Nick Saban on Jordan Davis: He's one of the most dominant players in college football

Nick Saban has had some massive matchups in his tenure as the Alabama head coach, but with College Football Playoff aspirations hanging in the balance, this weekend’s SEC Championship vs. No. 1 Georgia can’t be understated.

Almost anyone with a pulse has heard about the dominant Georgia defense by this point. Kirby Smart has assembled a unit that is posting unprecedented numbers, and on paper, has a defensive group that could go down in the history books.

Earlier this week, the Alabama coach chimed in on Jordan Davis and gave the highest praise to the Bulldogs’ star defensive tackle.

“I mean, I think the guy is one of the most dominant players in college football,” Nick Saban said of Davis. “Any defensive lineman, I guess you can look at a lot of things, but the number one thing is how hard are they to block? And he’s really hard to block.

“He’s got great size. He’s very powerful, but he’s got really good initial quickness, short area quickness, and can push the pocket and pass rush. He’s about as good a player as I’ve seen for a long time as an inside player on any college football team.”

That’s high praise from someone who coached the likes of Quinnen Williams, Daron Payne and Chrisitan Baramore in recent seasons. The NFL is littered with Alabama defensive tackles.

Yet Davis, despite his lack of statistical production stands out for Alabama players. Bryce Young echoed much of what Nick Saban had to stay about the Georgia star.

“He’s a really, really good player. He definitely made a big impact on a lot of games, and it shows on film,” Alabama quarterback Bryce Young said. “He’s a really good player, and overall it’s a really, really good unit. So we understand that. We all see what’s on film.”

Nick Saban on the Georgia defense as a whole

For the first time this season, the Alabama offense looked to be completely outmatched at times by a talented Auburn defense in the Iron Bowl.

Looking specifically at Georgia’s defensive unit, one of the team’s strongest areas on that side of the ball is its pass rush, which Saban had plenty of praise to give to.

“To me, they’ve got some really good rushers up front. They do a great job of pressuring the quarterback,” Nick Saban said on Sunday’s SEC coaches’ teleconference.

“They’ve got really good scheme in terms of how they pressure the quarterback. They mix up the coverages in the back end quite a bit. They’ve been very effective with the way they play pass defense all year long. So, it’s going to be very challenging for us. It’s not just about throwing the ball. It’s about protecting, whether it’s man to man, zone, reading it, throwing the ball to the right guys. There’s a lot of things that go with that.

When we play the best, we have some kind of balance on offense, which really wasn’t the case last night. So, it’s going to be important for us to be able to create that as well.”

It’s certain the Alabama offense will have its hands full in a game that the Crimson Tide need to win to ensure a trip to the College Football Playoff.