Things will be different around the Alabama football program with Burton Burns no longer in Tuscaloosa. The longtime Nick Saban assistant left to join the New York Giants staff, where former Alabama assistant Joe Judge is the team’s new head coach.

During a Wednesday media availability at Senior Bowl practices in Mobile, Alabama, Saban was asked about Burns’ departure. The Crimson Tide coach said he’s happy for the assistant who joined him at UA back in 2007.

“Burton’s been with us since the very beginning,” Saban told reporters. “He did a great job for us in so many ways. I think it’s obvious, all the players that he mentored playing in the NFL. … He’s a great recruiter, great ambassador for the program.

“He came off the field because of injury situations to him – bad knee, bad hip. He spent two years pretty much trying to get healthy, and now, he had an opportunity to go back on the field. He loves coaching, he’s doing it and we’re happy for him.”

Burns was Saban’s running backs coach from 2007-17 before moving to an off-field role as assistant athletics director for football ahead of the 2018 season when Saban hired Joe Pannunzio as the new running backs coach. (Pannunzio was later hired by the Philadelphia Eagles in February 2019).

The Burns-coached running backs Alabama put in the NFL during Saban’s tenure, including Mark Ingram and Derrick Henry, are often cited in the ongoing “RBU” debate.