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PHOENIX, Ariz. — In all likelihood, Alabama has been the most examined college football team of the 2015 season.
Coach Nick Saban is one of the most detail-obsessed CEO types in any business in Alabama, or the country for that matter. The players and assistant coaches are well-rehearsed and almost never say anything controversial or shocking.
The Tide took the floor Saturday morning at the Phoenix Convention Center. The first man we talked to, defensive backs coach Mel Tucker, seemingly made a concerted effort to answer in nothing but football platitudes when speaking about his future and the transformation of the defensive backfield this season.
Perhaps the most telling thing of all was how relaxed Saban seemed. His answers were unhurried. Rarely did he blurt out one of his pet phrases, the “aiight” that punctuates his sentences when he gets animated.
With Clemson, 90 percent of the media hovered around the five featured tables and Mackenzie Alexander. With Alabama, the Media Day field became a sort of ant hill with microphone-toting men and women bumping into one another in a complex weave through the special teams players and assistant coaches.
The biggest news probably was that Tim Williams, the excellent third-down pass rusher, backed off his commitment to return to the Tide in 2016. He’ll have one day after the national championship game to make his NFL decision.
Overall, though, Saban and his players didn’t stray far from complimentary answers about one another and serious takes on the matchup with Clemson.
Here’s what the Alabama coaches and players had to say at Media Day.
HEAD COACH NICK SABAN
On transfer receiver Richard Mullaney
“Richard Mullaney has done an outstanding job for us all year long. He’s been a really consistent player. He’s made a lot of clutch catches and even plays his position extremely well without the ball. Which I think is sometimes overlooked, especially at his position, because it’s always about how many passes did you catch. We knew that we were going to be a little bit thin at the receiver position this year. So we were looking around keeping our ear to the ground on who might be a graduate guy that would be able to add some depth to that position and he certainly has done that. We went into the season thinking we were light and then we also got some guys injured, which has made it even more difficult at the position, and that’s made Richard being part of our team even more important.”
How important was the first championship against Texas for everything after that?
“I think in some ways you break barriers a little bit in terms of self-imposed limitations that organizations might have, that teams might have. I think when you win the first championship it becomes the standard of the organization. Then it’s a matter of do people buy into that standard in terms of not feeling entitled or feeling complacent about past success. Continuing to get people to embrace the challenges of the future. Which we’ve had some issues with through the years with some of our teams. I think more than anything it has created a standard for us and all the people that we recruit.”
On how accountable this team has been and if that’s as rewarding to him as winning
“I think when people buy in or are accountable to what you’re trying to help them accomplish, it does make you feel at least like — the most difficult thing as a coach is when you feel like you’re more committed and you’re trying harder than some of the players are, because they don’t seem to buy in or think the things that you’re trying to emphasize are important to being successful. I think that’s a little on the disappointing side. But I also think that when you have a team like this that has done things like you want and done it pretty much as a total group, that is very satisfying. But at the same time, you’d like to see them make sure that they do it and finish it the right way.”
On whether championship motivation is the responsibility of the players or coaches
“I think it’s a combination of both. I think the players have to make the right choices and decisions about what they want, and be focused and committed and locked into what they need to do to have success. But I also think the coaches need to reinforce that in a positive way so the players realize the importance of that. So I think it’s really a combination of both of those things.”
On Saban as a college football player
“I was one of those guys that tried to be an overachiever. I was a team guy. I played quarterback in high school and one year in college and then got moved to (defensive back), which is kind of what I always coached and what I grew up in professionally.”
On whether he hit hard
“I try to promote toughness with them. I tell them all the time, ‘They just don’t make them like they used to.’ I had a lot of fun playing. I loved the competition. But when I played, you played everything. When it was baseball season, you played baseball. Basketball season, you played basketball. Football you played football. I think there’s a lot of benefit to that. I certainly enjoyed it when I was young. I think that sometimes we encourage people to specialize too early.”
