Terrion Arnold responds to Ainias Smith’s comments about Nick Saban
There are going to be personal feelings on the sideline in College Station on Saturday. Texas A&M wide receiver Ainias Smith is looking to get one over Nick Saban, the former head coach of his brother, Maurice. The Smith family is still upset with Saban on how he handled Maurice’s transfer from Alabama to Georgia and Ainias is looking to get back at him with a win.
“I know what Nick Saban wants, and we’re gonna mess that up,” Smith said on Monday. “You know what I’m saying? If them boys don’t got no momentum for real, we’re gonna have to take that away, immediately, for sure.”
Terrion Arnold had a chance to respond to Smith’s comments, looking confused more than anything. He does not fully understand what Smith means when saying “I know what Nick Saban wants.” Not even Arnold, in the midst of his third season in Tuscaloosa, knows what Saban wants.
“I’ve seen something that says he knows what Coach Saban wants,” Arnold said. “When I have seen that, I was like ‘What does Coach Saban want?’ I’ve been here three years and I don’t know what the guy wants. So, I don’t really know. If we’re being really honest, I don’t really know.”
Comments from Ainias Smith could lead to trash-talking between Smith, Alabama secondary
Those are not the type of comments that go unnoticed. Arnold had clearly heard about them, being able to answer a question about it during his press conference. You can bet the rest of the Alabama defense knows what Smith said too.
Arnold expects there to be some trash-talking going on whenever Smith gets involved. The goal will be to get in the wide receiver’s head, maybe throwing him off his game a bit. Of course, the primary focus will be doing their job but once the play is over, the talking could begin.
“If I’m in the game and he saying that he knows what my coach wants — Obviously, when I go out there, I’m going to be like ‘You know what Coach Saban wants, huh? Dang. What he want?’ Little things like that.
“He plays in the slot primarily. Malachi (Moore) goes in there, gets a PBU on him, you walk beside him — ‘Hm, you know what he wants.’ So, just little things like that, little things to try to get into somebody’s head.”
At the end of the day, it’s all about being a competitor for Arnold. If Smith is not able to handle some of the trash-talking thrown his way, Arnold knows his game will be affected. If the feeling is matched, everybody at Kyle Field will be getting a pretty good show.
“You see what type of competitor somebody is,” Arnold said. “If they shut down, they can’t play 60 minutes of football, and that’s the type of person they are. But if they keep going, it really gets you going and it makes the game entertaining for the crowd, makes it entertaining for you. You just have a chance to go out there and put on a show.”