"Kevin Steele is the defensive coordinator" - Nick Saban cleared the air on Alabama's defense after Lane Kiffin speculated potential "change"
Alabama coach Nick Saban and his team recuperated after their disappointing home loss to the Texas Longhorns in week 2. They faced South Florida in week 3, where they won with a 17-3 score. So far, Alabama has recorded a 2-1 campaign this season, as they continue to fight for a spot in the college football playoffs and a chance at the national championship.
However, the rumor mill was churning out talks that there had been a change in the defensive staff of the Crimson Tide. This was fueled when Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, talked about witnessing a change in the defensive calls of the Crimson Tide against South Florida during a press conference on Monday after his game against Georgia Tech.
This led to Nick Saban responding to these rumors on Monday ahead of their weekend showdown against Mississippi. Saban stated that Kevin Steele still shoulders all the responsibilities of a defensive coordinator for Alabama. The only minor tweak they had during their game against South Florida was from an administrative point of view.
"Kevin Steele is the defensive coordinator. He has all the defensive coordinator responsiblities. The only thing that we tried to improve on from an administrative standpoint was gameday administration of getting the signals in quicker."
"So that's the only thing we worked on together as a staff. The whole staff made a contribution to it and I think it was a lot better in this game than it was in the Texas game," Saban said.
After their Texas defeat, Alabama replaced Jalen Milroe with Tyler Buchner as the starting quarterback against South Florida. But Buchner did not have a great game and was replaced by Ty Simpson before the second half began. Buchner only recorded 34 passing yards with no passing touchdowns.
What did Lane Kiffin actually say about Kevin Steele and the Alabama defense of Nick Saban?
During the Monday press conference over Zoom, Kiffin stated that he felt like Nick Saban replaced Kevin Steele with Travaris Robinson to call the defense for that game. He talked about how they have gone against Kevin numerous times and watching the Alabama game on Saturday felt like it was Robinson's defensive playbook.
"We've been against Kevin a number of times. Worked with him at Alabama, and then played him at Auburn and LSU. But it seems like there has been a change there. I don't know what happened after the Texas game. But, you know, our guys watching the TV copy schematical this last game, it certainly seems like T-Rob's now calling the defense," Kiffin said.
He further added:
"We played him before at South Carolina, so we're preparing accordingly, you know, for him calling the defense. He's done a good job too. And they've got really good players."
Kiffin took up the head coach job at Ole Miss back in 2020. Prior to this, he was the offensive coordinator under Nick Saban in Alabama from 2014-2016, after which he spent a few seasons with Florida Atlantic up until 2020.