Derrick Ansley connects in first season as Alabama DB coach
ATLANTA – Most would consider Derrick Ansley incredibly lucky to be in this spot so young in his career. Ansley would likely agree with that sentiment.
Yet the University of Alabama defensive backs coach gave up something professionally to be coaching again in his home state.
He was promoted to be the co-defensive coordinator at Kentucky for the 2016 season, a big step for any 34-year-old climbing the coaching ranks. But when Nick Saban, Jeremy Pruitt and Alabama came calling, the Tallassee native didn’t have to think too hard before accepting.
“I mean, yeah and no,” Ansley said Thursday morning at the media day for the Peach Bowl. “Coach Saban and Coach Pruitt are both two of my biggest mentors. I (served as a graduate assistant) for Coach Pruitt when he was the (defensive backs) coach here. Those relationships, my respect for Coach Saban, my respect for the University of Alabama being from Alabama – those things outweighed staying at Kentucky, even with my responsibilities and the role I had there.
“I felt like if I came here and did a good job for Coach, which is what I’m working my tail off to do, then those opportunities would present themselves again down the road. My opinion is that Coach Saban is the best college football coach in America and in college football ever, and he’s a defensive back guy and defensive guy, so as a young defensive back guy to come be beside him every day and side by side, that’s priceless.”
Ansley was a graduate assistant under Saban from 2010-11, so he had a working knowledge of the program. Out on his own, he’d also developed into an elite recruiter.
“He had been here before. He understood our verbiage and what coach is looking for,” defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt said. “He’s a hard worker. Very diligent. Very professional.
“He’s earned a reputation on the recruiting trail. So you call around. I’ve got friends ... in recruiting and you call around and talk to some guys and ask who’s one of the better guys that you deal with, his name kept coming up. And (Saban) knew him, and I think that was important.”
The opportunity to coach alongside Saban is a strong enough pull on its own, but add to it the chance to work with one of the more talented secondaries in the country; that was an added bonus too.
The secondary lost one starter coming into the 2016 season in Cyrus Jones and valued contributor Maurice Smith left Tuscaloosa for Athens, Ga., to transfer to Georgia.
That left a chance for other players to fill those voids, including Kendall Sheffield, but the Texas cornerback opted to leave the program too.
Enter Anthony Averett, a veteran with little playing time under his belt. With the help of Ansley, Averett has started all 13 games for the Crimson Tide.
“I think it’s a testament to the process that Coach Saban always speaks about and talks about,” Ansley said. “For some people it happens quicker. Minkah (Fitzpatrick) played as a freshman. Ronnie (Harrison) played as a freshman. Some people have to work and build and become that player. Two totally different ways to do it.
“Both guys, Marlon (Humphrey) and Anthony, our two corners, got to where they’re at at different times at different speeds. It’s just a testament that if you’re patient things can happen for you. It’s a dying breed in society. People are just so self-gratified and want things to happen right now, instantly. So when you get a guy who has the talent that Anthony had coming in and not gripe and not want to leave and works his way up into the starting lineup, it makes it that much more satisfying for him.”
He mixes tough coaching with a loving demeanor off the field to his players. He’s known for keeping his players loose by keeping them laughing. He doesn’t tell jokes, but he has a way of saying things that make it fun for his players.
“He’s just a character,” Fitzpatrick said.
Reach Aaron Suttles at aaron@tidesports.com or at 205-722-0229.