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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Tua Tagovailoa is “OK,” and Jalen Hurts is “day-to-day.” Alabama head coach Nick Saban addressed the two quarterbacks during his Monday news conference, stating both will practice this week as the team prepares for Saturday’s game against The Citadel.
“Whatever those guys can do, we’re going to have them do and get as many reps for them as we can,” Saban said. “As a coach, it’s a little difficult to manage guys who are injured because regardless of what the medical circumstance is the player has to be confident that he can do what he can do to go out there and do the job well. That’s something we can evaluate as we go through the week.”
Tagovailoa left the game against Mississippi State over the weekend after taking a hit just above his injured right knee during the third quarter. The starting quarterback did not return to the game and was replaced by redshirt freshman Mac Jones. Hurts did not play for a second straight game after sustaining an ankle injury against Tennessee on Oct. 20.
Tagovailoa has been playing with a brace on his right knee since injuring it against Arkansas on Oct. 6. He has missed time in each of the following four games. Against Mississippi State, Tagovailoa was sacked four times before leaving the game. When asked Monday, Saban said he has no plans of limiting his starter this week.
"No. Why would we do that?” Saban said. “I mean, to say this was not an important game or he doesn't need to play? I think we need to do a better job of the people playing around him, doing what they're supposed to do so he doesn't get hit. And he needs to do a better job of stepping up in the pocket and getting rid of the ball, which he had several opportunities to do.
“Some of these hits could be avoided by better execution, and I think that's what we're going to focus on, not trying to take a guy out of the game so he can't improve or do what he needs to do to get better. We need to do what we need to do to get better as a team and develop confidence in each other.”
Alabama faces an FCS opponent this week in The Citadel. However, Saban insisted he has no plans of taking the Bulldogs lightly. When asked about injuries later in the news conference, Saban got heated, reiterating the importance of respecting every opponent his team faces.
"We're not going to take the approach in any game that we play that we're not going to play players and take guys out and do all this and play someone else and assume that the opponent that we're playing is not capable of being very competitive,” Saban said. “That can be your mindset. That's not mindset, that's not our mindset, that's not going to be the mindset of our players. And I'm not really interested in any of your suggestions about how we should manage our team and what we should do to get better, regardless of what you think, just because we're playing the Citadel.”
Alabama will get the day off of practice Monday as players take part in light stretching exercises before returning to full drills Tuesday. The Crimson Tide will host The Citadel on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT. The game will be televised on SEC Network.
