Alabama Spring Game: Nick Saban Wears A Suit

Apr 20, 2013; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide White Team running back TJ Yeldon (4) scores a touchdown against the Red Team during the annual A-Day game at Bryant Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

It’s become a tradition of sorts at the Alabama spring game. Nick Saban wears a suit. Sometimes it’s a fine tailored suit fit for a king, and make no mistake about it, Nick Saban is Alabama’s king. Other times, like this year, it looks as though it may have come off the rack–an odd plaid with mismatched pants.

It’s an ode of sorts to legendary head coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. The Bear used to wear suits on gameday–ones that more closely resembled the off-the-rack/thrift store variety Saban sported on Saturday–along with his signature houndstooth hat, and his spot in the history of Alabama football has been cemented. So, every spring, Nick Saban sports a suit and takes to the sidelines (enters the huddle, even) on A-Day as a tribute to Bear Bryant.

With three national championships in four years, Nick Saban has most certainly put a stamp of his own on the Alabama Crimson Tide football program, as well. He’s already been immortalized outside Bryant-Denny Stadium with a bronze statue, and he continues to turn his program into an unstoppable dynasty.

Even as he pays homage to one of the greatest college football coaches who ever lived, it’s hard not to imagine his name in that conversation. After winning his second consecutive BCS title last season, his fourth altogether, the Crimson Tide are retooling for another run.

Once again, Alabama will send close to a dozen players to the NFL, four of whom could potentially go in the first round of next week’s NFL Draft. However, the assembly line just keeps plodding along, and on Saturday a new crop of talent was on display for A-Day.

With 78,315 rabid fans in attendance, the White team defeated the Crimson team by a score of 17-14.

Super sophomore T.J. Yeldon took home the Dixie Howell Award as the game’s MVP by racking up 129 yards of total offense (69 rushing and 60 receiving), and the Alabama defense looked as terrifying as ever forcing nine turnovers combined on the afternoon. And while, as always, there’s only so much you can take away from a spring game, it appears as if the 2013 machination of the Alabama Crimson Tide will follow the signature Nick Saban blueprint.

They’re going to play a swarming brand of defense, they’re going to run the football and they’re going to stretch the field.

Saban has been dominant on the recruiting trail, and as he parades a small platoon of players into the National Football League, there’s always a talented bunch of recruits ready to fill the void. Gone is two-time unanimous All-American Barrett Jones. In his place, sophomore Ryan Kelly, a former four-star recruit who took home the Dwight Stephenson Award as the game’s most valuable offensive lineman.

In the secondary, with Dee Milliner (one of Alabama’s likely first-round picks) and Robert Lester off to the draft and other potential contributors injured, the Crimson Tide forced an experienced group of Alabama quarterbacks into six interceptions.

At virtually every position, Nick Saban has created a depth that goes unmatched in college football. Every A-Day, it seems as if that depth is on parade.

Apr 20, 2013; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban reacts to a play during the A-Day game at Bryant Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

There’s no questioning that Nick Saban is the best in college football. The national championships speak for themselves. And as Nick Saban sports some fancy threads in honor of an Alabama legend, it’s hard not to wonder how long it will be before similar tribute is paid to him.

Thirty years from now, will Alabama head coach Greg McElroy spurn his usual gameday attire (something futuristic-y like all spandex) in favor of Saban’s signature polo–with the complimentary longsleeve thermal for when the weather requires–at the Alabama spring game?

It’d be fitting. Nick Saban has already earned that much and a whole lot more.