Nick Saban Team Quotations

One thing about championship teams is that they're resilient. No matter what is thrown at them, no matter how deep the hole, they find a way to bounce back and overcome adversity.

Now, everybody always says there's no 'I' in team, but there is an 'I' in win, because the individuals make the team what it is, and how they think and what they do is important to the team. So when you act like the individual is not important, well, it is damn important who these people are and what they are.

We are pleased with the team chemistry we have right now, and we are pleased with what the players are doing. My comment is going to be about that. It is not on any speculation about what is going to happen in the future.

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 believe we are a better team today than we were yesterday.

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 need to make sure we have an adequate backup at that position. We're trying to work through that right now, either with the players we have on our team or some who are available in free agency.

Nobody ever said this team wasn't tough. Look at that, it took two teams to eliminate us from the playoffs.

One of the most difficult parts of my job is having to release players, and the past week has emphasized this fact. This is especially true when those players made significant contributions to the success of the team in the past. Ideally, we would like to keep many of those players on our roster, but we are simply not able to do that.

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.

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.

But what happened in their first game is no indication of the kind of team that they have.

Gus is going to make us a better team at the quarterback position. His knowledge and experience that comes with being a veteran will help the development of some of our younger players. In addition, he is familiar with our system and he'll create competition at the position.

Gus has a good understanding of the offense, he's very knowledgeable. And I think (he) can manage the game the best with a pretty young offensive team right now. . . . We weren't displeased with the job any of the quarterbacks did, but we felt that Gus would give us the best opportunity to be successful.

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.

There are still lessons to learn from this game. I'm very proud of what this team was able to do down the stretch. We're not in the playoffs, but it wasn't all in vein.

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 we're interested in anybody who would make our team better.

It enhances our chances to prepare our team well.

I think if he showed he was committed to coming back and wanting to be a productive player, that's the only issue with me. From a team standpoint, I've discussed this with some of the key leaders on the team ... and it would be counterproductive to me to turn my back on all that.

John St. Clair will probably get an opportunity to play someplace else. We certainly wish him the best and in a lot of ways we would like to have him on our team again, but that may not happen.

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.

My biggest concern was how the members of our team would respond and react to Ricky coming back. And I think everybody had the idea that if he was committed to coming back and wanted to be a player that would contribute to the success of the team, that they would be all for it.

We'd like for everybody on the team that dresses to have some kind of role in the game,

We are not in the playoffs, but it was not all in vain. This group was a team for the last six weeks of the season, for sure.

With such a demanding schedule, it's also important that we improve as the season progresses and develop the kind of team chemistry that will allow us to play winning football and finish strongly as we did last year.

We all like winning. The fun of this is a job well done. The purpose of what we do is to have success. We focused a lot this year on the process of what you need to do to be successful. I think this team has bought into that and has a belief system that has been beneficial to how we've competed.

We want to duplicate enthusiasm and team energy,

We tried to create a little bit of an identity as a team today. I'm proud of the effort that we put in and the way we persevered and overcame adversity. The big thing that this team did today was they had a little tenacity, a little perseverance. And I think that's something you definitely need in this league relative to the competitive balance and what you have to do to win games.

We lost two great players who were part of a dominating front, ... Young players are going to determine the depth and quality of the kind of defensive team we're going to have.

We didn't pick up Gus for his brains. He's on this team because of his arm. How he chooses to celebrate is his business. He can butt heads with a brick wall as far as I'm concerned, as long as his right arm remains healthy.

Even though our offensive line did a really good job this year, it is an area of our team that we may be able to add something to that might enhance it even more, especially with the kind of running backs that we have. I don't think we have an older guy on our team who is not capable of continuing to play. I think the issue becomes, can they do it and sustain it for the season? Those are the tough decisions that we have to make, but we are going to have to do that with defensive players because we need to get younger.

The thing they were most concerned about is that he had a commitment to come back and try to help the team be successful,

(Ronnie) wants to do well and he is working hard to do well and you can't always evaluate every situation based on results, in terms of how many yards he is getting a carry and things like that. Some of it is his responsibility, but I think it is a team thing that we all need to improve on, so everybody has a chance to be more successful, including Ronnie Brown.

The best way to disrespect somebody is to just walk away from them. But that is the show business part of what we have to deal with, and to me it's wrong. It's a bad example for young people to see and it's not the kind of character and attitude that we want our players to represent this organization in, our owner, the Miami Dolphins ... or the people on the team who all have to suffer because of that.

It's been wonderful. I really do feel like this was coming home to play a game and it was exciting for me even though I didn't say it (earlier). It was exciting to be back in Tiger Stadium and I feel really great that our team did a nice job to make us proud of how they played.

They were all on the field. They all did some things, but they didn't participate in team (drills).

I'm not blaming anybody, because that's not my nature, but we certainly didn't have the energy and enthusiasm we've had up to this point. We just didn't look like the same team out there, and I can't give you any reason exactly why.

I'm very confident in him, ... Him being able to manage this situation with the first team out there is going to be a good experience for him. If this circumstance ever pops up in the future, it will be something that will serve him well.

I know Randy has learned a lesson from this. It's important for all our players to understand that they represent this team and this community, and conduct themselves accordingly. Regarding anything we will do in this specific instance, it's a team matter and as such will be handled privately.

I know he's going through due process. Ricky is as good a guy as anyone I've ever coached. I never had a problem with him. I have nothing but the highest regard for him. I hope things work out to have him on our team in the future.

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.

Any team that does not win it's conference championship game should not play in the BCS title game

The number one thing on any team that will keep your players from being selfish is respect for the other players.

The formula for success is every guy can make a difference for the entire team in whatever his role is. And to do it right, to get it right, is a critical factor in being successful.

People who are role models for the principles and values of the organization, who buy in and understand the vision of what the organization is trying to accomplish, and have the personality to inspire other people to the vision. You know, that’s what team chemistry and leadership is all about.

We have three kinds of guys on our team. We have guys that get it; they play good; they understand how to play winning football. We have some guys that are trying to get it, and they are working hard every day? We are supporting them, and we want the guys that have it to support them. Then we have some guys that don't get it and don't know that they don't get it. We are trying to replace them. We only have a couple left.

We create a standard for how we want to do things and everybody's got to buy into that standard or you really can't have any team chemistry. Mediocre people don't like high-achievers and high-achievers don't like mediocre people.

The entire defensive team made plays. We pressured just about every down, except for that screen pass. We knew we'd have to play them man to man. Their passing game is very well constructed and it's hard to execute zone against it. We thought that we would try to confuse their offensive line.