Nick Saban details latest Alabama offensive adaptation, desire to run the ball more
Nick Saban, for all his coaching dominance, is not wed to playing one schematic style of football — though he certainly has his preferences. And a willingness to adapt and pivot his schemes while at Alabama, particularly on offense, has likely played a big role in the dominance that Saban has carved out in college football.
And after nearly a decade of incorporating and embracing various spread offense concepts into his offense — RPOs, wide splits, up-tempo series — Saban hasn’t stopped pivoting. And the head coach has Alabama getting back to some of his earlier teams, the ones that would physically overwhelm opponents up front and run the ball relentlessly.
“There still are some great features that the spread gives you, offensively. RPOs, spreading the field, advantage throws, but I think more people are now getting back to running the football and that’s what we wanted to do and have more balance in our offense this year,” Saban said on the “Pat McAfee Show” on Friday afternoon. “And hopefully we’ll be able to do that.”
He explained that this pivot back to beefy formations and power football fits with a broader trend in the sport.
As defensive have adapted both in scheme and personnel to cover spread out offenses and hang with multiple wide receiver sets, the opportunity to exploit them with bigger and stronger offenses has grown.
Where there were once hefty, run-filling middle linebackers, there are now 215-pound sideline-to-sideline speedsters more tailored to hanging with running backs on routes out of the backfield or interfering with shallow crossers.
So as defenses are leaning into the punch of defending speed and spread-out offenses, Saban is counter punching with what he hopes is a bruising running game.
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“I think it’s a transition that we want to make. I think it’s happening all over college football right now, you see more people getting in what you refer to as 12 personnel, two tight ends, two wides, run the ball. People have adapted to the spread,” Saban said.
Having a dual-threat quarterback in Jalen Milroe helps Alabama in efforts to run more
It took a long battle throughout the summer for Jalen Milroe to be named quarterback of the Crimson Tide, but Saban isn’t looking back regarding Alabama’s decision entering Week 2. He believes Milroe has made a ton of progress, and the sky is the limit for the athletic specimen.
“Well he’s made a lot of progress as a player, and what he’s done is, he’s learned to process better. Make better choices and decisions, so it minimizes his bad plays,” Saban explained. “He’s always had a tremendous capacity to make big plays, explosive plays. He’s one of the fastest guys on the team. So when he pulls it down and takes off, it makes a difference, and it creates problems for the defense, and I think this can help us re-establish being a more balanced team, as well. His athleticism, and what it does to a defense.
“When you run the zone-read even, the end is supposed to take the quarterback. Well if the end can’t take the quarterback and that guy takes off, that guy can’t close as far to help on the dive. So all those things compliment each other.”