It may not have been quite as much as the 92,310 on hand for the University of Alabama’s spring scrimmage last week, but Crimson Tide fans in Cullman came en masse to Wallace State Tuesday night for the first stop of the university’s Crimson Caravan tour — with head football coach Nick Saban as the featured speaker.
More than 600 people turned out for the Cullman County ‘Bama Club Chapter event, which sold out nearly a month ago.
Saban praised the fans for their loyalty, and said that passion and energy directly feeds back into the quality of the football program on and off the field.
“We really appreciate your support, and we have exposure all over the country every year with our spring game televised on ESPN, and that’s because of you,” he said. “Like in 2007, ESPN came and covered our spring game, and we weren’t very good that year, but 92,000 fans came out and it was the fan support that did that ... I just talked to a recruit from California, and he told me ‘Coach, I saw your spring game the other day,’ and it’s about that national exposure.”
The energy even crosses over into other sports, Saban said, noting the basketball team’s recent run to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship game.
“We want to be good in everything, and I don’t want people to ever say we’re just a football school,” he said. “It can become an exposure issue if you don’t compete in everything you do.”
With the team coming off a 10-3 season, after starting the year as the preseason No. 1 in both major polls, Saban said the resolve to finish games was the one quality missing from last year’s squad.
“Two years ago, after losing to Florida, everybody had the right attitude, and last year’s team didn’t have that,” he said. “When things got tough, we didn’t compete. We want to be a dominant team that no one wants to play, and when we won 19 games in a row, some people started thinking more about winning the game instead of dominating.”
Looking toward the team he will field this fall, Saban said he believes this group of players possesses the edge that was somewhat lacking last year.
“It’s not about how talented a players you have, or questions like who is going to play left tackle,” he said. “I think our team has to relearn how to play to a standard, and if you want to be the best you can be, the scoreboard shouldn’t matter and the other team shouldn’t matter ... I like the maturity of this team, and the big question is what is everyone going to be willing to invest individually, and as a team, to get a better payday, or result, next year? That’s everybody’s question to answer.”
Saban also addressed the current quarterback battle between redshirt sophomore A.J. McCarrron and redshirt freshman Phillip Sims. Both took equal snaps throughout the spring and during the final scrimmage, and played nearly to a draw statistically.
“We have two guys at quarterback who have done a great job,” Saban said. “Anybody who watched our spring game probably couldn’t pick one, and I can’t either, so don’t ask me. But, I’d rather have two instead of none.”
The third string quarterback slot has also been filled, Saban said, as freshman athlete Blake Sims has earned a role in the offense.
“I think he is kind of our third string quarterback right now,” he said in a pre-dinner press conference with the media. “He threw the ball a lot better than some of us anticipated and has some physical attributes that really separate him.”
‘A great event’
Alabama radio personality Eli Gold spoke briefly at the beginning of the event, and praised the local ‘Bama chapter for growing so quickly over the past year.
“It’s so wonderful to see the excitement in a chapter that had been dormant for so long, and to see it grow now to over 600 members,” Gold told the crowd. “This chapter has also been named the AA Chapter of the Year, and it’s obvious they made the right decision picking this group.”
Ron Pierce, spokesperson for the local chapter, said it is quite an accomplishment to have Cullman added as a stop on the tour, which is mostly scheduled to visit larger cities such as Montgomery, Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile.
“It’s so neat, because we’re the only small market, and the first one they came to with the caravan,” he said. “We’ve only been around for about a year, and we’ve grown so much and the club has been so well received. For our first one, I think it was a great event, and the people from the university who set these up said they were thrilled with the turnout, the support, the facilities here at Wallace State and just how smooth everything went.”
Attendee Matt Widener had a great time at the dinner, and said it offered some additional insights into how the team is managed.
“It was a good experience getting to sit in on a casual question and answer session with Coach Saban, seeing a different side of him,” he said. “I was glad to see a great turnout, and it’s just one of the many examples of Alabama football having the best fans, coaches, and support staff in the state and country.”
Jason Hanvey, a 2002 alumni of the university, said the dinner gave fans a more well-rounded view of Saban, as opposed to his demeanor shown in press conference highlights.
“It's great to see another side of Coach Saban other than the one everyone sees on gameday,” he said. “He has a great sense of humor. Seeing him speak at a function such as the Crimson Caravan just helps us appreciate even more the kind of man we have leading our football program.”
The caravan stop was also a milestone moment for the young area ‘Bama club, as the chapter’s first scholarship endowment was announced in honor of member Bill St. John’s late daughter Emily.
“Emily was such a huge ‘Bama fan, and we’re so glad to remember her this way,” St. John said. “This will be a way to help young people, who will face the same things she did going to Alabama as a freshman.”
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