Nick Saban Guys Quotations

I don't know that there's any particular scientific evidence that you could say, more guys get hurt in this offense versus that one, or hurry-up, or whatever, but everything that we've ever done in the NCAA is about exposure. How many exposures does a player get?

We're modern-day gladiators, that mental toughness, if you will, is really important to have in a good team. It's got to permeate your team and there has to be a core group of guys that buy in and believe in that.

We're modern-day gladiators, and that mental toughness is really important to have (in) a good team. It's got to permeate your team, and there has to be a core group of guys that buy in and believe in that.

When we do decide, we won't be telling you, so you can keep asking. I'll call up (Panthers coach) John Fox. When I call up John Fox and tell him what we are going to do, then I'll let you guys know. Is that all right?

We felt like he should start in the game. I know he had his penalty or two, but we'll continue to evaluate that and we feel like we have three guys who can play tackle.

Would we rather have been in a situation where we didn't have to call timeout by having the best block team that we could on the field? Absolutely, but that wasn't the case, ... I felt that it was an important enough situation in the game, because our guys do a pretty good job inside of getting penetration, to get the right guys in there to do the best job of trying to get the kick blocked.

We want to see guys compete so we can know whether they need to be here, we want them to be here and if they are the kind of people we want. The record doesn't really matter, the result doesn't matter and the score in the game doesn't really matter.

There are no comparisons that need to be made. Both guys are outstanding players.

When I call up (Carolina coach) John Fox and tell him what we are going to do, then I'll let you guys know,

Ricky did a fantastic job for us this year. If someone said, 'Who have you enjoyed coaching the most in all my years of football,' he'd be one of the top guys I've ever been around.

I would be a little disappointed for our players (if a blackout occurs). These guys have worked hard, and we have done a lot to try to make the team better.

If we're going to do that, we should have had a press conference for the other three guys we signed, too. So how do we choose who has a press conference and who doesn't?

If we can get all of the guys to play as well as they are capable of playing, we could have a good football team,

I don't know that tradition has ever won or lost a game. As far as I can tell, the field they have up there is 53 yards wide and 100 yards deep. They'll play 11. We'll play 11. The game will be decided on who does the best job of blocking and tackling and dominating the guys they play against.

Lamar did a good job for us here. He worked hard. When you look at some of these circumstances, everybody has to have a role on the team. Some of the guys at that position are very good special teams contributors, and that certainly played a role in the backs that we've selected.

I think we're interested in anybody who would make our team better. Guys who have been proven playmakers in this league are all people we would be interested in.

I think there's a pretty good formula for guys who at some point in time were college coaches and then they go to the NFL and, in whatever capacity they serve, they develop even further. When they go back to college, they're even more prepared, and they succeed there.

Jason has had a great camp and has done a great job in every regard. He's probably one of the guys who has had a lot more to learn because he's never really played that position as a professional player. He's playing a combination of two positions right now, but he's done a tremendous job of adapting and making plays.

I think every guy's different when it comes to that. Some guys are very instinctive and very understanding and therefore don't need to see it on the field as much.

I saw one of our guys get his helmet ripped off and the (referee) was standing right there looking at it, ... I said to him, 'What did (McMichael) do that was worse than a guy ripping Sammy Morris' helmet off right in front of him?' I'm not saying he shouldn't have gotten a penalty. I'm just saying: Is there such thing as consistency?

Playing physical and having the number of guys they have that are difficult to block, these guys are as good as anyone we have played.

I'm here to say that we're here to help both guys get better and improve, and we'll make the decisions based on what's best for our offensive team to get better.

Typically, people who can score touchdowns or create big plays, whether they affect the quarterback on defense or make the plays down the field, are guys that have a little bit more impact.

We have another one, Sammy (Morris). I think that's something we've always looked at as a two-starter position, the running-back position. That has been my history as a coach, to always have two guys at that position that can play and share the load.

When you have reached the pinnacle as a player of what you have always aspired for, what's your motivation? ... Some guys just work their tail off because they want to be good. It's important to them and their pride. Those guys have a better chance to succeed than the guy who did all of that to get here, and now all of a sudden the things that got him here don't seem to be important anymore.

We had three guys miss the tackle, two that could have had him behind the line of scrimmage. It was a short-yardage situation. That's not what we need to do.

We're doing a little better job of getting pass rush with four guys and affecting the quarterback lately.

Both guys did some good things and we're going to continue to try to feature both those players.

Personally, I hate to release any of the guys. I feel like this is our team. These guys have been here. They've worked hard. They've all made a tremendous commitment and sacrifice to trying to make the team. I have a lot of respect for what they've tried to do and feel badly that every guy can't, maybe, realize his dreams.

This is an opportunity for each and every one of those guys to show what they can do.

There may be 25 players out there we feel are potential guys that would be first-round picks regardless of where we pick. We have to bring to some kind of organizational order to who brings the most value to us. That's something that's a work in progress.

Absolutely. He's done an outstanding job in practice and he finishes every play. He has done everything that anybody could ask of a player. If you asked me, give me the top five guys that are the best practice players, he would be one of them. If Jason Taylor had played in a 3-4 system somewhere, he would have been a Hall of Fame outside linebacker. He's smart and he's got great instincts to learn things, better than I ever hoped for.

Football is football. When guys don't do things that are intentional to hurt somebody, which neither one of those things were, I think it's a little ridiculous. And it happens every week. It's not fair to the players.

It's the trademark of both guys in terms of their endurance and ability to get better as the game goes on. That's something we'd like to continue to utilize in the future if we can.

It's going to be a little bit of a process for us to get used to what's best for us to do offensively with those two guys in the game. . . and for those two guys in the game to get used to doing what their roles are, relative to that circumstance which we will continue to try to develop to some degree in the future.

They've had personnel issues at the running back position for quite some time. They are getting those guys back now and I think those guys are playing better and better. I think they're as healthy as they've been all year. I think that's the key to it. They ran the ball effectively down here. Heath Evans was basically playing tailback. I don't think there is anything wrong with their running game; I just think that they haven't had all the players available in all the right spots being healthy this year that can help them develop the running game more quickly, but it's certainly developing nicely now.

I haven't been pleased with the tackling on the perimeter of our defense for several weeks now. We are either going to get it out of the guys we have or we are going to get somebody who will do it, because that won't be tolerated.