Daily Archives: January 4, 2013

Tide sends two freshmen home from Miami

Alabama freshman linebackers Dillon Lee and Ryan Anderson were sent home from Miami because of a curfew violation, according to The Crimson White, the university’s student newspaper.

Click here for the newspaper’s report.

Lee played in eight games for Alabama this year, compiling one tackle and an interception. Anderson has not played for the Crimson Tide this year.

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Basketball Tide returns to action Saturday

Alabama head coach Anthony Grant has seen his team lose its last three home games. (AP photo by Erin Nelson of The Tuscaloosa News)

Alabama head coach Anthony Grant has seen his team lose its last three home games. (AP photo by Erin Nelson of The Tuscaloosa News)

Alabama’s basketball team hosts Oakland on Saturday at 3 p.m., which will end the Crimson Tide’s regular-season non-conference schedule.

Alabama (7-5) has lost five of its last six as it prepares to host Oakland (7-9) for the second time in school history. The Rochester, Mich., school played in Tuscaloosa last season, losing 74-57.

Even though we’re here in South Florida covering Crimson Tide football, we’ve got quotes from Anthony Grant and guard Trevor Releford.

They appear courtesy of the athletics communications department at Alabama:

ANTHONY GRANT

On team’s mindset: “Practice has been good and I think that our guys’ mindset has been good. We talked all along this stretch and what I emphasize to them is that we have to get better as a team. We have to do some things within ourselves to understand what allows us to have a chance to win. We have to get better at handling different situations as they come up. When you look at our team right now, we are made up of primarily sophomores and freshmen. Trevor Releford is a junior and our most experienced guy. But outside of that, these guys have to learn each other and learn what it takes to win at this level. They are all in different roles and different expectations. We are just going through what we have to go through as a team – that’s the way I am looking at it as a head coach. I think our guys understand that what we are doing, we have to get better at and that’s been the approach.”

On the team’s leader on the floor: “It’s a work in progress. We have to be able to get some consistency out of guys that need to be our best players on both ends of the floor. We have to continue to develop our younger guys so they understand how they can impact the game on a consistent basis. I think we are still searching for that leadership that we need on the floor. With Andrew Steele still being out, he’s probably the best leader we have but he’s not available in games to provide that leadership that’s needed on the floor. So now we’ve got to get some guys to step up and lead, and other guys to step up and be willing followers and understand their role and embrace that role.”

On the play of Nick Jacobs: “For us, we need some consistency on the frontcourt. I think everyone can look at a stat sheet and realize we need more from that position. It was good to see Nick be able to get some shots fall for him and develop a little bit of confidence for himself and for his teammates. We need him to continue that, but we also need him to do a better job from a rebounding and defensive standpoint for us. There were some positive signs, but we still have a lot of work to do.”

On the team’s offensive struggles: “We are going to have to find quality shots and score the basketball. Coming off our last game, that was a major issue. There were three separate times that we went into offensive lulls and only managed to score 50 points in the game (lost to Tulane, 53-50). So not only will we have to do a great job defensively, but we need to consistently score the basketball.”

On summing up the non-conference season heading into the final non-league game: “We’ve had highs and lows. We started the season 6-0 and in the month of December we went 1-5. A lot of different factors have gone into that. Some of it scouting, some of it out of your control with injuries. As a team right now, we have to make that adjustment and be able to get ourselves prepared. I think the approach that we are trying to take is that this is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. We have to maintain our focus in terms of what we are trying to do as a basketball team. I think our guys understand that. It’s not easy to go through this stretch. It’s tough on myself, it’s tough on our players, it’s tough on everybody to have the struggles that we are having. But you can’t rush the experience factor and development that our guys have to go through. We are excited about getting the chance to get back on the court tomorrow and are excited about the start of SEC play next week.”

TREVOR RELEFORD

On team’s mindset: “This is a good opportunity for our team. Oakland is a great team. They have a terrific shooter in (Travis) Bader and they are an experienced team. We just really want to get a win to build for the rest of the season and we will go from there.”

