Nick Saban Decisions Quotations

I think those are the kinds of decisions we would certainly like to have some input into. Our goal and focus is, number one, to respect the player. Ricky did an outstanding job for us on the field. Secondly, (we want to) respect the decision of the league, relative to what they felt it was necessary to do.

Sometimes, just like when players are available, you have to make decisions on whether we should bring someone like that into our organization. It's not about whether you have an opening or not. It's about whether this is a positive addition to our organization. That's what we've done. That doesn't mean that it creates other issues for somebody else.

We have a goal for how many explosive plays that we want to make. We don't want to make those explosive plays at the expense of making poor decisions that are going to turn into turnovers and interceptions. Taking care of the ball and managing the game are more important than that.

I'm here to say that we're here to help both guys get better and improve, and we'll make the decisions based on what's best for our offensive team to get better.

Even though our offensive line did a really good job this year, it is an area of our team that we may be able to add something to that might enhance it even more, especially with the kind of running backs that we have. I don't think we have an older guy on our team who is not capable of continuing to play. I think the issue becomes, can they do it and sustain it for the season? Those are the tough decisions that we have to make, but we are going to have to do that with defensive players because we need to get younger.

I would stop short of saying that Ronnie was 100 percent, but he did do everything in practice. Those decisions will be made on a day-to-day basis.

Well, he just didn't look comfortable all the time in terms of making decisions ... and that's something that you'd always like to do with your players is make sure you're asking them to do things they're comfortable doing. You play to their strengths.