Nick Saban’s former assistants carry several different lessons they’ve learned from their former boss to the programs they run today.
But what’s most popular amongst Saban’s former assistants is that they consistently quote his famous “rat poison” phrase.
Former Alabama offensive coordinator and current Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was the latest to pay tribute to Saban during his Monday press conference following the team’s close loss to the Crimson Tide last Saturday.
Sarkisian was asked whether the environment inside Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium was on the level of an SEC program which prompted Sarkisian to break out the quote.
“First of all, to quote my old boss, we’ve got to be careful of the rat poison of people telling us how good we are, which is important,” Sarkisian said per ESPN. “A week ago, everyone told us how bad we were. Now this week, everyone wants to tell us how good we are. We’ve got to be careful to quiet the noise outside of our building and focus on us.”
There were 105,213 fans in attendance last Saturday making up what was a hostile environment for the Crimson Tide who suffered 15 penalties throughout the game with several caused by the crowd.
Texas entered the game as a 21-point underdog and with just under two minutes to go, it took a two-point lead over the defending SEC Champions. Alabama quarterback Bryce Young would need to orchestrate a game-winning drive into Longhorn territory setting up Will Reichard’s go-ahead field goal with 10 seconds remaining.
Despite the loss, Sarkisian is confident his team can build off its performance as long as it can block out the outside distractions.
*Get the BEST Alabama football insider information, message board access, and recruiting coverage today! SIGN UP HERE to unlock our subscriber only content!*