On his role on this year’s team: “What coach asks me every day is to let the younger guys hear my voice and lead by example. I just can’t tell them what to do, but I have to lead by example. I just have to come out every game and be ready and focused to play and the rest of the guys will see my preparation and follow.”

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Video from Kirby Smart, Damion Square news conferences

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — We’ve got video from the Orange Bowl committee of this morning’s news conference with Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart and Crimson Tide defensive end Damion Square.

It’s a long video, however — 44 minutes, 34 seconds long. But if you wanted to watch it all, or scan and watch parts of it, we wanted you to have the chance:

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Links to Alabama practice, news conference photo galleries

Alabama tight end Michael Williams focuses on a catch during Friday's practice at Barry University. (Copyright photo by Gary Cosby Jr.)

Alabama tight end Michael Williams focuses on a catch during Friday’s practice at Barry University. (Copyright photo by Gary Cosby Jr.)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — We have a couple of photo galleries for you from one of my co-workers, Gary Cosby Jr.

Click here for images from today’s Alabama practice at Barry University.

Click here for images from today’s news conferences, which featured Alabama’s defensive personnel.

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Video from today’s Alabama BCS practice

MIAMI SHORES, Florida — Alabama worked out this afternoon at Barry University, and we have three videos for you. The first features the inside linebackers going through a drill (18 seconds), while the second includes defensive coordinator Kirby Smart directing the inside linebackers (59 seconds). In the third, the Tide punt team gets some work, kicking to return man Cyrus Jones (36 seconds).

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Practice report from Alabama’s workout Friday

MIAMI SHORES, Florida — Alabama starting center Barrett Jones went through another practice today, as the Crimson Tide worked out in Barry University’s soccer stadium.

After missing about a month because of an injured left foot, Jones has practiced four straight days, and the way he’s moving around, it’s hard to tell which foot is the problem. The only sign is the protective wrap.

Jones said Thursday he would be close to 100 percent by kickoff for the BCS National Championship Game on Monday night, and judging from the way he is practicing, there’s little reason to doubt him.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban allowed reporters inside the gates for about 16 minutes today, and it’s the final time this season media will be allowed to watch any portion of practice. The Crimson Tide worked out in helmets, shoulder pads and shorts.

The Crimson Tide has a closed practice scheduled for Saturday at Barry University before a walk-through Sunday.

Also today, injured receiver Kenny Bell ran and cut back and forth just fine as he recovers from a broken leg, which needed surgery Nov. 25. After making one catch, he playfully dodged one of his coaches by cutting one way, then the other, then back to his original direction.

However, he still is wearing a black non-contact jersey, which makes it uncertain he will play Monday. If he does, it would add perhaps Alabama’s best deep threat back into the lineup.

Freshman linebacker Denzel Devall, who injured his knee Dec. 19, went through all drills today. He was cleared for contact before Alabama came to South Florida two days ago, and he appears ready to go.

Alabama tight end Harrison Jones rejoined the team today. When the Crimson Tide flew down to Miami on Wednesday, Jones was left behind for what Saban called “medical reasons.”

During the media viewing period, Alabama worked on punting, which the Tide usually doesn’t do with reporters inside the gates. Cyrus Jones, walk-on Nathan McAllister and true freshman Chris Black returned punts. Black is sitting out this season with an injured shoulder, but it should be interesting to see how he stacks up as a possible punt returner next season.

Former Alabama All-America center Dwight Stephenson watched practice. When Alabama last repeated as national champions in 1978 and 1979, he started both years. His son, Dwight Stephenson Jr., played for Notre Dame during 2003-07.

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Kirby Smart, some highlights from his news conference

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — Kirby Smart spent about 40 minutes at a news conference today. Here are some of the highlights:

Question: For two championships now being with Nick (Saban), what have you learned from him? And how much of it is your call as far as the play calling and the design of the defense?

