Nick Saban reveals he went hard after Sam Pittman, says Arkansas team reflective of head coach

Ahead of this weekend’s matchup at Arkansas, Alabama coach Nick Saban has nothing but praise for Hogs head man Sam Pittman. The former offensive line mastermind has the Razorback offense humming through four weeks, and Saban knows a real challenge lies ahead for his defense, especially up front.

“Well, I think their offensive line is very physical,” he shared on this week’s rendition of Hey Coach. “They play with a lot of toughness. These guys are determined to be able to run the ball. And the quarterback runs that they have, which complements the running game. But their offensive line does a really good job and they don’t make a lot of mistakes. They know exactly what they’re doing, they know how to do it. It’s good fundamental technique, and they’re physical and they’re tough. But Sam was an offensive line coach, so this group kind of mirrors that.”

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Saban holds such an admiration for Pittman partially because he actually tried to hire him as the Tide’s OL coach long before he ever became a head coach.

“We tried to hire him here, because I thought he was one of the best offensive line coaches in the country. I forget how long ago it was, but it was a while back. And this group reflects that. They do a great job of running the ball, using quarterback runs, making all 11 players on defense play the running plays — like, running zone street: quarterback pulls the ball, has someone to throw to or has somebody lead blocking with him.”

Saban continued, further expounding on how well Pittman’s group runs offense.

“And then they do a great job in the play-action game taking shots down the field to make a lot of explosive plays. That’s really what hurt us last year in the game. We played their plays pretty good. They made three or four really big plays that were tough. And then, these guys are a little a-typical on third down too. Because, if it’s third-and-six or less, they’ll run the ball 50% of the time. So you can’t just put a whole bunch of defensive backs in there and a couple guys that can pass rush — because they’ll just run the ball. So you gotta stay sound. This is a pretty dynamic offense.”

That same toughness and physicality that defines Arkansas’ offensive line also applies to the Hogs’ defense, according to Saban:

“Defensively, they play tough. They’re physical up front. They play hard. Their secondary is very impressive, so it’s going to be a challenge for us. And they have 20 sacks, which leads the SEC. They do a really good job pressuring the quarterback. So we’re going to have to do a good job up front on both sides of the ball.”

Nick Saban is never one to overlook opponents, and he certainly holds a tremendous amount of respect for the head coach on the other sideline and the program he runs. Should be a fun one in Fayetteville on Saturday.