[jwplayer aXGhfDLO]
Bo Scarbrough spent three seasons at Alabama, so the former running back knows a thing or two about Nick Saban, both as a coach and as a person.
For whatever reason, Saban gets unjustly painted as a jerk sometimes, and it has led a lot of the average football fans out to think that’s actually his personality. In reality, it isn’t.
Scarbrough sat down with Aaron Murray as part of the Campus Lore Championship Moments series presented by Amway and XS Energy Drink to discuss what it was like playing for the greatest coach of all time.
“With coach Saban, you have to know him to know what type of guy he is. But I will say that he is a players’ coach. I think that people always looked at coach Saban as probably mean, always being serious or this uptight guy. Because when we stepped on the field, it was all business, and we came there to take care of business.
But coach Saban joked around a lot. A lot of the players like him. You can walk into his office anytime that you want to. You can talk to him about anything, and I have to say that coach Saban is a players’ coach. I believe that’s why we win so much is because the players like him, and players are going to play hard for a coach they like.”
Pretty good insight for a guy who has spent a lot of time around the six-time national championship winning head coach. Scarbrough was someone who was part of “The Process,” too.
He had to work behind Derrick Henry, Kenyan Drake and Damien Harris early in his career, and he never got an extended opportunity to have the Alabama backfield to himself.
That would make some rushers upset, yet Scarbrough never let it faze him. He also didn’t let it affect his opinion of Saban, which is a very favorable one.
As much as he gets criticized for how he has handled a few emotional situations in the past, Saban truly is a players’ coach, as Scarbrough described. And most anyone who plays for him comes away with an appreciation they didn’t necessarily have going in.
Scarbrough finished his career with 1,800 total yards (1,512 rushing, 288 receiving) and 20 rushing touchdowns.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]