure they’re not just tagging off on the hip, they’re in position to not only hit him but run through him,” Latham said. “So yeah, it’s definitely gonna be a physical defense this year.”
New leaders starting to emerge?
The Crimson Tide has to replace all three permanent team captains and several other leaders from last year’s team, so one of the areas of importance of the offseason – one that sometimes gets overlooked – is finding new players to step into those leadership roles. All three players in Nashville will be tasked with being more vocal as juniors, but it is important for others to do the same. One would figure the quarterback will be among those, but what about the quarterback of the defense? It sounds like Deontae Lawson is holding his teammates accountable.
“There was a guy who wasn’t able to do the abs, and he was basically telling him, ‘Yo, that’s crap. You need to be here with us when we do our abs,’” Latham said of Lawson. “It was an optional workout, but we don’t take all that optional stuff for granted. We all do it. So he was getting on him and leading his group and letting them know, ‘We’re all in this year, we’re not losing. We’ve got this stuff lined up, do it.’ We’ve got a great team.”
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