JaMarcus Russell credits Nick Saban for coaching style

Since burning out of the NFL more than a decade ago, former LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell has turned his talents into a coaching career. Russell became the quarterbacks coach at Williamson High School, his alma mater in Alabama, and credited Crimson Tide legend Nick Saban as his coaching style inspiration.

“However many kids we have on our team, every morning, I go and individually give each one of them a handshake, or dap, whatever it may be, I’m going around to each one to talk to ’em and jive around but on the practice field, it’s different,” Russell shared with Ryan Clark and the guys on The Pivot. “I’ve been around Nick Saban, bro. So I know what it’s supposed to be, what it’s supposed to look like in order for you to win.

“I still go to these folks, knock on their doors, I take my kids to camp with Jimbo Fisher or to see Nick Saban. When I talk to the kids, you know, ‘What do you want to do with your life?’ And I’ll say that, ‘Man, these m************ been killing them all lately.”

In his own playing days at Williamson High School, JaMarcus Russell passed for 10,774 yards in his career, which is still an AHSAA record. Bo Nix had the next-most passing yards in a career in Alabama, roughly 400 yards fewer than his elder’s total. Russell’s play earned him scholarship offers all over the country but he ultimately landed with Nick Saban at LSU.

Saban and Russell’s time at LSU overlapped briefly before the head coach left for Miami and before the quarterback took over as the Tigers’ starter in 2005. However, it was obviously enough time to leave a lasting impact on his career.

Saban: ‘Can’t stand to see people not do things the right way’

Saban joined his former quarterback Greg McElroy on Always College Football and gave an in-depth answer to what’s motivating him to continue coaching heading into the 2022 season.

“I just can’t stand to see people not do things the right way,” Saban said. “It drives me absolutely crazy. Because my whole goal as a coach is to get everyone to reach their full potential, to be the best version of themselves that they can be, personally, academically, and athletically. It’s almost like you’re sabotaging yourself if you’re not trying to be that.

“Somebody has to create sort of a path for you to be able to, call it the process, call it whatever, for you to be able to accomplish the goals that you have and to show you how you have to edit your behavior to do it. It just drives me crazy, maybe I’m a perfectionist, I don’t know … it just drives me up a tree to see guys not do things from an effort standpoint, from a toughness standpoint, from responsibility … It creates a standard when you have that disposition. Is that what motivates me? I guess … I don’t like losing, I think you know that.”

Nick Saban is coming into the 2022 season off of a loss to SEC rival Georgia, providing an extra spark for the legendary head coach this year.