Alabama Crimson Tide College Football Pregame Quote, 12/28/2021

Thank you very much. Obviously, to reiterate what’s been said throughout the week here, we’re thrilled to be here this week and just really excited about the opportunity that we have to be in the Final Four of college football is really exciting for all of us and just feel really good about the opportunity that we have. I feel good. Personally, I’m excited to be back. I got in this morning after talking with our trainer, Jeff Allen, about the changes to the SEC protocols. And throughout the time when I was in Tuscaloosa, I’ve been able to do my job virtually. It’s pretty amazing with technology. You guys probably know more about that than me. But every meeting, every practice, I was able to be involved with. So it was really good back in Tuscaloosa for me; but, obviously, excited to be here right now.

I think it’s really important that we prepare the right way, and basically that’s what we’ve done. We’ve worked really hard for this opportunity, really proud of these guys and the way they’ve practiced. This coaching staff that I’m associated with, just really proud of everybody’s efforts and where we are to be able to get to this point.

This is an outstanding Cincinnati football team and, relative to our offense versus their defense, an outstanding defense. This defense that basically is number seven in the country in total defense, number one in pass efficiency. Really, really good against the pass and they do a great job in scoring defense. They’re number four in the country in scoring defense.

So we’ve got a tall order in front of us. We need to play our best football game of the year offensively in order to have a chance in this game. So we’re excited about the opportunity. We want to keep preparing here, keep working hard; but we know that Friday is going to be a great football game and we’re going to be ready for it.

So, with that, I’ll open it up to questions.

I remember during fall camp, we spoke to you about the trust level between you and your quarterbacks and how that’s a two-way street. I wonder if you could speak a little bit about your and Bryce’s [Young] relationship. Obviously, it produced some fantastic results with him winning the Heisman Trophy this year.

Yeah, just really proud of Bryce. He’s a very special young man. I think you guys know that in your interactions with him all year. And, for me, you know, relationships with quarterbacks are really, obviously, a big part of being in the position that I’ve been in, whether it’s at Alabama or the other places I’ve been.

I mean, there has to be a trust. And from day one, you know, when Bryce walked in the office when I got to Alabama, he had a really good knowledge of the offense, which is a testament to last year’s coaching staff and also Mac Jones and his ability to mentor Bryce last year.

So Bryce had a good understanding, and we started talking about the offense. And it was a good relationship right from the start, and it developed a bond and a trust right from the start. And, you know, when you’re dealing with a quarterback of talent level but also the intelligence of Bryce, you know, that trust is easy. And he’s able to be involved in the game plans. And it’s just been really a great experience for me, one of the best experiences of my career.

Going back to you being in Tuscaloosa, how weird was it working remotely? And how big was it to have guys on staff like Alex Mortensen and some others to be able to kind of step up with you not there in person?

Yeah, no, it wasn’t weird, only because I’ve had that experience in the National Football League last year, everything was Zoomed relative to ‚Äì you know, this has been going on for a couple years now in our country. So I had experience with the Zoom and, really, what I think the biggest thing is that Coach [Nick] Saban made everything normal. It was like I was actually there. So I was in every meeting.

And then also to our video department, Daniel Lyerly and Kaleb Medema, they did an unbelievable job setting me up every day. And like you said, the whole coaching staff, Alex Mortensen, Holmon Wiggins, relative to the skill positions and Joe Pendry coming in here was a huge help to us and the whole coaching staff, Will Lawing, all those guys that – you know, graduate assistants and analysts that really do a good job of helping. Everybody chipped in.

And that’s the way it’s been all year. The whole year has been a really cool, collective effort of this whole coaching staff. It’s a very, very strong coaching staff all the way across the board ‚Äì offense, defense, special team. That’s a testament to Coach [Nick] Saban, the type of staff he’s able to put together.

Just wanted to ask you about being at Alabama. You’re obviously not front and center as a head coach anymore. What’s it like having the spotlight on you just being in a major college program and calling plays?

I mean, look, I think that’s part of these careers. I mean, when you enter into this profession and you start up and you start to climb the ladder, that ‚Äì kind of comes with the territory. So it’s ‚Äì like I’ve said before, it’s not really my first rodeo. I’ve been very, very excited about the opportunity. And I’ve said this to several people around the program. I’m very grateful to Coach Saban for this opportunity.

It was the only phone call I got last year. And so he had a job

opportunity for me, and I couldn’t ask for a better opportunity. And to work with a bunch of players that we have here have been awesome. The coaching staff just ‚Äì it’s been a really ‚Äì it’s just been a rewarding year for me personally.

Just expand a little bit more. You were talking about how you guys were able to coach from home, but just talk about the initial, like, we tested positive, and then you saw, you know, The College Football Playoff policies changed almost that same day, basically, just because of the spread of Omicron, and so just the initial kind of, okay, it’s here, let’s contain, and kind of what the conversation was about containing COVID and just being thankful that it didn’t spread.

Yeah, no, I’m very thankful for that. I think, again, it starts with our head coach and our medical staff. From day one here at Alabama, you know, even way before ‚Äì I’m talking about the beginning of the season ‚Äì all the way through, we’ve been masked up. We’ve been socially distant. We’ve had Zooms before this week. So this is not anything.

In fact, when I first got here, we were Zooming a year ago. So this is something that we’re on top of at Alabama. Unfortunately, Coach [Doug] Marrone and I tested positive. That’s just the way it is. And everybody took care of us. We were able to coach virtually. And I think it’s something that’s been really, really emphasized here at Alabama, really from the moment I’ve stepped in here, is the health and safety of these players especially.

And this coaching staff, I think we’ve been on top of it. And glad to see the SEC kind of adjust those rules a little bit so I was able to get out here today and be able to be here in person. I feel good. I’m ready to go. And I think the big story is obviously the two teams and the game on Friday.

