JaMarcus Russell recalls ‘militant’ coaching he received from Nick Saban
By Andrew Olson
Published:
JaMarcus Russell was in for quite the culture change going from Williamson High School in Mobile, Alabama to playing for Nick Saban at LSU. The former Tiger quarterback reflected on being coached by Saban during a recent podcast appearance.
“Nick, man, that was crazy for me,” Russell said on “The Pivot,” as transcribed by AL.com’s Mark Heim. “Going from high school to college, but Nick Saban, man. He was very militant. He’s strategic. He’s gonna get on your ass because he knows what you can do. He knows you can do it, so when you don’t show up that’s when it turns bad, bro.”
Heim notes that Russell isn’t known for being “much of a talker.” Pivot hosts Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder and Fred Taylor, however, managed to get a wealth of interesting quotes from Russell. The 83-minute podcast episode is a wide-ranging uncensored conversation that has made headlines for Russell’s response to being called an NFL bust, rookie show stories and more.
Russell is now a high school football assistant, coaching quarterbacks at his alma mater. He tries to create a winning culture, based on what he learned from Saban.
“However many kids we have on our team, every morning, I go and individually give each one of them a handshake, or dap, whatever it may be, I’m going around to each one to talk to ’em and jive around but on the practice field, it’s different,” Russell said on “The Pivot,” per On3’s Nikki Chavanelle. “I’ve been around Nick Saban, bro. So I know what it’s supposed to be, what it’s supposed to look like in order for you to win.”
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