Kirby Smart has worked as Alabama's defensive coordinator since 2007. (Copyright photo by Gary Cosby Jr.)

Kirby Smart has worked as Alabama’s defensive coordinator since 2007. (Copyright photo by Gary Cosby Jr.)

Smart: Well, I’ll tell you this: I have become who I’ve become as a coach from working for Coach Saban. He does an outstanding job of managing our organization. There is nobody I could put him up against anybody in the country. His ability to facilitate, that’s great. He helps game planning on defense, he’s a great mind in the room.

Question: It probably feels like you get asked about this a lot but maybe it’s because we don’t talk with you a ton. But your name gets bandied about as a head-coaching candidate this time of year. Can you talk about what your goals are, and what’s your criteria for leaving a nice job at Alabama to be a head coach?

Smart: First off, I’d like to say, obviously all my time, emphasis and effort since the last game has been on this game since we knew we were playing Notre Dame. That’s all I can think about and all I want to worry about is winning this game for these guys. Ultimately my goal is my career is to be a head coach. Where that is, I have no idea. It’s not like I wake up every day trying to leave Alabama. I have the best non-head-coaching job in the country, period, because I’ve got a great administration, we’ve got a great facility. I want to be where I can win, and I know you can win at Alabama. I think that’s so important. I’m now 37, I forget how old I am sometimes, 36, 37, I think I just turned 37. I am so worried about Notre Dame, I don’t know my age. I don’t worry about where I’m going to be in three years or 10 years. I think if you win, that takes care of itself, and I’m not in such a hurry to run off and do anything that I don’t have a pressing issue. If I was 47, I might feel differently. But most important thing to me right now is winning championships and developing young men into better players and better people.

Question: Anytime you interview for a job, do you benefit from that? Do you learn from each step of that process?

Smart: I certainly think you do. I think the interview process is beneficial for you because you find out a lot more about the people you’re talking to, and you also find out a lot more about yourself and you get better experience doing that. I certainly think it’s a benefit. And Coach Saban has been extremely supportive of me in that process and has told me on a number of occasions that he knows that I’m going to have opportunities, and he’s happy for me for those opportunities.

Question: You were with Nick Saban in Miami with the Dolphins and in the NFL. How closely do you guys run this Alabama program to the same program you had in the NFL? And what are some of the benefits of running an NFL-style program at the college level?

Smart: I think it helps you with the development of your players. I think in the NFL everybody develops their players. In college it’s not always that way, as far as the number of reps you get in the off-season, how many reps do you give your threes and fours in your training camp, how many reps do you give those guys. To me the development of the younger players, so that when you lose five guys or six guys on defense, you’ve got guys ready to replace those, and I think his focal point is always, how are we going to make ourselves better at every position, and he’s always working towards that. And I want to say this: My stay down here was really great. I have a son, I’ve got twins at home, one named Weston, I named after where I lived in South Florida. He went yesterday to the city limits and got his picture taken right there, and he was really happy about that. He’s now five years old or fixing to be five years old.

Question: Given what you said about your aspirations in coaching, given what you said about Alabama, would your ideal situation, maybe your dream be to succeed Coach Saban at Alabama and coach there some day?

Smart: Well, I’m like Coach Saban, I don’t get into hypotheticals. That’s completely a hypothetical. I think Alabama is a special, special place, and it’s obviously a great place to coach. But as far as anything outside of that, I’m just worried about this game and being successful at Alabama.

Question: Can you give me a specific example of Nick Saban’s attention to the smallest detail, maybe getting ready for this game? And also, do you think he’s driven to be the greatest coach in the history of this game?

Smart: Oh, there’s no question. There is no question he is driven to be the greatest coach in the game. You’ve got me on the specific detail. There are so many. He is very detail oriented. I mean, down to the minute of practice, down to the — I mean, he wants every second of practice organized, every walk-through rep, it doesn’t matter if you’re in special teams and you’re doing walkthrough, he wants it organized, he wants to plan for it, he wants it on paper and he wants you to execute it. A specific one, you’ve got me on that, but there’s a lot of them in the last seven, eight years that he’s done and he’s harped on. And in the end they make your overall program more successful because you don’t leave any part of the program uncovered.

