Video: Saban partially blames NFL Draft deadline for Ohio State loss
By Kevin Duffey
Published:
Nick Saban offered one suggestion for why his team was perhaps not ideally prepared for the College Football Playoff game against the Ohio State Buckeyes.
The Alabama coach explained that some of his key players were affected emotionally by NFL draft status reports that they receive around Christmas time. His suggestion is that players wouldn’t receive such information until the season and any postseason games are completed.
“Our team chemistry from the SEC Championship game to playoff game was affected by something. To have a December 15th deadline from when a junior can submit for a draft grade, and then you get that assessment back sometime before or right after Christmas, and then you have a playoff game coming up on January 1st or 2nd…We’re talking about a young person who has to deal with a lot now. We had six guys in this situation last year and eleven the year before. So we’re trying to get ready for a game and all of a sudden, our guy finds out he’s a first round draft pick or a guy who thought he was a first round draft pick finds out he’s not a first round draft pick and we’re trying to get ready to play a playoff game.”
You can watch Saban’s remarks on the topic in the above video.
A graduate of the University of Florida and founder of Saturday Down South, Kevin is a college football enthusiast.
