Nick Saban once had Kirby Smart sit with Bill Belichick at NFL Combine to find lineman with ‘biggest ass’

Nick Saban and Bill Belichick are arguably the best college and NFL coaches ever. They’re also friends, with Saban even working on Belichick’s staff in Cleveland. That’s how Kirby Smart is then connected to Belichick, having worked for Saban.

At one NFL Combine, Saban felt Smart could learn from Belichick. So, he sent them to go scout linemen based on which ones have the ‘biggest asses.’

“Kirby Smart said at a coaching clinic that Nick Saban taught him that Bill Belichick goes to the combine to scout players with huge asses,” Kevin Clark reported.

Kirby Smart said at a coaching clinic that Nick Saban taught him that Bill Belichick goes to the combine to scout players with huge asses. pic.twitter.com/JcmJY6zCxl

— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) March 15, 2023

This is a little NFL Draft secret that Bill Belichick at one point shared with Nick Saban. You want a defensive lineman with a big ass. That was then shared with Kirby Smart.

“He [Saban] said, ‘Come over here with me. I want you to come over and sit by Bill.’ I’m like, ‘Bill who?’ He’s like, ‘Bill Belichick. I want you to sit by him and listen to him during the combine as they talk about players,’” Smart said.

“They get where the 40-yard dash, Y’all have all seen those guys with the tights on? They are stretching? They got behind them. I was like, ‘Why are we here? We can’t time the finish.’ He [Saban] said, ‘nah, Bill likes to look and see how big their ass is when they [get] into their 40-yard stance, because he wants to sign the biggest ass defensive lineman he can sign because those backers want to line up behind those guys and they want to be protected by them and they want to have anchor behind them.”

It goes to show that the average fan has no idea what NFL coaches and scouts are actually evaluating. There is tons that goes into this, including some very strange approaches like this one. Of course, this is an approach that led to players like Vince Wilfork.

Nick Saban downplayed concerns about Bryce Young

Despite a phenomenal college career, there are concerns about Bryce Young’s height at the next level. However, Nick Saban doesn’t think these should be major concerns at the next level.

“I think history is the best indicator of what the future is going to bring. And Bryce is not ideal height that NFL folks would like to see for that particular position quarterback. But I think Bryce has played extremely well. He has no history of being injury prone. Because the SEC, there’s a lot of folks in the SEC that end up playing in the NFL, and he plays against those guys every week and he’s never had a problem with injuries,” Nick Saban said.

“The only one that he had a problem with was self-inflicted, because when he was throwing the ball away at the last minute, he’s diving on the ground, he’s already sacked. He should just go down and now he pulls his shoulder up. But I don’t think it’s an issue.”