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Making the adjustment to college football from the high school game is one of the hardest parts about being a freshman.
Nick Saban has seen freshman safety Caleb Downs transition well to the college game, and 5 games into the season he’s learned how to make adjustments when it comes to game plans, and it’s leading to some outstanding play from Downs.
Saban had high praise for Downs in his press conference Monday, complimenting his ability to keep up with all the changes that come throughout the season.
“I think Caleb was a really good player right to start with,” Saban said. “I think one of the things freshman especially, they kind of get the defense, they kind of learn what their supposed to do, and then you start getting into game plans where you’ve got to tweak those things a little bit. That’s where the experience really comes into play. Then you can put yourself into the right position more often. He’s played really well for us, he’s bright, smart, very instinctive as a football player, really works hard to prepare, really contentious in terms of making sure that he knows exactly what he’s supposed to do, where he’s supposed to be, how he fits on the players. I think being a good player and being a very contentious person, the combination of those two has really enhanced his development and improvement.”
Downs has already racked up 40 total tackles on the season, including 20 solo tackles, along with an interception. He had a career-high 13 tackles on Saturday against Mississippi State and earned the SEC’s Co-Freshman of the Week Monday.
