With the shocking news of Alabama head coach Nick Saban testing positive for COVID-19, one of the early thoughts in people’s minds is who will be leading the team come Saturday.
In his original statement, Saban said that offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian would be overseeing preparations at the complex while he works from his home.
It can be easily assumed that Sarkisian would be the one to run the team out of the tunnel against Georgia this weekend based on the statement, along with his past head coaching experience.
But during his Wednesday press conference, Saban wouldn’t rule himself out of having some sort of game day presence.
“Sark has been a head coach before,” Saban said. “I’m not sure exactly how this is gonna play out when the game comes whether I can have communication with people or not. We’ll have to research and figure that one out.”
Once Saban’s test came back positive he immediately left the facility at around 2 p.m, but he was able to participate in the team’s practice via zoom where he was able to view each position group and team time.
“I didn’t see anything different about practice,” Saban said. “I got to see a lot more because of (the) wide-angle. I thought the energy was good, the intensity was good. I didn’t see anything any different. We’ve had a lot worse practices when I’m there.”
The path to Saban’s involvement on Saturday is unclear but the team is continuing to research ways to possibly involving the head coach.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
