Nick Saban Played Quotations

I am so happy for Ricky. He has played a great role for this team all year. He has been unselfish and has been a really good team guy.

I felt like Ricky Williams played well. He didn't have many opportunities to do much, because he didn't have much space.

I don't think we played very well. We didn't look quick, we didn't look fast and we didn't play with the same energy level that I've seen us play with throughout the year so far. I'm not blaming it on anything because that's not my nature, but we certainly didn't have the energy and the enthusiasm that we've played with to this point.

He looked quick. He looked fast. He made the right cuts. I'm not disappointed at all in the way he played for the first time out of the box.

Gus has the best understanding of the offense right now. We feel like he hasn't played his best football yet, but with his knowledge and understanding and leadership, we're hopeful that he can show continued improvement, and that we can make some improvement as an offensive team. We've had spots of doing those types of things, and hopefully we'll continue to be more consistent.

Gus did well, but he looked more comfortable and confident with the offense because he's played in the system before. I think we were a little tentative early in the game and I think the longer we played, the better we played.

He's done a good job. He has minimized his mental mistakes. He's become a starter and he has played fast in the games and made some plays. We (will) keep working with him in hopes that he'll be able to execute on a consistent basis and continue to eliminate those mental errors that can get him in trouble.

He's played a great role for this team all year. He's been unselfish, he's been a really good team guy and he's been very helpful with a lot of other players in terms of what he's done. I can't tell you how much we appreciate it as an organization based on what he's done and how he's played and how he's overcome a lot. We're real proud of him.

I would say that if Jason Taylor had played in a 3-4 system somewhere, he would have been a Hall of Fame outside linebacker. There is no question about that based on the athletic ability the guy has. He's smart and he's got great instincts to learn things better than I ever hoped for. It gives us an opportunity to move him around and use him in a lot of different ways.

I think the evaluation is he played behind two really good players that were both drafted, and to find out if he has the right stuff to be a consistent performer.

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 it's something we need to evaluate. It seems the entire preseason whichever quarterback played second has played best.

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.

Part of the things that we are doing is because of his unique abilities. I would say that 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. It gives us an opportunity to move him around and use him in a lot of different ways.

I think he played outstanding and I am so happy for Ricky for some positive self-gratification that he'll get from his performance today because he certainly deserves it.

Sam has worked hard and played very well for us. He has gotten better and better all year long and has especially played well in the second half of the season. He has been a good guy on our team.

Rather than wear him out, we played him about as much as we planned. We'll play him more and more as time goes on and he gets in better and better shape.

They played great in the first half and kind of melted down in the second half. We are really sad for them, the fans, the coaches and everybody involved in the organization.

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.

It's something that we need to continue to evaluate. It has seemed the entire pre-season, whichever quarterback played second has played best.

It's something we need to continue to evaluate. It seemed the entire pre-season whichever quarterback has played second has played best. It's the second week in a row we gave Gus the opportunity to start, and A.J. has come in and done a nice job in both of those games in the second half.

I'm not blaming it on anything because that's not my nature, ... but we certainly didn't have the energy and enthusiasm that we've played with to this point.

I'm just happy that we could make this state proud, ... We got tired at the end of the game, but we played from the heart.

He put half of our defensive team in the training room for a week every time we played him. The thing that separates (Brown) from the other running backs available in this draft was his versatility and the number of things that he could do as a football player. I'm surprised that other people ... have not made a more significant emphasis about the versatility this guy has.

He played with a lot of poise and he executed. It's a positive that the results were gotten by a systematic approach of doing the right things, and it paid dividends in results for him. I hope he gains confidence in his ability to do that in the future.