Nick Saban where Eli Ricks stands, starting cornerback positions
Nick Saban met with the media following the Alabama Crimson Tide‘s spring game and was asked specifically about Eli Ricks and how the newly acquired cornerback from the LSU Tigers is settling in.
Even though Ricks was considered one of the top corners in the country during his time at LSU before hitting the transfer portal, Saban still admitted there has been a major adjustment learning the new defensive system.
“The biggest thing for Eli is learning the system,” Nick Saban said.
“He’s like a guy that just got here. So for him to be able to learn the system, and sometimes it’s even more difficult for guys that have played in a system, alright, because they knew a system and now they have to sort of intercalate some of the things they we doing with some of the things we are doing. They might have been told something different, so you have to work through that learning curve with them. But, he’s a very consciousness guy and works hard at it, he takes coaching well and wants to please.”
Saban revealed the starting cornerback jobs still aren’t determined and it’s an open competition between Ricks, Khyree Jackson and Kool-Aid McKinstry.
“Those guys are all competing, they’re learning and they are getting better,” the Crimson Tide front man said .”I think all three corners are competing for starting positions. We just had to put somebody on second team today so they would get reps, so we didn’t just rotate them the whole time. and I wanted to see them play a lot, I thought they needed to play a lot and they are capable guys.”
Nick Saban on what he learned from Alabama spring game
Following a big day on the field for their defensive stars, Alabama’s defense gave plenty of film for the offense to work with. Saban’s only specific takeaway from the contest that he mentioned was the pass rush’s effectiveness against their offensive line.
“I think you learn about your team all season long, but today was a day that you really see showtime,” said Nick Saban after the game. “You know, who can play, who couldn’t play. Who could go out there and be responsible to do the things that they needed to do to play winning football. We’re gonna learn a lot about the guys that did that. Obviously we had a tough time blocking the pass rush, too many sacks. So we’ve got a lot of things to work on. But it’s good to know. And we’ve got other good players that we’re trying to get in there so we do better in the fall.
Saban was then asked which dinner he gets as the head coach, since the winners of the game traditionally get steak dinners while the losers eat “beans and weenies” afterwards.
“Whichever I choose, but most of the time I think you can answer that,” joked Nick Saban.
Not even former Heisman winners are exempt from eating weenies after the loss, as quarterback Bryce Young was the leader of the losing Crimson team. The scrimmage attempts to even out the squads by pairing first-team offense with second-team defense on the Crimson team, while the White team fields the first-team defense and second-team offense.
The White team finished the day with ten sacks, including three from linebacker Dallas Turner. Additionally, they held Young and the Crimson offense to just 201 total yards on the day — a dominating day for the defense.