As the month of June ends, we are roughly two months from the start of the 2023 college football season. With 2023 being the final season of the four-team playoff, it is time for teams to make a statement and to either establish or re-establish their spot among the elite of college football.
On3’s J.D. PicKell believes Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide perfectly fit the narrative of a statement team in 2023.
“They are one million percent a statement team when it comes to this upcoming season,” PicKell said. “The statement they would like to make is ‘did you forget about us?’ I think, even more so, ‘how did you forget about us?’ They want to remind everybody that Bama is still Bama.”
Many believe the Saban-Alabama dynasty is over, but PicKell doesn’t believe that.
“They want to remind a lot of people in other circles of the SEC that Nick Saban has not lost his touch at all,” PicKell said. “Yes, Georgia is back-to-back national champs. No one is taking that away from them. But I think for Alabama, if they were able to get back to the College Football Playoff, I think that would send a very clear message to everyone else.
“The statement will be very clear. ‘We’re not going anywhere. You really forget about us? Really? You thought we were going to fade into that? You must not know what we’re about here at Bama.’ Get back to bully ball, that’s going to be a big piece of it for Bama to make that statement.”
“Bully ball” is certainly what coach Saban wants to get back to on each side of the football, and the hiring of Tommy Rees and Kevin Steele are prime examples. Rees is a throwback, pound the football, play-action pass-style offensive coordinator. Steele is an old-school, hard-nosed defensive coordinator.
With Alabama kicking the 2023 season off in a couple of months, it will not take long to find out what type of statement coach Saban and the Tide can make!
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