Saban's Attention to Detail: Scouting Opponent's Warm-Ups

[UAME]

Just another reason to love our coach:

During postgame comments, Saban admitted it was a game-time decision to run a block (in lieu of a return) on MSU's first punt from a favorable field position. This call was made because during the course of scouting MSU's pregame warmups, we discovered that the starting long-snapper was not dressed to play. This might be common practice, but I've never heard a head coach confess to scouting an opponent during warmups - especially to the degree that you are verifying the availability of their long-snapper.

 

[bmcklv]

Just another reason to love our coach:

During postgame comments, Saban admitted it was a game-time decision to run a block (in lieu of a return) on MSU's first punt from a favorable field position. This call was made because during the course of scouting MSU's pregame warmups, we discovered that the starting long-snapper was not dressed to play. This might be common practice, but I've never heard a head coach confess to scouting an opponent during warmups - especially to the degree that you are verifying the availability of their long-snapper.

He knows about barney's 5* snapper; so he's getting ready to scout them.

 

[gumptider]

We had better scout that way against Auburn. Their long snapper is a 5-star.

 

[bamatex82]

The guy who blocked it never got touched. So, I'm not sure what the deep snapper has to do with anything.

 

[Mussofan22]

The guy who blocked it never got touched. So, I'm not sure what the deep snapper has to do with anything.

Well, for one, it was a high snap...which didn't help the punter's timing.

 

[Eshad]

The guy who blocked it never got touched. So, I'm not sure what the deep snapper has to do with anything.

But it was also a high snap, due to being a backup snapper, which allowed additional time for the block.

 

[uafan4life]

Well, for one, it was a high snap...which didn't help the punter's timing.

Even with the high snap, the punter collected it quickly and rushed the kick. I don't think the time from the snap to the kick was much, if at all, longer than it would have been had the snap been decent. Plus it wasn't a close block at all; the punter was eaten alive. I think it would have been blocked even with a good snap.

 

[BamaSteve999]

Coach said they had decided that if they had field position they would go after the first punt. MSU snapped the ball from their own 6, it was very high, it threw the punter's timing off, and Kareem Jackson went in untouched. Throw all of those together and you have a blocked punt.

The high snap may not have caused the block, but it sure didn't hurt us in the attempt.

 

[Bama323]

Even with the high snap, the punter collected it quickly and rushed the kick. I don't think the time from the snap to the kick was much, if at all, longer than it would have been had the snap been decent. Plus it wasn't a close block at all; the punter was eaten alive. I think it would have been blocked even with a good snap.

I have to disagree. The punter had to leave his feet to catch the ball. That is basically the equivalent of taking an additional step for the punter. Had the snap been perfect, he may have had the time to get it off.

 

[PDL]

This shows just what kind of hard worker Saban is (as if we didn't already know that), and his attention to even the tiniest detail. I've never heard of a situation like this either. It makes sense to me for a coach to scout the opponent during warm-ups and look for key players and starters but to know who the long snapper is and identify that he's not dressed?! We all know CNS knows what he's doing, but its always exciting to see the proof every Saturday.

 

[CullmanTide]

Guys this is a very well coached team. At this stage based on talent we shouldn't be 11-0 and playing for championships. LSU,Georgia and Florida have better talent but we have Nick Saban!

 

[ART]

This shows just what kind of hard worker Saban is (as if we didn't already know that), and his attention to even the tiniest detail. I've never heard of a situation like this either. It makes sense to me for a coach to scout the opponent during warm-ups and look for key players and starters but to know who the long snapper is and identify that he's not dressed?! We all know CNS knows what he's doing, but its always exciting to see the proof every Saturday.

This is why he makes the big $$!
He is a very hard worker and worth every penny!! One could also say that CNS is obsessed with his job....aight!

 

[PalmBayBama]

The guy who blocked it never got touched. So, I'm not sure what the deep snapper has to do with anything.

It's hard to say if the punter would have gotten the kick off with a better snap. What I can say is that I've seen lots of unblocked guys coming from the outside that don't make contact with the ball. Regardless of the specific cause of this block, it does reflect well on our coaching staff to be aware of such things as injured long snappers.

 

[capnfrog]

It's hard to say if the punter would have gotten the kick off with a better snap. What I can say is that I've seen lots of unblocked guys coming from the outside that don't make contact with the ball. Regardless of the specific cause of this block, it does reflect well on our coaching staff to be aware of such things as injured long snappers.

they're injured long snapper must have been a 2 star recruit.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Those guys are as specialized as the kickers. They had a feature on the kid here in HSV who's the LS for A&M. That's all he's done for years, but it's good for a scholly...

 

[UAME]

Clearly, I don't know the whole story. Maybe the snapper was injured during the last game, and our coaches knew to be looking for a replacement. However, the way Saban said it, it sounded like something we weren't expecting to see. His quote was like, "Apparently they lost their starting long snapper at some point this week, because we noticed he wasn't dressed out during warmups."

Whether the long snapper caused the block or not, we'll never know. Saban implied they were going after the first punt anticipating a case of nerves for the new guy, and Saban said, "And the snap was high." So, he seemed to think it helped us get to the ball.

That is really irrelevant though. The important part of this story to me is that someone apparently is assigned to check the opponent's players as they take the field for warmups. As a student (having to arrive 2+ hours early to get a good seat), I watched countless warmups for the better part of a decade. Our own position coaches are usually focused on getting their guys ready to play. I doubt Saban is memorizing the other teams numbers and checking them out himself. To me, that means that we must have GA's that are either on the field or in the press box that are working to collect scouting data as soon as the other team hits the field to stretch.

Maybe all programs do this, but it seems to be one of those little unnoticed details that proves that our coach is leaving no stone unturned in the pursuit of getting a victory. I love it.

 

[silentsam74]

Those guys are as specialized as the kickers. They had a feature on the kid here in HSV who's the LS for A&M. That's all he's done for years, but it's good for a scholly...

You're right there. I went to Georgia Southern's OL camp the summer before my senior year and they took time one day to have everybody long snap even if you hadn't done it before then. They were watching with stop watches in hand.

 

[rolltidescott]

Clearly, I don't know the whole story. Maybe the snapper was injured during the last game, and our coaches knew to be looking for a replacement. However, the way Saban said it, it sounded like something we weren't expecting to see. His quote was like, "Apparently they lost their starting long snapper at some point this week, because we noticed he wasn't dressed out during warmups."

Whether the long snapper caused the block or not, we'll never know. Saban implied they were going after the first punt anticipating a case of nerves for the new guy, and Saban said, "And the snap was high." So, he seemed to think it helped us get to the ball.

That is really irrelevant though. The important part of this story to me is that someone apparently is assigned to check the opponent's players as they take the field for warmups. As a student (having to arrive 2+ hours early to get a good seat), I watched countless warmups for the better part of a decade. Our own position coaches are usually focused on getting their guys ready to play. I doubt Saban is memorizing the other teams numbers and checking them out himself. To me, that means that we must have GA's that are either on the field or in the press box that are working to collect scouting data as soon as the other team hits the field to stretch.

Maybe all programs do this, but it seems to be one of those little unnoticed details that proves that our coach is leaving no stone unturned in the pursuit of getting a victory. I love it.

UAME, I think this is a good observation on your part. I agree that this reflects very favorably on our coaching staff and their efforts to do EVERYTHING they can to put our men in a position to win.