Nick Saban commends Tommy Rees for 'transforming' Alabama offense

Alabama offensive coordinator Tommy Rees was recently named a finalist for the 2023 Broyles Award, which is annually given to the top assistant coach in college sports. Per Nick Saban, the Crimson Tide OC is a deserving candidate.

At his press conference ahead of this weekend’s Iron Bowl vs. Auburn to end the regular season, Coach Saban was asked about Rees receiving the honor from the Broyles Award. He answered:

“Well, obviously, we nominated him, so we thought he’s done a pretty good job,” quipped Nick Saban, commending Rees for being willing to change up the plan on offense in order to find success.

“I think he’s done a great job of transforming our offense and the players and how they’ve improved, and I think that’s made a huge difference in the confidence on our team offensively as well as our team in general. So I think he’s done an outstanding job,” the Alabama coach added.

Rees is in his first season as the Crimson Tide offensive coordinator after he came over from Notre Dame. Despite a brand new and rather young quarterback room and the losses of Bryce Young and Jahmyr Gibbs, Rees has still found a way to have this ‘Bama offense humming by the latter months of the year.

Alabama is top-20 in scoring per-game with 36.5 points per contest, a number that’s only been on the rise as the year has progressed. In fact, in their last three wins over LSU, Kentucky and Chattanooga, the Tide have scored 42+ each time out while averaging over 50 points. Rees is on a roll.

Saban comments on Jalen Milroe’s growth

Jalen Milroe has taken off like a rocket as Alabama’s offense has it its stride. Particularly, he’s become a real force in the QB run game, which offsets his terrific arm talent so well.

“Jalen is obviously someone that has great capabilities as a runner,” Saban said. “I think he’s been pretty effective and his choices of when to step up in the pocket, when to run, when he has an opportunity to make a play, when he doesn’t. But I think the thing he’s developed is the ability to keep his eyes downfield and make plays in the passing game, even when the pocket breaks down. 

“And I think he’s been an effective runner for us. You know, when we’ve had perimeter plays that involve reads on his part to get to the perimeter. So I think both of those things help us overall offensively in terms of what the defense has to defend.”

This season, Milroe has 2,267 yards, 19 touchdowns, six interceptions, a 66.4% completion percentage, 332 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns.