Nick Saban reveals what impact Tommy Rees' knowledge of Brian Kelly will have on LSU game plan

Alabama head coach Nick Saban has faced a former assistant several times during his legendary coaching career. The roles will be reversed this weekend when the Crimson Tide host LSU. Alabama offensive coordinator Tommy Rees worked under Tigers head coach Brian Kelly at Notre Dame and also played under Kelly.

Saban joined The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday and discussed what kind of advantage, if any, that gives the Crimson Tide.

“I think probably a little more media fodder, because when you actually do the scouting reports and look at the film and do all the cut-ups – we’ve got probably 100 different cut-ups that we watch about things – they kind of get it what we’re doing, we kind of get it, what they’re doing,” Saban said. “So if you had any inside information, it probably wouldn’t be much to add on to what you would learn through the course of your preparation.”

Brian Kelly was the head coach at Notre Dame from 2010-21. Tommy Rees played quarterback for the Irish from 2010-13 and was on Kelly’s staff from 2017-2022.

It’s safe to say the two are incredibly familiar with one another, but Saban doesn’t see it as a clear advantage for either side. Alabama will prepare for this game just like it does every other game.

“I know when we play against our former assistants, I always think they kind of know what we do. But I think the thing you’ve gotta be careful of is players have confidence in what you’re doing. So if you go into a big game and make a lot of changes in what you’re doing, do they really think you have confidence in what you’ve been doing, or you don’t have confidence in them that they can do what they’ve been doing and still have a chance to win the game, and they start looking at you like, ‘Why are we doing all this stuff?’” Saban said. “So I think you’ve gotta be careful about that, but you want to technically do what you need to do to have a chance to be successful in any game, whether you’re playing offense, defense or special teams.”

Finally, Saban said that Alabama can learn a lot more from film study and from preparing the right way than it can from getting tips because Tommy Rees played under and coached alongside Brian Kelly.

“You’ve gotta make your best decisions on game day, and it’s no different for coaches,” Saban said. “That comes from good preparation, knowing what to expect in certain situations, and hopefully you do the best thing that gives you the best opportunity to be successful. And try to minimize negative plays by good preparation, in terms of recognizing what the other team’s going to do and have a chance to be in the right call to help take that away.”