BAMA IS READY FOR FLORIDA // SABAN TALKS GATORS AND MORE

On the Southern Miss game:
“We definitely played better as the game went on. Didn’t start out great in the game. But as the game went on, we played better, executed better, played more physical. We started out tentative for some reason, but I think overall we really improved. I think it’s really important to continue to improve and play with confidence, make plays when we have opportunities to make plays, especially when you get into league play, which we are now. We have to do a little bit better job preparing, do a little bit better job executing against the teams that we play.”

On injuries:
“We’ve got a couple of guys that are a little bit nicked up that may not be a hundred percent today but we should have just about everybody tomorrow. White will practice this week. We’ll kind of see how it goes with him and make a decision later this week to see if he’s able to go out there and play. He practiced last week, so we’re encouraged by the progress that he’s made. Jarrick Williams will start running and doing drills this week, but probably a much greater longshot for him to be able to play this week.”
On the Florida game:
“I think that games like this the players get really excited. If they don’t, they don’t understand Alabama football and they don’t understand the SEC, but I think we have enough guys on our team that understand that, so I don’t think that will be an issue. I think the fans also get excited and I think it’s important that they create an atmosphere for our team to have the best chance to be successful in this game. Noise, energy, enthusiasm, all of those things carry over in how we play.
“I think Florida has a really, really good team. Maybe a lot better team than what they’re ranked right now, because ratings right now don’t mean a lot. Their new offensive coordinator [Kurt Roper] has definitely done a good job for them in terms of what they’re doing offensively. They have some significant impact players back who were injured a year ago. Their quarterback has played very well. They have two running backs that have played very, very well. Their receiver, number 11 Robinson, is one of the top guys in the country. So this is a much, much improved offensive football team. Their offensive line is big and playing much better. Defensively, these guys always play really good on defense. They’re always one of the top teams in our conference when it comes to defense. Will does a good job with that part of it. They’ve got really good players and they play well together. They have good specialists and returners that are explosive on special teams.”

On UF star CB Vernon Hargreaves:
“He was a really, really good player in high school. He’s very instinctive player. He’s fast, quick. But I think probably his greatest asset, besides having great ability, is that he’s very instinctive player. He’s tough, physical. He’s got good ball skills. Can play man to man and he’s a good tackler. He does all those things very well.”

On limiting explosive plays against the better competition in the SEC:
“When players are in position to make plays, they need to make those plays. A couple of those plays that ended up being explosive plays, people were in position to make the plays and their player made the play on the ball. We need to do a better job in that regard. But I think we’re improving in that area. We’re in the right places. We’ve just got to play the ball with confidence and make plays on the ball. I think that will eliminate a lot of it. But we’re going to be playing against better players and they’re going to have more capabilities to make plays, which is a bigger challenge for us to do our jobs better.”

On getting players not named Amari Cooper involved in the passing game:
“I think there were opportunities for other guys. Sometimes we didn’t get them the ball. But I also think we’re trying to feature the guys that we have. So far, what we’ve tried to do has been effective and it’s worked and a lot of it has gone through Amari Cooper. D White had six catches in the first game before he got hurt. Christion Jones had four in the last game. The running backs, I think that we utilized all of those guys. We have people with capabilities and we want them to be involved. I think we have ways that we can do that.”

On what makes Amari Cooper a good receiver:
“He’s got really good size. Very quick for a guy his size. He’s got explosive speed. He’s exceptionally good against press coming off the ball, but also he’s very good coming out of the break. He has really good ball skills. So he’s the complete package when it comes to a guy that’s a pretty complete player. He’ll probably get a lot more man-to-man coverage in this game. It will be interesting to see how he handles that. He does a good job with it in practice.”

On the team’s progress through three games:
“I think our team has definitely gotten better. I think that we have a young team in a lot of areas, and I think that those guys need to continue to play with more confidence. Hopefully in the games that we have played, they have gained more confidence and understanding of what it takes to play and be successful. I think that’s how players learn best, when they play in games. I do think that our team has improved. But I also think that it’s very, very important that we continue to improve and be one of those teams that can play with consistency, because I don’t think you play well one week and not so well the next and be able to survive. I think the best way to do that is play one game at a time. I’m encouraged by the attitude that this team has. We’re just going to have to keep doing that and keep developing as a team.”

On improving the tackling:
“I think we didn’t feel like we tackled very well in the first two games. I thought we tackled much better in the last game. If you start tackling and take guys to the ground in practice, I think you’re going to get a lot of guys banged up. So the emphasis for us is to get yourself in the right position to tackle and thud. We probably did a better job of doing that in practice last week, and we probably did a better job of tackling because of it in the game. I think it’s going to be very, very important that we continue to do that, because missed tackles and mental errors will just kill you when it comes to playing good defense.”

On what makes UF’s Demarcus Robinson a good receiver:
“He’s got good size. He’s a really competitive guy. He’s got good hands and he’s got good speed. Kentucky played them off a lot and pressured a lot, so it definitely created some opportunities and he took advantage of it quite a bit and made some big plays. He has the ability to run with the ball after the catch. He’s a pretty compete player in my mind when it comes to outstanding receivers.”

 

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