Nick Saban Working Double Duty at Alabama These Days

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer) Nick Saban is a coach who likes to get involved, to be on the field rather than in a tower, to be hands on rather than simply delegate.

He has always had a soft spot in his heart when it comes to defensive backs, and he always put time in working with them. Even when he is working out with other position players, defensive backs know he rarely misses anything important that goes on at practice.

Last year, defensive coordinator Kirby Smart pulled double duty. He was defensive backs coach as well as coordinator. Saban, of course, helped out an awful lot, too.

This year, Alabama is rich in talent and short on experience in only one spot: the defensive backfield. To add to a potential problem, this is the first year Jeremy Pruitt has coached defensive backs on a college level as an assistant coach.

With Kirby Smart moving to take on the linebackers, who lost their coach at the end of the season, James Willis, who re-united with Tommy Tuberville as defensive coordinator at Texas Tech, leaves Saban and the new coach to whip this talent into shape.

While Pruitt is a former Alabama defensive himself, and does a have high school coaching background working with defensive backs, Saban is putting in even more extra time working with this group.

And he's loving it.

"Nick loves working with and developing players in practice and seeing them grow gives him more satisfaction than any other part of his job." Terry Saban, Nick's wife, told me last season.

And even Saban has echoed that he loves coaching in practice more than any other part of his job, so this season should see Saban smiling a lot more in practice. The results he's bound to get from this talented group of defensive backs are sure to leave the fans smiling, too.