Josh Pate questioned the hire of Kevin Steele as Alabama’s next defensive coordinator Monday night.

The 247Sports analyst kept repeating that you could not sell him on the fact that Nick Saban would hire Steele and confidently assume he is the guy to take over the heavy task of bringing Alabama back to where the program demands it be.

Pate made the analogy that Saban crashed his Mercedes this past season and now has a rental in the driveway, but that you best believe another Mercedes-caliber car is on its way.

“You’re just not selling me that with all of the resources at Nick Saban’s disposal, Kevin Steele is the guy, with no conditions tied to it, that he looked at and said, ‘He’s who I want to run my defense,'” Pate said. “…There is no way you’re convincing me that there is no conditions, no caveats, there’s nothing Nick Saban knows that we don’t know, this is just as it appears. Nick Saban, all options on the table, has decided a 39-year veteran of the industry Kevin Steele is the guy of all guys to lead his defense, that you won’t sell me on.”

You can hear Pate’s full thoughts below.

Steele, of course, is replacing Pete Golding, who recently left for the vacant Ole Miss position. Alabama had a good, not elite defense last season and turned to Steele, who has worked with Alabama in different capacities in the past, to fix things up in Tuscaloosa.

Do you agree with Pate? Is Steele truly the man for that job or are there conditions?