Coach Saban's Post Practice Press Conference

[DolFan619]

Coach Saban's Post-Practice Press Conference Transcript

May 5, 2006

(Opening remarks) – “It’s been a while since you go out there vent, get after them and have fun. [We’ve had] free agency and the draft. So today I’m very happy because we got to do what we enjoy doing – coach and teach the players. I think the things that we look for out there are what kind of intensity a guy has in terms how he goes about his work, the mental energy that he has in how he goes about his work, what kind of effort results in that, how smart a guy is, how he can pick things up and how he can adjust to things. Obviously there is a lot that we tried to teach for the first practice. There’s a lot of anxiety in all the players because none of them have been here before. They don’t know where to line up in flex and they don’t know what the flex program is. They’re learning the plays for the first tome on offense and the defensive calls for the first time on defense. All that being said, I was very pleased with the effort, the attitude and the way the players went about their work today. It was encouraging to see the guys that we have here and how well they did. We were pleased with Jason Allen in terms of him looking 100 percent out there in terms of his movement and doing what he needs to do. He hadn’t played safety for a while, but he certainly got the feel for it as the practice went on. We were pleased with him. Derek Hagan made some good catches and did some nice things. He looked big and fast and caught the ball decently well. We were pretty pleased about that. Joe Toledo did a nice job at guard for the first time, which is where we primarily worked him today and may continue to do that. We’re not displeased with anybody. Those are the guys that you’re probably most interested in. It’s tough to make evaluations on people after one practice. What we’re focused on is not evaluating them, but teaching them and staying technically focused on what they need to do to improve and get better so they can contribute to our team. Obviously that’s a tough determination after one practice but that’s what our focus is going to be. If we didn’t need to practice all these practices, have minicamp OTA days, minicamp again in June, so many practices in camp and four exhibition games, everybody would know how to do everything today. That’s obviously not the case. So we have to keep working and try to improve from that standpoint. I’m pleased with the effort and the attitude that we had out there today. It was a lot of fun.”

(On rookie RB Gerald Riggs, Jr.) – “We recruited the guy when he was in high school, had him in our camp and thought he was an outstanding athlete. He had one outstanding year in college. He battled through some things, whether it was injuries and various issues that probably kept him from performing like he wanted to. He started off having a good year this year. We just thought that he was one of the guys that was left in the seventh round that we would have picked, if we would have had another pick, that had the size and some of the abilities that we were looking for in a running back that we could develop for our team. He did a nice job out there today. We were pleased with that.”

(On what intrigues about Marcus Vick) – “The guy obviously has got a lot of ability. We’re looking for numbers of guys to look at in this camp. It’s really about us trying to give people opportunities. That’s not to say that we don’t continue to evaluate all their issues. Maybe that’s why we bring certain people in to evaluate them in this camp, to be around them for three days, to find out what we think of them as people and what kind of ability they truly have and whether their upside is worth the investment that you have to make to see if they can contribute to your team. Obviously there is a certain kind of character and attitude that we want on our team. That’s a big factor and a big part of the equation as well. But that’s something that we can evaluate over this three-day period also.”

(After what happened with Ricky Williams, if he’s more concerned about players with off-field issues) – “I’ve always been concerned about any player that has any issues and how that will affect his ability to get on the field. Really the bottom line is when a player has issues that affect him being on the field, they’re pretty significant because those things kept them from being able to perform. If football is important to them and this game is important to them and being a good player is important to them, that’s certainly a factor in making a decision as to whether you want them on the team or not. Ricky’s situation doesn’t have anything to do with that. Ricky did not change my philosophy in any way shape or form. We made a commitment to Ricky, he’s on our team, he is a part of our team and we want him back on our team in the future. We’re committed to supporting him in ways that we’re allowed to support him while he’s suspended. There is no comparison in his situation to any other situation.”

(On what he likes about Marcus Vick as an athlete and how they had him graded) – “We certainly thought he had the potential to contribute at some position in the National Football League. We just don’t bring people here to practice coaching them. They have to have something to offer and some guys have a lot to offer athletically and some other issues create some concerns about whether they’re the kind of people you want on your team, how they affect the team chemistry and how they represent this organization. This a first-class organization and we want to it to be represented that way. We’re also about giving people opportunities. I talked to Frank Beamer this week. I talked to him about this. We feel comfortable in giving a guy an opportunity to come to a three-day tryout camp.”