Question: You were asked earlier about the value of interviewing for other jobs. I know there are probably a lot of people back home who wondered about a month ago what was the value of you interviewing with Auburn, and did they ever actually offer you the job?

Smart: Well, first thing, I respect the University of Auburn and the opportunity they gave me to interview and talk to them as far as all the other stuff, the most important thing to us here is to focus on this game and get it done. I thought the interview process went great. Found out things I needed to know, and I’m sure they found out things they needed to know. As far as any of the other stuff, I’ll just leave that to us and them.

Question: Nick seems to have created a system within the system, particularly when it comes to the mental side of things. What kind of edge, particularly in a game like this, does that provide? And how deep does he go into the mental side of things?

Smart: He goes deep into the mental side. He spends as much time on that as he does defensively now, and I think that is where he’s grown as a coach, because I can remember being at LSU, I didn’t remember the mental side being so great. And now six, seven years later, it’s extended so far. He really believes in that, he believes in what you tell the players, he believes in the angle of approach of each game being different and getting their mindset right for the game. To me that’s where he has established himself as a coach ahead of the curve because of his ability mentally to create an advantage with his team. Whatever the mindset is, whether it’s physicality, whether it’s execution, whatever it is, he does a great job of conveying that to the kids. And he makes us realize as coaches, it’s not going to be about what we call, it’s not going to be about what we rep, it’s going to be about the mindset in Damion Square’s head that’s going to make a difference in this game.

Question: How much has it prepared you working under Nick down the road when you want to be a head coach versus having gone somewhere the way he positions and the way he challenges you?

Smart: I think it’s a great point. To me personally, my development to become a head coach will be much better working for Coach Saban than necessarily going somewhere else because you learn every day that you’re in there. As a teacher, and I can tell you even back to the Georgia game, halftime, we screwed it up. Hey, he admitted we should have called timeout to create an advantage to score in the end, but he always uses that to teach us. He doesn’t use it just for himself. Every day we do two-minute against each other, we come in, talk about clock management, what could we have done here? What should we have done there? He’s questioning not only us why we did this in this situation, but he questions himself. He does a great job of quality control of the entire organization, what could we have done differently, and I think sometimes when you go other places that don’t have the same support structure, you don’t get those — you don’t get that same experience. The experience that I’ve been able to gain through being with Coach is hey, this is how you run a major program, this is the way you do it and this is the way you question every part of your organization, therefore making it better. So I think his ability to run that program is really good.

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Countdown: Three days until the BCS National Championship Game

Each day until the BCS National Championship Game, Daily Bama Blog contributor Brett Hudson will count down to kickoff, giving us bits and pieces of that day’s significance to Alabama and Notre Dame. Today is three days until the game, which means Brett is examining the number “three.”

–Alabama’s AJ McCarron has only thrown three interceptions this season, one of the lowest numbers in both the Southeastern Conference and the nation.

–Notre Dame is allowing 3.16 yards a rushing attempt: 351 carries for 1,109 yards. Alabama is allowing 2.46.

–Notre Dame is averaging 2.44 yards a punt return with 18 returns for 44 yards. That ranks the Irish 119th in the nation out of 124 FBS teams.

–The Irish have attempted five fourth-down conversions this season, converting on three.

–Alabama’s No. 3 is defensive back Vinnie Sunseri, son of former Alabama linebackers coach and current Florida State defensive ends coach Sal Sunseri. The sophomore, who graduated from Northridge High roughly 20 minutes from Bryant-Denny Stadium, is fourth on the team in tackles with 52. Sunseri has accumulated six tackles for a loss, 1.5 sacks, two interceptions and two fumble recoveries.

