Two prominent Alabama figures at SEC football media days in Dallas on Monday picked Texas football to make the SEC championship game.
Nick Saban, in his first year with ESPN after retiring from coaching the Crimson Tide, and former quarterback Greg McElroy, who won the 2010 BCS national championship game, both picked the Longhorns to make the SEC championship in their first year in their new conference on “SEC Now.”
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“I think Georgia and Texas,” Saban said. “But I don’t think there’s any team right now, or any coach that you would talk to, including myself for many, many years, that right now there’s not some part of their team they’re concerned about. How those problems, sort of, get resolved, whether it’s a young player that comes in and makes an impact, or an older player that develops consistency, those are the question marks that I think make it impossible to make predictions right now.
“But I think Texas, if their defense comes through and they can replace some of the interior people that they lost that were high draft picks and all that, they are really good offensively. Even though their quarterback has missed time, (Quinn) Ewers has missed time in the last couple of years, (Arch) Manning was lights out in the spring game. Like, Arch was 21 of 25 for 347 yards. So that depth at quarterback is probably really important for then, because Ewers has missed time the last couple years, a game or two, which could really affect where you end up.”
Notably, Saban didn’t pick Alabama, led by first-year coach Kalen DeBoer, to make the conference final. He instead predicted Georgia to face the Longhorns in Atlanta, adding that he still believes in his old team, as well.
“So I really like Texas. I think Georgia has got a really…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/alabamas-nick-saban-greg-mcelroy-174735289.html
Author : Austin American-Statesman
Publish date : 2024-07-15 17:47:35
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