(On after talking with Marcus, what kind of impression he got about his commitment) – “I think Marcus Vick – and I think anybody at Virginia Tech will tell you – is a tremendous competitor. Maybe sometimes he hasn’t channeled his emotions in the right direction as a competitor, and that’s probably a maturity issue and something that he obviously needs to work on because there are consequences for that. Making good choices and decisions about what you do on and off the field is really important in being a part of an organization. I haven’t had a sit-down with him because we want to evaluate and see what he does in this camp before we make any decisions about what we’ll do, but that will be a part of the process of evaluating him.”

(On if bringing Marcus Vick in was done as a favor to Frank Beamer, as has been reported) – “It’s not accurate. It’s no favor. Let me ask you a question. We’ve got 50-something players out there. We’ve got one guy that’s trying out in this camp. We’ve got a first-round draft pick out there. We’ve got five other guys who we drafted and a whole bunch of other players. I said all I’m going to say about this. Is that fair?

(On Derek Hagan and if he has a chance to be the No. 3 receiver) – “We felt good about the guys we picked the draft. Are we ready after one practice when we put in three plays and three defenses to say, ‘This guy is going to make our roster and be the third receiver on our team?’ We felt he had the ability to do it and the potential to do it, but there is a process that he has to develop and prove that he can do it on a consistent basis. That’s what we’d like to give him an opportunity to do before we make any predictions or expectations about that after one practice.”

(On if Kelly Campbell is in the mix for being the No. 3 receiver) – “He’s on the team, so everybody on the team is going to get an opportunity to show what they can do to see how they can contribute to the team. That’s why we’re having this camp, that’s why we’re going to have OTA days and that’s why we’re going to have minicamp. That’s why we’re going to have camp a whole bunch of days before we ever play, and four exhibition games, so guys get the opportunity to show what they can do and see if they can perform on a consistent basis, and do their job so that we have the best chance to have group success.”

(On Rodrique Wright’s medical situation and the possibility of him having surgery) – “They gave him a physical yesterday. I think a part of that physical was an MRI last night. I haven’t talked to the doctor yet. We’ll make the decision at the end of this camp. He did have a death in the family, so when he’s not here on Saturday, and you come out you take roll and do your due diligence and he’s not here, he’s got a personal issue with a death in the family. So it doesn’t have anything to do with anything. He’ll be back on Sunday and we’ll decide at the end of this camp when and what we do.”

(On his thoughts of Ricky Williams saying he wants to play in Canada) – “I didn’t know that he said that. I only go on what he said to me. He never really said that to me. My thing is we want Ricky back on our team. Ricky doesn’t need to go to Canada to prove anything to us. He doesn’t need to do any of that stuff. I think if he really wanted to do it, it’s something that I’d certainly consider discussing with him and give him the opportunity to do it if it’s something that he needed to do or really wanted to do. He doesn’t need to do it for us. If we just wanted to trade him it would probably be a good thing for us to say, ‘Go up there and gain 2,000 yards and we’ll get rid of you.’ But that’s not our philosophy on it, that’s not how we feel about it and that’s not what we want to do. We’re going to be fair to the player in terms of giving him an opportunity to do the things during this time that he thinks he needs to do to be successful in his career. I’m not going to deny him that, but I’ve also got feelings about what we want to accomplish in this organization.”

(On if he’s throwing a lot at the players now or bringing them along slowly) – “I’m sure that they think it’s a lot, but from our perspective we’re taking it pretty slow. We’re going to try to teach them as much as we possibly we can, but we also don’t want to just teach them what to do, we’d like to teach them how to do it which is technique and work on the field, which takes time. And you can’t present too many things and be able to accomplish all that on the field in the time that we have in these five practices. We’d also like to teach them why it’s important to it that way, so they have some basic understanding that they can take away with them so when they come back, it sticks a little bit. There’s probably more being put in than could ever stick the first time, so we know that there’s going to be some repetitions and cumulative effect necessary for these guys to get where they need to be to be able to perform well.”

(On bringing in Kyle Turley) -- “He went through some back issues and lost a lot of weight. He worked out, I think, in San Diego. Some of our scouts saw him work out as a tight end since he lost the weight relative to his back rehab and his back issues. We felt like, ‘Here’s a player who had had some success in this league playing the offensive line. He’s lost some weight, he worked out well and he caught the ball well. It would be an opportunity for us to take a look at him and see if he does have any potential as a tight end.’”