–Notre Dame’s lone No. 3 is reserve running back Amir Carlisle, who is in his first season with the Irish program after transferring to South Bend from USC. Carlisle has not carried the ball for the Irish despite playing in eight games
for the Trojans in 2011.

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Pro Football Focus names two former Tide players to its All-Pro team

Pro Football Focus publishes an All-Pro team, and former Alabama offensive linemen Evan Mathis and Andre Smith made the squad.

Click here to see the entire team.

Both haven’t gotten a lot of accolades in their NFL careers. The Cincinnati Bengals made Smith their first-round pick in 2009, but he didn’t live up to that billing right away. But he has improved, and finally, he has turned into the type of lineman the Bengals wanted.

The Baltimore Ravens selected Mathis in the third round of the 2005 draft, and in six seasons with Baltimore, Miami and Cincinnati, he started a total of 22 games. Then he joined Philadelphia before the 2011 season and immediatley became a full-time starter at left guard. He has played in 31 games with the Eagles and started all of them.

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You may not think Notre Dame coordinator’s joke is that funny

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chuck Martin had a little fun with the reporters covering his news conference today. He’s got a sharp, fast sense of humor, but Alabama fans might not think he was very funny this morning.

Martin shook it up the typical say-nice-things-about-everybody formula when asked about how Oklahoma’s Jamelle Holieway is the only freshman quarterback to win a major college national championship in the modern era. Martin’s quarterback, Everett Golson, is a redshirt freshman.

However, when Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly was at Grand Valley State and Martin was his offensive coordinator, the Lakers won a Division II national title with then-freshman Cullen Finnerty at quarterback. After the season, Kelly left for Central Michigan, and Martin coached the team as Finnerty quarterbacked the Lakers to titles in 2005 and 2006. Martin pointed out Finnerty when asked about freshmen quarterbacks winning championships.

“He went on to win three, so we’re hoping history repeats itself,” Martin said with a smile. “Everybody is worried about that next one, we’re trying to make this the first of three, actually.”

With his audience caught a little bit off guard, Martin added, “No one thought that was coming out today, huh? You guys are all way too short-minded with your thinking. Trying to think big picture here.”

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Tide players’ meeting helps boost Thursday practice

Alabama linebacker Nico Johnson meets with reporters Friday morning.

Alabama linebacker Nico Johnson meets with reporters Friday morning.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — Alabama’s first practice in South Florida went well, and linebacker Nico Johnson and safety Robert Lester said a players meeting beforehand might’ve helped.

Alabama practiced Tuesday and Wednesday morning before flying down to Miami on Wednesday afternoon. Those two practices weren’t the best, hence the meeting.

“Guys were so ready to be here,” Lester said this morning during Alabama’s BCS media session. “I think we were looking ahead to being here.

“We were working on fundamentals, and I think guys were not thinking about getting ready for a game. Now that we’re here, the guys are thinking about the game.”

Added Johnson: “We just felt meeting was something we needed to do.”

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Today’s BCS schedule

Alabama All-America cornerback Dee Milliner at the Tide's practice Thursday. (Copyright photo by Gary Cosby Jr. of The Decatur Daily)

Alabama All-America cornerback Dee Milliner at the Tide’s practice Thursday. (Copyright photo by Gary Cosby Jr. of The Decatur Daily)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Bowl Championship Series news conferences get started early today. Notre Dame’s offensive personnel are first up at 7 a.m. Central time, followed by Alabama’s defensive personnel at 8.

Notre Dame is brining offensive coordinator Chuck Martin and players Zack Martin, Tyler Eifert, Everett Golson, Theo Riddick and T.J. Jones.

Alabama will follow with defensive coordinator Kirby Smart and players Dee Milliner, C.J. Mosley, Damion Square, Nico Johnson and Robert Lester.

ESPN’s David Pollack, Desmond Howard and Samantha Steele Ponder will have their own news conference at 8:45 a.m.

If Thursday serves as an indication, Alabama’s personnel will push into ESPN’s time. National reporters mobbed the Crimson Tide offensive personnel Thursday, while the Notre Dame players pretty much had most of their hour to themselves.

