Paul Finebaum saw a 'quiet confidence' from Nick Saban at SEC media days

Paul Finebaum knows Nick Saban quite well at this point, but the ESPN commentator noticed something a little different about the Alabama football coach during SEC Media Days.

Many considered there to be a changing of the guard after last season, considering LSU passed Alabama for the SEC West title. Not to mention the fact Saban and crew have to break in a new quarterback, one of Ty Simpson, Jalen Milroe or transfer Tyler Buchner.

But according to Finebaum, things might be just fine for Saban and Alabama.

“Even being around Coach Saban on Wednesday, you can read too much into him or not read enough,” Finebaum said on McElroy and Cubelic. “But what I read was a quiet confidence. Especially with his unwavering praise of Tommy Rees. Now, this is all verbiage. It’s all rhetoric. What does it mean? It just meant to me that Alabama deserved to be the pick to win the West and quite frankly, I think the Tide (are) in for a very good year.”

The Tide having a good year and Saban having a “quiet confidence,” according to Finebaum. Well that sounds about right.

Saban must know something the public doesn’t about how the quarterback situation will shake out. That was Finebaum’s biggest question, although he seems to be leaning towards Simpson.

“Most of what I learned in media days came from being on the set with (Greg McElroy) a couple of times and then being at events with him and dinners with him later,” Finebaum said. “So you probably already know what I’m about to say but it started off with when Greg started talking about Ty Simpson because that was the antithesis of everything else I had heard from all the beat reporters that we talked to. 

“And it really got me thinking that if Ty Simpson is making up ground, I found that to be a very positive thing for Alabama because I was somewhat nonplussed by what I’ve seen him Jalen Milroe and completely unsold on Buchner so I started feeling a little bit better.”

If Simpson is the guy, Saban made the choice for a reason as the head coach does everything with a meticulous purpose. You don’t win seven national championships by accident. Remember, a Saban with a problem to solve, is a dangerous Saban. So if he has this type of confidence where there’s no need to gloat, it might be time to watch out for Alabama again.