Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban compares Joe Milton to Hendon Hooker ahead of Saturday’s game

At 71 years old, Nick Saban is undoubtedly one of the best college coaches ever. He’s piled up an astounding 280-70-1 win-loss record, and he’s been dominant for 20-plus years now with 11 SEC West crowns and seven national titles since 2001.

Ahead of the Third Saturday in October, Saban met with the media to discuss a bevy of topics, including Tennessee’s ability to run the ball, along with how Vols’ Head Coach Josh Heupel’s scheme makes the tough get going come game time.

“They certainly make you defend 53 yards wide of the field,” Saban said. “There’s two challenges. It affects run support in the box because the guys that are covering the receivers are so far away from the box. And they run a lot of vertical routes from out there so the people covering them get pretty isolated because they’re far away from, whether it’s split safety or middle of the field safety. So it is very challenging. The thing that I think is going to be really important is not to give up big, explosive plays, which was a real issue for us a year ago.”

Last season, when UT beat Bama to break the Tide’s 15-game winning streak, those big-play vertical routes ended with Hendon Hooker throwing 21-30 for 385 yards, with five touchdowns — all of which went to Jalin Hyatt. It was clearly Hyatt’s best game of the year, as he finished with just six catches but went for 207 yards along with the school-record five receiving TDs in a single game.

Coach Saban also touched on Alabama’s inability to protect its sophomore quarterback Jalen Milroe, and if it can be fixed, considering the Crimson Tide are currently ranked 129th out of 132 NCAA schools by allowing 4.4 sacks per-game so far this year. I’m sure this topic is of special concern to Saban this week, since James Pearce and Tennessee’s cantankerous pass rush ranks 11th in the country by dragging down QBs on an average of four times per-game.

“To the first part of your question, I would say hell yeah,” Saban said. “To the second part, I do think we have guys that are capable. I think it goes back to that same attention to detail. There’s little things like in certain protections, I know I have inside help. So why would I get beat outside? Does that make sense? These are not all capability issues. Some of them are things that we could fix. When we’re sliding out, to block three on three, and the guy doesn’t slide out to block the third guy and he runs in to sack the quarterback, that’s a mental error. That’s not a physical problem. It’s a combination of all those things that need to get cleaned up with better communication, better execution and maybe the more knowledge and experience we’ll get, the more we’ll be able to be more effective and consistent in those areas.”

But the most peculiar answer he gave during the press conference concerned a comparison from last season’s starter Hendon Hooker and this year’s quarterback, Joe Milton.

“I don’t see Joe being a whole lot different than what we’ve played against in the past, when [Hendon] Hooker was there,” Saban said. “Guy can throw the ball, he’s accurate, he’s got a strong arm, they can make plays down the field, and they take a lot of vertical shots, so he’s certainly capable of making those plays. But he’s also athletic enough to extend plays in the pocket and run if necessary. You don’t tell them anything different than any other time they play a quarterback [like that]. You can’t get pushed by the quarterback. You have to keep the guy in front of you. We’ve got to have disciplined pass-rush lanes. Need to try to make the guy throw on time from the pocket, and hopefully we can cover them well enough to make it work on the back end.”

Saban’s a longshot from senility, but even comparing Milton’s down-the-field accuracy to Hooker’s is borderline coach-speak malpractice. From 10 yards and beyond, Milton’s connected on just 33.35 percent of his 62 attempts. All four of Milton’s interceptions have come on balls that traveled more than 20 yards in the air, and Heupel has essentially changed his offensive scheme from deep balls to passes at or inside 10 yards due to Milton’s sporadic downfield accuracy.

Hey — I know this was all mealy-mouthed, pre-game politeness, but still I thought y’all might be interested in what Saban said publicly about the offense and Tennessee’s starting quarterback. Come Saturday, the Tide will do everything it can to force Milton to beat them, and I don’t imagine I’m the only one who feels like that it’s a ... longshot.