Alabama will practice at noon at Barry University. Notre Dame is set for 10 a.m. at Nova Southeastern University.

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Opinion: McCarron deals with pressure of winning big

This is my opinion column for today’s editions:

AJ McCarron (10) tosses a pass at practice Thursday at Barry University, with Alex Morris (11) and Blake Sims (6). (Copyright photo by Gary Cosby Jr. of The Decatur Daily)

AJ McCarron (10) tosses a pass at practice Thursday at Barry University, with Alex Morris (11) and Blake Sims (6). (Copyright photo by Gary Cosby Jr. of The Decatur Daily)

MIAMI SHORES, Fla. — As Alabama practiced in the warm South Florida sun Thursday afternoon, no player on the field seemed to have as much fun as AJ McCarron.

The Crimson Tide is preparing to play for a national championship, and that’s serious business. At places like Alabama and Notre Dame, legacies are made or broken in games such as this. On Monday, McCarron’s team will face off with the Irish for the national title, making history one way or another.

But there he was, hooting and hollering and carrying on as friend and teammate Kenny Bell made catch after catch.

And after McCarron made his own progression of on-target throws, one after another, he jogged downfield with a smile on his face, ready to make all those passes again.

McCarron hardly looked like a guy who has a chance to accomplish more than any quarterback in Alabama’s long football history. No Crimson Tide quarterback has won two national championships as a full-time starter, and McCarron can become the first Monday. Was that on his mind at all, maybe in some small way as he had all that fun? Who knows?

We know McCarron realizes the stakes he faces every Saturday as he tries to lead Alabama to win after win after win.

When he broke down in tears after the comeback win over LSU, it looked as if he experienced the greatest release of pressure ever.

“Playing quarterback at the University of Alabama, everybody knows it can be tough,” he said.

We also know McCarron doesn’t really like to talk too much about it. He prefers to focus on the process, rather than the results. Yes, that’s what his head coach, Nick Saban, would say, but McCarron has adopted at least a little bit of Saban’s football personality.

But when McCarron does talk about it — as he did briefly Thursday — he shows how he tries to use the pressure as motivation rather than a reason to fold.

“I think when they expect so much out of you, it brings the best out of you as a player because you never really want to let anybody down, especially your teammates, because you go out every Saturday expecting to win,” he said. “I think in the end, it helps you as a player grow and actually become a winner and know how to win.”

McCarron gets called a game manager sometimes, as if that’s not a great thing to be. He doesn’t generate the excitement like Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel does. McCarron has a great team surrounding him, too, and some folks fall into the trap of believing the team would be just as great with someone else taking snaps.

McCarron certainly manages games well. He also competes hard, throws accurately short or deep, and has an ability to recognize when that play from the sideline should be run as it is or changed before the snap. He’s not a bad runner on occasion, either, although he’s so valuable, his offensive coaches don’t want him to do it.

This is why he could become Alabama’s first double national champion starting quarterback. The Crimson Tide has had others who were a backup or a part-time starter for one champion and then a full-time starter for another.

And think about this: McCarron could walk out of Alabama with three championships as a starter. The Crimson Tide enters Monday’s game as a big favorite, and he’ll return next season as a senior with another talent-rich Alabama team.

Imagine that, three national championships with McCarron in charge. That’s a lot of pressure. But he seems to handle it well.

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Alabama’s Nussmeier keeps offense rolling

This is what I wrote for today’s print editions:

Alabama offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier, left, with quarterback AJ McCarron at Thursday morning's BCS news conferences. (Copyright photo by Gary Cosby Jr. of The Decatur Daily)

Alabama offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier, left, with quarterback AJ McCarron at Thursday morning’s BCS news conferences. (Copyright photo by Gary Cosby Jr. of The Decatur Daily)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Alabama’s offensive coordinator, Doug Nussmeier, spends games in the press box, away from the action on the field. The cameras almost never focus on him there.

