Football vs. Vanderbilt Postgame Quotes
9/23/2017 7:19:00 PM | Football
Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban
On preparing his defense for the game
"Defensively, the Vanderbilt offense is tough to prepare for their formation and motions, but our guys did a good job of keeping leverage on their formation and stopping their running game. We have a lot of respect for Kyle Shurmur and put enough pressure on him that it affected him a bit and helped us in the game. This is a great win for us and I'm proud of our team with the way they responded in the game."
On the importance of getting an early lead
"The way Vanderbilt likes to play, and the fact we got ahead of them [early in the game], probably affected their strategy moving forward. They like to run the ball, keep it close to the vest and play good defense, but when we got ahead of them, I think that was key."
On the team's effort in the run game
"I think we need to say something about the offensive line. We talk a lot about how good Vanderbilt's defense is and for our offensive line to control the line of scrimmage the way they did was important. I think our runners ran well and everyone did a good job. Bo [Scarborough], Damien [Harris] and Najee [Harris] each did a good job while they were in."
On teachable moments from today's game
"I think we learned something today with the way we competed. That's what you need to do in this conference – to play with consistency. We'll play another good team next week and another good team after that, so you just have to take them one game at a time. We can enjoy this win for 24 hours and then we have to look towards what we need to do for next week."
Alabama Quarterback Jalen Hurts
On comments from Vanderbilt players leading up to the game
"At Alabama, we want to be respected, and we don't feel like they were showing us respect. So, we came out here and tried to play Alabama football."
On what Coach Saban challenged them to do today
"To dominate."
Alabama Linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton
On the week of practice leading up to the game
"The coaches challenged us throughout the week, and we responded to the challenges, and it showed today."
On the Alabama's identity
"We shut them out on the road, and that's a great first step, getting a win in the SEC."
Alabama Linebacker Rashaan Evans
On returning from injury
"It meant a lot to me. Being out for the last two weeks, it felt great being back out there with my guys. Physically, I'm still kind of sore from that injury, but it's only going to get better over time."
On the defense's goal heading into the game
"All we wanted to do was to play with passion to show how much we love this game. I feel like we did that today and we want to continue to do that throughout the year."
