Football A-Day Spring Game Quotes

Head Coach Nick Saban

"I do think we had a good spring. I like the team dynamic we have on this team. Lot of guys work hard and try to do the right things. They support each other. We don't have any guys pulling anybody down in terms of their work ethic or how they go about their work. They try to support each other.

"There's a lot of good competition out there, but look, the difference in the game is the red team drops the ball on 3rd and 2 in the red zone. So, they left four points off the board. Next time they are going two minute, guy drops a pass, makes a first down, drops a pass and the other team gets the ball, goes two minutes and scores a touchdown. So, you took an opportunity away from yourself to be able to score and let the other team to go score. Alright, so that's like a 10-point swing in the game. And the game is completely different.

"Also, too many turnovers in the game. Something that we have to get fixed and people have to take care of the ball. I don't care what the defense is playing, we simplified the game out there. I don't care what play we have on offense, you've got to take care of the ball. I thought that it's going to be critical for us and I know we had a few offensive lineman out, Matt Womack hurt his shoulder a little bit, so he was out. Jed (Wills) was already out. So, we didn't have a full complementary offensive lineman, I get that. But we have to be able to run the football better than what we demonstrated in this game. On either side or both sides of the ball.

"But the most important thing about this is if spring practice was a test, it would be like the test you took at the beginning of the semester, beginning of your class, that test tells you exactly what you need to do throughout the course of the summer and fall camp to get ready to make the good grade on the final. That's basically what spring ball does. How many guys know what to do? How many guys go out on the field and do it with some kind of consistency in performance and give effort, play with toughness and good intangibles, be accountable to do their job? So, that's basically it. Whatever it is, everybody has to believe the truth of where they are. That's the only way to improve and that's what we will try to do as a team.

"In the next few days we will meet with every player on the team. We'll go over their strengths and weaknesses, what they need to work on so they have a chance to improve and each individual has a chance to improve over the summer. That's the next goal that we have."

#13 Tua Tagovailoa, QB

On if he played to the standard he has set

"Definitely not. There was a lot of miscommunication between me and the receivers. You've got to get everybody set up, for goal line as well. Sometimes you're going to have miscommunication, but I'm glad we're having it now instead of during the season."

On how injuries on the offensive line impacted the offense

"It was kind of hard, with some of the starters getting injured and a lot of them are dinged up. You have to play with what you have and go out there and continue to execute. It's no excuse as to why we weren't getting as good protection or why we weren't getting the ball out or getting sacked."

On how the freshmen QBs played

"It's hard as a freshman. I was a freshman once coming into A-Day, but I think they did a good job for the time that they had to go out there and compete. We're going to go back to the board and see what we can all work on. Not only as a team, but also as quarterbacks."

#15 Xavier McKinney, DB

On spending time together with fellow DBs

"We definitely like being around each other. We're kind of a goofball type of group off the field, but when we're on the field we compete."

On how John Metchie played

"In practice, he pretty much goes off every day. To me, he's like another (Jaylen) Waddle. I definitely expected that to happen. I talked to him before the game and I told him I needed at least two touchdowns. He definitely goes out there and he plays hard and makes plays."