Nussmeier usually doesn’t do interviews with reporters because Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban rarely allows his staff members to speak with the media.

Alabama’s offense has produced results sort of similar this year to what it has in Saban’s previous five seasons as head coach. Considering all that, some Tide fans might not even realize somebody different called plays this year.

The former offensive coordinator, Jim McElwain, left after four seasons on Saban’s staff to become Colorado State’s head coach. Saban hired Nussmeier, who has coached five quarterbacks drafted by NFL teams but had only one season as a play-caller before arriving in Tuscaloosa — 2008 at Fresno State.

So, what kind of impact has Alabama gained from Nussmeier, who will call the Crimson Tide’s plays Monday in the BCS National Championship Game?

“I personally think Coach Nuss has had a big impact on our offense,” Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron said. “He’s brought a bunch of different plays, also a different mindset to this offense than we had last year. I know personally he’s helped me tremendously.”

If you want to delve into the specifics of Nussmeier’s impact, good luck in getting that out of him. He won’t go into plays, offensive sets or anything like that. When he was given his first chance Thursday to address reporters since a preseason meeting Aug. 5, he hinted his job was to not ruin an offense that was serviceable if not overly flashy.

“When I got here at the end of last year and Coach (Saban) hired me, it was very important for me to really dive into the offense that was here, obviously that had success, and look at the things that our players had done and done well, and then find things that maybe I had done in the past that I could bring to help fit into this system,” Nussmeier said.

Saban has emphasized in the past that he wants his offense to play to the talents of the players on the team, and looking at the numbers, it seems Nussmeier did that.

With an experienced offensive line that had a knack for run blocking, Alabama ran the ball more often this year than it did in any of the previous three seasons, when Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson played running back. The Crimson Tide attempted a run 63.6 percent of the time, compared to 58.7 in 2011, 51.3 in 2010 and 63.4 in 2009.

“Obviously, the goal of any offense is to put your playmakers in position to make plays,” Nussmeier said.

“Scoring points, having balance — those are the things you focus on. Sometimes as the flow of the game dictates, you do certain things and you start to do them and you do them well and you stay with them.”

Nussmeier even brought a little no-huddle offense to the Alabama game plan late in the season, although the Tide didn’t seem to run its plays all that much faster than it did when huddling.

“I think if you look at college football in general, that’s a growing trend — no-huddle offense, speed, hurry-up,” Nussmeier said. “As any game you play, the ability to change the tempo of the game offensively or defensively can create a competitive advantage for you.”

McCarron said Nussmeier’s biggest impact has come on him.

“It’s kind of crazy — I have less pass attempts than I did last year, but better numbers all the way around,” McCarron said. “I think that shows a big part of his coaching ability and the way he’s helped me grow, not only as a leader but as a quarterback this year.”

In glancing at McCarron’s statistics, he is correct. He attempted 42 fewer passes this year but threw for 35 more yards, 10 more touchdowns and had the same completion percentage of 66.8.

Saban didn’t take questions Thursday, but he discussed Nussmeier recently.

“I think he’s doing fine,” he said. “We were pleased with the progress that we’ve made offensively and the consistency that we’ve played with. Are there things we can do better? No doubt. Are there are some situations in games that maybe we could have managed differently and done better? I don’t think (there’s) any doubt.

“But I do think that the offensive staff and Doug has done a really nice job, the players have made progress and I think the players believe in the coaches and what we’re trying to do.”

Nussmeier’s play-calling has faced some criticism this season. In the 29-24 loss to Texas A&M, Alabama faced questions that it didn’t run the ball enough. After a 32-28 win over Georgia, the Crimson Tide again faced questions it didn’t run the ball as often early as it should have.

He said he always goes over his play calls afterward, evaluating what he did right and what might’ve gone wrong. In this regard, his reaction isn’t all that different from anyone in the stands.

“The ones that work are always good ones,” he said, smiling. “The ones that don’t are always bad ones.”

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