(On if he has the athleticism to play tight end) _ “That’s what we’re going to find out when we watch him.”

(On how much time Jason Allen will split between cornerback and safety) – “We’re probably not going to spend a lot of time with him at corner because we probably want to evaluate him as a safety right now. I know you will ask me is he playing stronger free? In my simple minded way of doing safeties, we play right and left. So that means if the formation is to him he’s the strong safety. If the formation is away from him he’s the free safety. It’s the only way that I really find that safeties learn all. It’s a little harder for them in the beginning because they’re really learning two positions, but if one guy goes in motion they become that other guy so why not teach them that right off the bat even though it’s a little more difficult. That’s what we’re trying to do with him. We’ll also playing him as a fifth defensive back or star. So he’s learning those things right now. And we’re not going to throw him any more pitches than that for now.”

(On Tony Pape’s return to football) – “Well we felt pretty strongly that he was committed. That’s why we wanted him to come back. He wanted to come back. He’s been here and worked hard in the offseason program and hopefully he’s guy that can develop, that can contribute depth in the offensive line this year.”

(On Daunte Culpepper’s progression) – “He has already participated in just about everything that we do in our offseason program. His straight-line running is fine. He’s throwing the ball. He’s dropping back. He runs the plays and does the handoffs. He wears a knee brace and he probably does it about ¾ speed, but we’re very pleased with his progress. He went back to Birmingham. Dr. Andrews gave him a, A+ grade in terms of where he was in his rehab. We’re just going to continue to progress with him. We can make no predictions about when he’ll be 100 percent and we certainly won’t put him in a situation that he can’t continue to make progress in based on how much we ask him to do.”

(On how much actual football work Culpepper is doing) – “Well we’re not the field with the players right now, but he is doing everything at his pace that ever other player is doing.”

(On if the Dolphins will wait for Joey Harrington to be released or negotiate with Detroit) – “Well I would like to be able to negotiate whatever we decide to do with Detroit with Detroit. So I would rather not respond to that to put us in a situation that may not be most advantageous to us trying to get something done sometime in the near future.”

(On if Detroit is negotiating) – “We talk. We talk.”

(On if Joe Toledo will play guard or tackle) – “We really want to see what he can do at guard. We think he can play tackle. We may look at him at some point in time in the future as a tackle. We have kind of put ourselves in a position on our team right now where this may be the position of most need for us, is an interior player. We have four tackles on our team right now that have played and have some experience playing and at some point in time have been starters. That doesn’t prohibit us from, at some point in time, thinking that we want to look at Joe at that position. Whether it will get to that in this camp – this is a lot of stuff for these guys and for guys to play multiple roles in these five days is not easy. Joe is a very intelligent guy and if anybody here could handle it, I’m sure he could, but I am not sure we would get as good of an evaluation on him if we did that.

(On if he was happy with Donnie Jones at the end of last year) – “Sure, we’re very happy with him. We were bringing in a kicker too, and we are very happy with Olindo, and then the guy signed two days ago with somebody else. A lot of this, guys, is we’re evaluating players. This is a great opportunity for us to evaluate players. It is a great opportunity to evaluate guys that may be street free agents. At some point in time – six, eight, ten games into the season – this guy was here, we saw him, we evaluated him, we like him, we bring him on our team as fifth corner if we have injury problems. Maybe we bring him on our team because Donnie Jones gets hurt. The more knowledge and information that we have about the personnel – and that’s why we use this, as an opportunity to bring these guys in. I don’t think anybody should read anything in to any of that. It’s an opportunity for us to learn about players. We teach players and see how they develop and see where they might fit for us in the future. If we had a veteran mini-camp this week, instead the veterans would be getting all the work, it would be more difficult for us to evaluate the young players and if there were any players that we wanted to evaluate, it would be next to impossible to do. This is a philosophical thing, but I don’t think anybody should read into ‘every guy we brought here, there is a reason for it.’ The reason is to evaluate and see if they have an ability to someday help our team at some point in time.”

