MOBILE | In between recruiting visits, University of Alabama head coach Nick Saban made a quick stop off at the Senior Bowl to visit with five of his former players as they prepare for a potential NFL career.
Saban addressed a number of wide-ranging topics with reporters, including the status of two five-star defensive backs on the Crimson Tide roster.
Saban said Tony Brown, the talented but mercurial junior-to-be cornerback, is back with the team after being suspended and sent home during Alabama’s Cotton Bowl game in Dallas. Brown was also not with the team in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game a week later.
Brown attended the team’s parade/celebration last Saturday.
“He is back with the team right now but he is facing some future suspensions,” Saban said.
Marlon Humphrey, who just completed his redshirt freshman season, was spotted on crutches at the championship celebration. Saban said he sustained a foot injury against Clemson in the national championship game.
"He hurt his toe in the championship game,” Saban said. “So it's not surgical, but he'll be in a cast for a couple weeks, then they'll re-diagnose and see what he can do from there."
After recruiting concludes on National Signing Day (Feb. 3), Saban will need to fill out his coaching staff, which currently has a void with the departure of secondary coach Mel Tucker to Georgia as the Bulldogs’ new defensive coordinator.
New defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt will either coach the secondary or inside linebackers (which Kirby Smart coached in 2015 before becoming head coach at Georgia), leaving one spot open.
Saban said his attention remains solely focused on recruiting at the moment.
"We're recruiting right now and it's not a very good time to be hiring people and messing up somebody else's recruiting, and it's not really going to help ours that much, so we'll probably just wait until after recruiting is over,” Saban said.
Alabama currently has 17 commitments for its 2016 class and will sign at least eight more to fill the class. The program had its biggest recruiting weekend of the year last weekend with several of the top players in the country in Tuscaloosa.
Saban, known for his ability to connect with players, played pop-a-shot basketball and even showed off his moves on the dance floor.
"I've been able to step through it ever since I was in high school,” Saban said. “They used to take the fire truck out of the fire department, put the band in and that's where we went to the dance on the cement floor. Terry and I have been doing that for years. I don't know why anybody is surprised that I can step through it now."
Reach Aaron Suttles at aaron@tidesports.com or at 205-722-0229.
