Nick Saban breaks down how Louis Riddick was as a player in Cleveland

Before getting the head job at Michigan State, Nick Saban was a defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns under Bill Belichick. There, current ESPN analyst Louis Riddick was a defensive back for the Browns.

During an appearance on Get Up, Saban broke down the kind of player Riddick was as a player in Cleveland to Riddick.

“Yeah, well, you know, Louis was a great competitor and a serious guy,” Nick Saban said. “But he was interested in trying to pay attention to detail and get the little things right and I think that’s probably a good thing, and he’s probably still that way.”

That’s high praise from a legend like Nick Saban. It also likely goes to show why Louis Riddick has been so successful and so well-liked while working as an analyst at ESPN. He sees the little details that can make a big difference.

At the same time, as Saban explained, Riddick wasn’t always so serious while in Cleveland.

“We had some characters on our team in Cleveland and they could all make him laugh,” Saban added. “I couldn’t, but they could.”

After leaving Cleveland, Riddick played a couple more seasons with Atlanta and Oakland before playing one season with the Orlando Rage in the XFL. He then got into scouting with Washington and later Philadelphia.

For his part, Nick Saban was successful at Michigan State but left for LSU where he won a national championship. After that, he made the jump to coaching in the NFL again, this time as a head coach with the Miami Dolphins. When things didn’t work out there, he returned to college and has dominated with Alabama ever since.

Nick Saban on the state of college football

College football is going through rapid changes. Nick Saban hasn’t been shy about sharing his opinion on those changes but knows, at the end of the day, that you still need to adapt to those changes.

“Well I think that the most important thing right now is it is what it is. We have to adapt to it and try to make our programs create more value for players so that they’re going to benefit in personal development and developing a career off the field and developing a career on the field so that they’re going to create value for their future, which is why we all went to college and why you still go to college,” Saban said.

“I know we have some things involved now that didn’t used to be involved, but I think we have to adapt to those things and try to make it work so that we can continue to challenge young people to be the bet that they can be.”