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Nick Saban touches on a number of topics during Wednesday’s press conference
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In the wake of the 52-6 pasting of Southern Cal this past weekend, Alabama Nick Saban spoke at his weekly Wednesday press conference about a myriad of musings.
The Crimson Tide will head home this week to face the Western Kentucky Hiltoppers. WKU put up 46 points and 649 yards in its season-opening victory over Rice.
Saban acknowledged the excitement of playing at home, but also understands how good his opponent will be:
“We are looking forward to playing at home, it excites our players. Hopefully our players respect our opponent. That’s how you get beat, not respecting the opponent. WKY was a Top-25 team at the end of last season.”
One player Alabama will have to be cognizant of is WKU wide receiver Taywan Taylor. The 6-foot-1 senior had a stellar 2015 season — accruing 86 receptions, 1,467 receiving yards, and 17 touchdown grabs. All broke school single-season records.
“[Taylor] is an outstanding player,” said Saban. “The thing I respect the most is his production. He’s as a good as any wide receiver we play this year.”
Saban also spoke about the quarterback position. Whilst Blake Barnett started against Southern Cal, he was pulled quickly in favor of hot-shot true freshman Jalen Hurts. The Texas native threw for two touchdowns, ran for two scores, and truly gave Alabama’s offense an electric shot in the arm.
Hurts’s decision to enroll in school early truly helped his development up to this point. It’s also clear Saban and his staff will not overload the young signal-caller before he’s ready:
“Being here in the spring helped [Hurts] in terms of his learning curve. Not having him run the whole offense, but giving him a manageable menu if you will. We will broaden that in practice but won’t ask him to do anything he isn’t ready to do.”
