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On Monday, Georgia hired Nick Saban’s longtime head strength coach Scott Cochran to come serve as the special teams coordinator in Athens.
On Monday night, we highlighted some tweets from former Alabama players who understand just how important Cochran was to Saban and the Crimson Tide program.
But maybe one of the most important players in Alabama history, Tua Tagovailoa, was one of the first to stand behind a podium and speak publicly on Cochran’s departure and what it means for Alabama going forward.
While at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, Tagovailoa went into more detail about Cochran.
“He was a special guy. He doesn’t get as much credit as people give him,” Tagovailoa said. “He’s been the backbone for the organization at Alabama.
“It’s going to be hard. Alabama is definitely going to miss him.”
Kirby Smart and Cochran remained close since their days of coaching together in Tuscaloosa, and you may remember Smart actually tried to bring Cochran with him to Athens when he was given the head coaching position at Georgia.
Having been at Bama since 2007, Cochran has seen hundreds of Tide players come and go, but based off of the testimonies of multiple different former players, Cochran impacted the lives of every student-athlete to come through those doors.
“Off the field, he’s someone who develops relationships with guys,” Tagovailoa said. “Brings guy over and cooks meals for guys who aren’t able to go home for Christmas.”