TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Of course, Hale Hentges was excited. Can you blame him? As one of Alabama’s top returning tight ends, the addition of newly hired offensive coordinator Brian Daboll was welcomed news.
Daboll comes to the Crimson Tide after spending the past three seasons serving as the New England Patriots’ tight ends coach. Along with winning five Super Bowls with the Patriots, he worked with All-Pro tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett. Naturally, Hentges is anxious to join that fraternity.
“I was majorly excited,” Hentges said. “He’s a great guy who knows a lot about the game and coaching phenomenal players like (Rob) Gronkowski. I know he has a wealth of knowledge at the tight end position. So, for him to be able to kind of instill that upon us was a great excitement on my part. It’s something I'm really looking forward to working with him even more.”
Hentges made it clear there’s no favoritism towards tight ends during practice. Although he did say he feels Daboll can better relate to the challenges of the unit due to his familiarity with the position.
For those wondering, that includes contributing to both the run and passing game — something Daboll will be relied on to do himself next year.
The presumption of Daboll running more of a “ball-control” offense was enough to send Alabama head coach Nick Saban into a rant last week. However, whatever approach the Tide goes with next season, utilizing its bevy of running backs will be important.
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Running back Damien Harris, who led Alabama with 1,037 yards while averaging 7.10 yards per carry last season, called Daboll a “high-intensity guy” and said the new offensive coordinator “really emphasizes attention to detail.”
Harris says the team is still going through a growing period under Daboll but stated players are already starting to make progress.
“He was trying to get to know us just as much as we were trying to get to know him,” Harris said of the team’s first interaction with Daboll. “It was kind of a communal effort to try to establish ourselves as an offense. We wanted to show what we could do as players, and he wanted to show us how he was going to coach us.
“We all just kind of had to come together. The first couple of days weren’t necessarily perfect, but we had to come to the conclusion that when you have so many new moving parts, it’s not going to be that way. But if you continue to work on them, then things will get better. And as time has gone on, things have gotten better for us, and (we’re) doing what he’s asking us to do, and him coaching us the way he needs to coach us. I think things are going better.”
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By now Tide players should be pretty used to coaching changes. Former offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin took the head coaching job at Florida Atlantic in December and was relieved of play-calling duties for the national championship game. Alabama then turned to Steve Sarkisian, who had been promoted to offensive coordinator. However, Sarkisian’s time at the position was cut brief as he accepted the offensive coordinator job with the Atlanta Falcons.
“We didn’t really have a choice but to just kind of accept it,” Harris said. “You just have to have a positive outlook and be like, Coach Saban wouldn’t put us in any sort of position that wasn’t beneficial for us. That’s how we looked at it, that he was only trying to do what was going to help us be the most successful. So at the end of the day, it’s what he says.”
It’s too early to tell what Alabama’s offense will look like next season or how the team will adapt to some of the new wrinkles Daboll installs. So far, it appears the offensive coordinator has won over his players. That’s a good first step.
“He’s got a great personality,” Hentges said. “It’s really about the players. He cares about the players. He really, you know, wants us all to succeed. That is something I really enjoy. I feel like I have a personal relationship with him already even though he’s only been here for a couple of months. So that’s something that I really enjoy. Just getting to work with him. Just getting to know him better and something that I hope to just continue to grow and foster this personal relationship that I have with him.”
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