We’ve seen on the field how Bryce [Young] handles adversity. How do you feel he handles success and the humility that he shows in handing that?

I think that’s a great question. I’ve heard that question before from just people in my life. And I’ve tried to explain to people, my family, my friends, everybody asks ‘What’s Bryce like?’ And Bryce is a tremendous young man. He’s very smart. He’s very poised. He’s very humble. He’s a great teammate.

And every great quarterback that I’ve been fortunate to be around has those qualities. They’re all different. They all come in different shapes and sizes and things like that, but they all have those qualities. And the quality of humility is a tremendous quality that he has.

And when he went to the Heisman, when he came back, he made that statement to me that, ‘Look, I’m very grateful and very honored to be the Heisman Trophy winner, but we have more to do. There’s more out there for me to do.’ He’s a young man that really gets it, and he’s practiced really well the last couple weeks for a very, very challenging

game on Friday against a very good defense, like I said in the beginning. But can’t emphasize enough the special qualities that Bryce has.

So a couple things related. One, what was it like to work with your buddy Doug [Marrone] this year? I know you guys go a long way back. And the other part of it, I guess the obvious question is, you’ve worked for the Patriots and [Coach Bill] Belichick and [Coach Nick] Saban in Alabama now. And what similarities, differences, you know, where do you see maybe some overlap in the two programs?

It’s been good to work with Doug again. You know, Doug and I go way back. I think most everybody kind of knows that story. Even though he’s a Yankee fan and I’m a Red Sox fan, we still have kept our friendship the last many, many years. So it’s been good. He’s a great football coach and an even better friend. It’s been good to work with him, like I said, the rest of the staff.

Obviously, and I say this to everybody, I take a lot of pride in working for two of the greatest coaches of all time in any sport: Coach Belichick, Coach Saban. I’ve learned so much from both of them. And, you know, there’s some fundamentals that they both believe in: Hard work, trust, loyalty, smart football teams, teams that play selfless, complementary football. They both believe in that.

And then, you know, obviously they’re both two different people. And I respect the hell out of both of them, and I’m grateful for the opportunity that I’ve had. Not many people can say ‚Äì I think you can count on one hand how many people can say they’ve worked for both guys. And I’m just extremely proud of that.

Just wondering what was the most challenging moment maybe of this season, and how did you adjust to working for a demanding head coach like Nick Saban?

I think the most challenging thing for me was, when I came in here, learning this offense. And I had a lot of people help me, people that were here before, guys on the coaching staff, obviously Bryce [Young]. I’ve said before, Mac Jones, when he was working out for the draft, helped me a little bit, which was great.

So I’m really thankful to those people. That was the most challenging thing because I had been involved with an offense for 10 to 15 years, whatever it was, similar offense. But when you come here, you’re running Alabama’s offense; you’re not bringing your offense in here. And it’s a great offense with a great history. And it was really awesome to learn it, but it was very challenging.

And then relative to working for a great head football coach, I mean, that’s kind of like when you’re coming up in coaching. These are opportunities that you cannot pass up. You have to jump at an opportunity to work and learn from somebody that will go down

as one of the best of all time.

What do you feel like was maybe the reason or the thing that helped the offensive line click against Georgia? And related to that, how do you build off that momentum leading into this game against Cincinnati?

Yeah, you know, the offensive line, you know, over the year has learned and grown together. We lost some experience off that line from last year. And we had some guys playing for first time, and they learned and they grew together. And they got better every week. And give credit to many of the defenses that we played. We played against some really good defenses that had some good game plans coming in.

But in the end, we were able to come out victorious in most of our games, which is a credit to our offensive line and everybody else on offense, coaching staff, the whole thing. So I think that we came out of the Auburn game, we made some adjustments. We knew what we had to do to get fixed, and then we studied Georgia and we tried to do as good a job as we could.

And now we’ve moved on to, obviously, Cincinnati. So it’s one game at a time, and we’ve been working real hard on Cincinnati. And hopefully we’ll coach and play well on Friday.

With John Metchie being out with the ACL injury, what are some of the young guys you’ve seen step up at receiver?

Yeah, when you lose a guy like Metch, it’s not easy. He’s a hundred-catch guy. He can do so many different things for us, and he’s just a great guy. So his presence in the room is missed and all those things.

But when those things happen in football, it does give opportunities to other guys, you know, guys like Ja‚ÄôCorey Brooks, JoJo Earle. I think that those guys have stepped up. I’ve seen improvement from Agiye Hall. I’ve seen improvement from a lot of different guys.

And then you have your guys that you know are dependable and trustworthy that are going to be there, the veterans, Jameson Williams and Slade Bolden, you know, Cam Latu. Jahleel Billingsley had a good couple weeks. So we’re excited about the opportunity and, really, the guys that have some opportunities that maybe they haven’t had all year, hopefully, they’ll be able to step up and make some plays on Friday.

Now that you’ve been through a season, how have the kids changed since you were in college ball, and how has the game changed since you were in college ball?

Yeah, it’s been almost 10 years since I was at Penn State. And, you know, it’s changed a lot. But I’ll say this about the players, the players are

players. They love football. They work hard. Maybe they look at their phones a little bit more than maybe they used to, but that’s the world we live in, the social media world.

I just think that the guys at Alabama, I’m really proud to say that I’m their coach because they put a lot on the line, meaning they work very hard. They love football. They’re really good teammates. It’s been a great experience. I think the game has changed, you know, from especially when I was in the Big Ten to being in the SEC. The game is more of a spread game. I think that’s kind of obvious over the years with the different offensive numbers that have been put up over the years.

And so we had to – Alabama, obviously before I got here, adapted to that and has done a great job. And hopefully we can continue to improve and have a good showing on Friday.