On his relationship with Dabo Swinney
“I have a lot of respect for Dabo. I really got to know him well in the last few years. When we first came to Alabama and he was an assistant coach at Clemson, he was a guy that I was very interested in hiring because of his reputation as a coach, as a person and as a recruiter. He made a good decision to stay at Clemson because he eventually became the head coach. But I also was interested in him because he was a former player at Alabama. I always think it’s good to have some of those people who connect you to different eras be a part of your staff. But in the last few years, because we both have a place down in Boca (Grande, Fla.), sometimes we have the same time off and we’re able to get together family-wise and take a boat ride and talk about some of the issues and problems that we both sort of have to deal with. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. I think he’s done a tremendous job at Clemson in terms of how they develop players, the quality of players that they’re able to recruit, and the good job he does in helping his players be successful as well. I really have as much respect for Dabo as anybody in our profession.
On whether he cares that the perception of his team is that his program doesn’t have fun
“Not at all. I think that it’s made out that way with us. Our players have a tremendous amount of fun with our program. I think we try to teach our players what it takes to be successful and sometimes that’s not all fun and games. I think Clemson does the same thing. I just think there’s a little different image out there in terms of how they do it. I think if you ask our players, they enjoy themselves. They like what they do. They have fun. There’s a high standard that I didn’t necessarily establish. There’s an expectation that we have at Alabama and there’s a responsibility that goes with that, that I think requires a little bit of attention to detail sometimes. I think it’s because of me, alright, because I’m serious. People make it out to be that way. But I’m not really that way around the players. Or my family. Or anybody else.”
Are you tired of that narrative?
“I’ve given up a long time ago trying to emphasize (to) certain people in certain professions about who I am. Basically I am who I am. I try to be a good person who sets a good example not only for our players and our team but for our community. We have a Nick’s Kids charity that tries to help a lot of people. So there’s a lot of things that we do that people choose not to emphasize because it would not reinforce the image that people have tried to create for who I am.”
On Clemson’s defensive backs
“Clemson’s got a really good secondary and they do play a lot of man-to-man coverage. They do play a lot of press coverage. They are very aggressive in the secondary. That’s why they create a lot of negative plays and that’s why they play the kind of defense that they’ve played all year. They’ve been difficult to score on. Their front does a good job of stunting. Creating negative plays. And their secondary does a really good job of covering them. It’s the combination of those two things that I think makes them most effective.”
WR CALVIN RIDLEY
On Clemson’s cornerbacks
“Mackenzie (Alexander), I heard that he’s a very good DB. Coach has been telling me about him all week. He’s big, he’s fast. They’re all really big and tall. They’ve got a good secondary.”
WR RICHARD MULLANEY
On whether he’s surprised to be in a national title game after transferring from Oregon State
“It’s the reason why I came here. I wanted to win. I wanted to go out my senior year on top. Hopefully after Monday that’ll happen.”
On Calvin Ridley’s freshman season
“Coming from Oregon State, being around Brandin Cooks, I always tell Calvin all the time how much he reminds me of (Cooks). I see the similarities and I see how much success Brandin’s had. I just see how hard that Calvin works and the mindset he comes in with every single day. It’s no surprise to me.”
Is he a threat any time he touches the football?
“He can take a 5-yard hitch and take it to the house. He can catch a 70-yard bomb. It doesn’t matter what it is. He’s definitely a guy that is a huge threat. It’s been great to see him this year.”
On whether Clemson plays a lot of press man coverage
“They really mix up their defenses a lot. They’ll press, they’ll play off, they’ll go zone. I feel like they’ll throw a lot of coverages at us and try to find something that will work.”
As the season has gone along, has the offense felt more comfortable playing conservative?
“We always preach, ‘The ball. The ball. The ball.’ You always see the biggest stat is that turnover the turnover battle wins the game. I feel like us as an offense, we don’t need to do anything crazy. Take care of the ball. Run the ball with Derrick. Take shots when we need it. Just leave the ball in (Jake) Coker’s hand and he’ll guide us.”
When did Jake Coker take ownership of the offense?
“Definitely the Ole Miss game. Not starting and then coming in and playing like he did — there were turnovers, but at the end of the game he was there. We were at the last drive. We had a chance to win the game. He put us in that position. I feel like after that game definitely was the turning point for us and for him as our quarterback.”
QB BLAKE BARNETT
On Deshaun Watson
“He’s a great player. He makes plays with his arm and he can also make plays with his feet. He’s a good player to try to model yourself after and this week try to replicate him as best as I can to prepare our defense.”
QB JAKE COKER
On Nick Saban
“He’s a social butterfly. He’s aways walking around talking to a lot of people.”
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
