WATCH: Nick Saban speaks on Monday of Arkansas week

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — On Monday, Alabama head football coach Nick Saban spoke with the media for the first time ahead of the team’s road trip to Fayetteville to take on Arkansas. The No. 2 Crimson Tide (4-0, 1-0 SEC) are looking to make it 16 straight against the Razorbacks.

Below, we’ve included everything Saban said during that media availability.

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Opening statement…

“We had a good start in the SEC. I think we played better in the last game game. Paid better attention to detail. Had more success when we did. And when we didn’t, we probably didn’t have as much success, but we were very consistent for the most part in how we executed offensively, defensively and on special teams.

“Still, things that we need to improve on. We need to show that we can sort of build on this and show progress as a team, individually and collectively. This is a very dangerous team we’re playing in Arkansas. They have a very, very good team. Coming off a tough loss.

“They make a lot of explosive plays. KJ Jefferson is a dual threat-wise big, strong, really good passer. They’ve got a lot of quarterback runs, which create another gap on defense. And to go with that, they have great play-action passes. They make a lot of explosive plays. Sam’s done a great job there, to me. They play with toughness. They run the ball effectively, stop the run on defense. I mean, their guys play hard. They’ve got a real culture there that shows great intangibles.

“Their defense is good. So this is a really, really good all-around team. And it’s going to take great preparation on our part to go on the road and be able to play the way we need to play against a very good SEC team.”

On how he’d characterize the team’s offensive identity…

“I think you build an identity over a season. And we’re going to continue to try to do that so that we have balance and we feature the players that we have on our team so that they have the best opportunities to be successful. I think there’s been times that we’ve done that extremely well. There’s times that we haven’t. We made a lot of explosive plays in the last game, which we want to continue to be able to do, utilize the skill players that we have and run the ball effectively when we need to.

“We’re still building on that identity, but I think the players are making really good progress.”

On how former Alabama LB Drew Sanders has improved…

“Drew was a good player when he was here. Unfortunate injuries. And he’s certainly playing well for them. It’s good to see that he’s doing a good job for them. We’re happy for him and his family.”

On where Bryce has improved the most from Year 1 to Year 2…

“Well, I think the big thing is that he’s got a lot of new people around him. And I think that it creates tremendous value for him as he did in the last game, when he makes it work with the players that we have now. And I think each week we’ve done a little bit better job of that, and I think to have continued growth in that area is important for him and for us.”

On the importance of off-field personnel to the program…

“Well, you can’t have success without ‘em, I can tell you that. We have a great team here. Everybody contributes in a really positive way. Our training staff is tops in the country. Our medical staff’s tops in the country. I think our players believe and trust in those people. We have a great nutrition program for our players that we’re constantly trying to get them to take advantage of. The equipment guys, these guys have to do more to get ready for a game than probably anybody, and it goes pretty much unnoticed by everybody except us. So I don’t think you could have a great program if you don’t have great people in all those support roles.”

On keys to playing good run defense…

“You’ve got to beat blockers on the line of scrimmage, and everybody’s got to do their job and fit the run right. So far we’ve done that fairly well. The challenges in this week’s game are going to be far greater than anything we’ve faced to this point because they have a really good scheme, a lot of quarterback runs involved in it. So it’s gonna take a great week of preparation for us to be able to play the run well this week.”

On scouting a team after it suffers a loss…

“First of all, I don’t see their team after they lost. You know, I see the game. I see how they lost. I’m sure they’re very disappointed. I’m sure they’ll be upset with the way the game ended, the outcome of the game. Whether it was the fumble where they had a chance to go in and score a touchdown and got returned 98 yards or whatever for a touchdown, which is like a 14-point swing. But I don’t really control how the other team thinks or what they do. I think the key for us is to play the best that we can play and not allow the other team to get well when they play us because of how we play. I’m sure they’ve got their goals and aspirations for how they wanna play.”

On how Alabama rolls out the playbook…

“Well, we have a playbook. And it’s a lot of plays, more plays than we could ever run in the game, and you have to pick and choose. And you try to do even before the season starts, these are the weapons, these are the things we need to be able to go through the season and the players to understand. You know I’m gonna play certain types of teams that do certain things, and these things are better against other teams. And then you try to change the presentation each week so that maybe the other team has a more difficult time recognizing what you’re doing and what you’re trying to do. 

“But you don’t take the whole playbook, nor do you sort of reinvent the wheel every week for what you want to do because it’s what the players know, and it’s what they can execute. I think you tweak it from week to week— you add some things, you do some things that you haven’t done in the past couple of weeks. And we do self-scout ourselves each week, a cumulative of what we’ve done throughout the season so that we can see if there’s some tendencies that we’re creating and how we can maybe break those in future games and future game plans. 

“And yes, I do meet with the offense about that. I meet with them about a game plan. I meet with them about the openers that we have in each game, how we’re gonna start each game philosophically. How do we want to go about attacking the other team? Like in the last game, for example, we thought spreading Vanderbilt out and making them play in space would be an advantage for us, so that’s what we did. It might not be the case against another team.”

On if Alabama had planned to play Drew Sanders inside…

“That was probably what we were going to do, but never worked out. It is what it is. It’s good for him that he can play both positions and that he’s doing well.”

On Arkansas QB KJ Jefferson…

“I mentioned before what a dynamic player that he is. Big, strong guy, hard to tackle, hard to sack, hard to get on the ground, can push the pile and run over people when he runs quarterback runs. Very physical, player. So all those things that you mentioned are certainly things that we want to emphasize this week. But you can’t minimize the effectiveness of this guy as a passer. He is really, really good. He’s got a strong arm. Throws the deep ball well, and they make a lot of explosive plays because they run the ball extremely well, they have really good play-action passes, but he executes it both ways very, very well.”

On Alabama’s freshmen wide receivers…

“Yeah, well, those guys are talented guys, and they’re also smart guys. They’ve been able to learn the offense and make really good, incremental progress week in and week out. And we knew that those guys were good players when we recruited them. But we also knew that we needed some of the younger players to be able to develop into roles on the team that gives us the kind of depth that we need at the wide receiver position. So we’ve been very pleased with the way that has sort of transpired to this point. But again, for every position on the team, how they can build on continue to improve will be a real key for us down the road.”

On defending the back shoulder throw…

“Early on in last week’s game Vanderbilt was having some success with some back shoulder passes. What would you say makes that pass so hard to defend? Well, I think that if you’ve got to a guy cut off, which means you’re in good position, you probably can defend the long ball because you’re in that position. So the quarterback and receiver throwing it to the back shoulder make it difficult for the defensive back when he’s in good position to be able to turn in the guy and play that ball. It’s kind of a timing throw, but it’s something that we work on quite a bit. We didn’t always play great it in the game, which you’ve got to give some credit. Their No. 14 is a pretty good player too. And we didn’t give them the over-the-top ball which is probably even more important.”