Nick Saban hammers media over depth chart-based questions, competition battles

Saturday was another vintage Alabama win, taking care of Utah State in impressive fashion at Bryant Denny Stadium. Both the offense and defense rolled for the Crimson Tide, getting a 55-0 win. However, the play on the field was not the only vintage performance. Head coach Nick Saban was at his best during his press conference as well.

Questions about the Alabama depth chart came up after the game, specifically at the cornerback position. It was a battle all fall camp for Saban, who wound up starting Kool-Aid McKinstry and Terrion Arnold over Eli Ricks and Khyree Jackson.

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Saban then went into rant mode, wondering why the media was surprised all four guys got playing time on Saturday night. He said the competition was still going on as the season began and he wanted real game film to see who would help Alabama win going forward.

“What would lead you to that I said anything that I wouldn’t do it? What leads you to believe that? I told you we had competition at corner,” Saban said. “So what did I ever say to lead you to believe that they all wouldn’t play in a game. I’m curious too as to why you were surprised they all would play in a game.

“Because I never said they wouldn’t all play in a game. I said ‘there’s a lot of competition at corner. I don’t know who our best corners are’ so we played them all in a game to see who played the best.”

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Nick Saban continues rant with depth chart talk

Saban was not done there, either. Right guard was the next position to come into question. He first confirmed Emil Ekiyor missed a few days of practice heading into this weekend. Then, the topic became the overall depth chart, where Saban says it caused problems within his team. There might not even be one released for next weekend against Texas.

“You guys need to get off the depth chart a little bit,” Saban said. “Forget about who started and who didn’t. Emil missed five days of practice leading up to the game and he only practiced two days. So we wanted to play him in the game but he hadn’t practiced a lot so we didn’t want to play him too much. It’s only fair to the other guy who started the other five days while he was out. So, Emil is still the starting right guard. Now, if Emil didn’t miss five days of practice, I’m not sure who would’ve started at left guard because there’s competition at every position.

“Which is a good thing. My biggest issue — and this might be the last time you ever get one — my biggest issue on our whole team was the day the depth chart came out. So, you may have seen the last one. Y’all might have seen the last one. Because that’s all you worry about. We have competition on our team, we have good players. In my mind, I have seven or eight guys that can play winning football on the offensive line. I’m going to play them all.

‘Doesn’t bother’ Saban that the media thinks he’s crazy

At the end of his rant, Saban had some fun — at least it seemed like it. He said he knows the media thinks he’s crazy and it “doesn’t bother” him at all. For all the long-winded answers from the Alabama head coach over the years, Saturday’s is definitely one of the best.

“I know y’all think I’m crazy,” said Saban. “That doesn’t bother me at all. Doesn’t bother me one bit.”

Either way, Alabama will begin the game work for next weekend. A crucial road game against Texas is on the schedule, with Saban facing off against another former assistant. Whether or not we have a depth chart heading into the game… we’ll have to wait and see.