(On if he has planned with Ricky Williams what he will do in the next year) – “We’re in the process of doing that. We had one meeting about it. I missed his call yesterday. We’ll probably talk in some point in time today. I have talked to Leigh (Steinberg) a couple times. We’re trying to formulate a plan that is something that he wants to do, that he would enjoy doing, but also that would give him a great opportunity to further enhance his career when he comes back to football, whether it’s this year, next year, whenever he decides to do it, wherever he decides to do it. We’re working through that with him right now.”

(On if he prefers that Williams would not travel) – “No, he can work out in India or California or wherever he wants to go as long as we develop a plan and he has discipline to that, which has never been an issue with Ricky, working out and doing what we ask him to do. That has never been an issue.”

[DolFan619]

(On his mindset regarding losing Williams) – “We have a very good player in Ronnie Brown, who we drafted last year with the idea that he would be a guy that could be an outstanding starter in this league. Certainly with the indications of his performance last year, he did nothing to make us feel that he can’t continue to develop into an outstanding player. We will look at that position to see if anybody makes sense for us. We also know that we have some players on our team. Some of the problems and issues that you solve on your team, relative to needs, have to be done with players with your team right now. Sammy Morris has done a good job for us. Kay-Jay Harris is a guy that we had on our practice squad last year that is an outstanding special teams player, played very well in the preseason last year, practiced all year for us and did a good job that deserves an opportunity to be looked at at that position in some role. Obviously we brought a college free agent into this camp (Gerald Riggs, Jr.) to take a look at him. We have a couple of other guys that we want to take a look at.”

(On why players who are draft picks or under contract are not available to the media) – “I don’t think there is any particular reason for it. I think that, organizationally, we would like to keep the focus on the guys that are on our team. If we had a tryout camp, we would have to invite you to it, just a tryout camp, just to try these guys out. It’s mini-camp, you’re here. We could just have mini-camp with our players and our college free agents and not bring all these guys here so then you wouldn’t get to talk to them either. We’re bringing them here, we’re trying to evaluate them. We’re trying to give them an opportunity and I would like to keep the focus on the guys that we have that we have contracts with right now. I am not trying to be unfair and I am not trying to hurt anybody. I think, a little bit, maybe for those guys – and Kyle (Turley) might not be the best example of that because he has been a veteran player – for a lot of these guys, they are very anxious about trying to get in a position where they can get an opportunity to get a contract and be on a team. I was hoping just to let them focus on that.”

(On how many carries he expects Ronnie Brown to have this year) – “I can’t make a prediction on that. We think Ronnie has good durability size and can certainly expand his role as a player, but we don’t want to run him into the ground. I don’t have a number right now. I think that is something that as we develop through camp and get into the season we’ll see what fits him best and how he can continue to perform well and what level of workload enhances that performance and I can’t really make a prediction on that right now.”

(On Marcus Vick) – “He did fine, just like the other 50 guys. They did fine. We are not disappointed in anybody. We are pleased with what they did. I saw him throw a couple good ones and I saw him throw a couple of bad ones. When I go upstairs to watch the film at 12:15 – there’s 50 guys out there, I can’t watch them all on every play – we’ll get an opportunity to watch him and evaluate him when we watch the film.”

[Sunstroke]

I read that bit about Joe Toledo being checked out at guard instead of tackle and for a moment, I thought "what the hell is Nick doing?!?!?"

...until the sheer brilliance of it hit me. My humble apologies for ever doubting you, oh Mini-Messiah

I've watched probably 10-15 games of Joe Toledo and the Huskies over his pac-10 career. I watched him bulk up in the weight room his first three seasons from a relatively svelte multi-purpose TE (6'5" 280-ish lbs) into a bruising run-blocking 330 pounder, at which point, Ty Willingham came in to replace Rick "Pool Boy" Neuheisel and made Joey-T into a tackle, not only because of necessity due to injuries at the tackle spot, but because Joey had grown into a lineman's body but still had the nifty feet of a TE. You need that for a quick kick-out step against the speedy outside pass-rushers, especially at the NFL level.

But (I'm assuming) Nick and Hudson are looking at Joey's feet and thinking..."with the way we run to the edges, we need guards who can pull, get out in front of Ronnie and deliver a load to whichever defender is chasing it down the quickest."

I think Joey-T could easily be groomed into that kind of guard.

Obviously getting a good bit ahead of myself here, but that one little snippet sure does seem pretty interesting to me...