ALABAMA FOOTBALL TENNESSEE WEEK What Nick Saban had to say at his Monday press conference
Here are some snippets from Nick Saban’s Monday talk with the state’s media ahead of Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. start in Knoxville. The game will air on CBS-TV.
Opening statement:
“This game coming up is a rivalry game and is special to our supporters and players. They’ve made a tremendous amount of improvement and played an outstanding game against Auburn. Jeremy (Pruitt) is doing a good job. The quarterback has been a big part of that. Their skill players outside are big and they get a lot of 50/50 balls. Their defense is playing better.”
(Vols quarterback Jarett Guarantano had a career game in the Vols’ 30-24 win at Auburn. He went 21-32 passing for 325 yards and two touchdowns, clearly winning the “Jarrett Bowl.” His season stat line reads 80 of 125 passing (64 per cent), 1,129 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions.)
“They just had a big win. I haven’t seen the rivalry change at all. This is the most important Tennessee/Alabama game ever played, because it’s the one we’re playing now. It is what it is.
“We’re going to have to be at our best on the road to take advantage of the opportunity we have.
“From an injury standpoint, ‘Smitty’ (receiver DeVonta Smith) is probably the most questionable. Hamstrings, we have to play that day-to-day.
“I don’t think it’s good for people to make speculations about what injuries a player has. It’s not fair to the player, the program or our medical staff.”
ON RAEKWON DAVIS THROWING PUNCHES AT MISSOURI OFFENSIVE LINEMAN
“I think it should affect his playing time in the future. I spoke to the SEC office about Raekwon’s actions. We will handle that internally. He’s going to have to do some things.”
ON DEFENSIVE LINEMAN QUINNEN WILLIAMS
“He has probably improved more and played with the most consistency of anybody we have on defense.” (Saban calls Williams “Quentin.”)
ON LINEBACKER MACK WILSON
“He played really well, was very productive, and did a good job of adjustments in the game.”
ON TUA’S SPRAINED KNEE
“Tua hasn’t missed a day of practice. He’s going to practice today. He’s probably better this week than he was last week. We’ll see how he does in practice and keep working him to try to get him ready to play in the game. ”
ON THE SECONDARY
“I thought the guys did a good job of playing together and communicating. We’ve got to get more guys ready to play winning football so we can continue to play at a competitive level on the back end.
ON SHYHEIM CARTER
“He has only one role now (nickel). He’s probably more comfortable with one role than two.”
ON TENNESSEE HEAD COACH JEREMY PRUITT
“I think he’s doing an outstanding job. If you just look at the team’s improvement, it’s really pretty phenomenal. The team is playing with discipline and toughness. They’re extremely well-coached. The players give great effort. Those are things affected by the coach. You’ve got to give credit to Jeremy and his staff. They’ve done a great job in just a short period of time.”
(Pruitt’s staff includes former Tide players Pruitt, Will Friend and Kevin Sherrer along with former UA staffers Chris Rumph, Brian Niedermeyer and Chris Weinke).
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