It was April 2014, and Alabama football coach Nick Saban was teeing off on a reporter who had inquired about what appeared to be a deep and talented defensive front forming in Tuscaloosa.
“What does appear mean?” Saban shot back. “It just means that you’ve dreamed about it and it’s there? We’ve never seen these guys play or seen them take on an SEC lineman, but it appears – this is how we form public opinion, because something appears to be that way, and everyone believes it.”
The potential for greatness was evident that spring with A’Shawn Robinson and Jonathan Allen coming off promising freshman seasons. D.J. Pettway had returned to the program after having been dismissed in the winter of 2013, and touted signee Da’Shawn Hand was several weeks away from arriving.
Alabama football coach Nick Saban is 0-1 in the SEC for the first time in his nine seasons in Tuscaloosa.Tide, take three
1. This will be the first meeting between Alabama and Charleston Southern, which lost 55-9 last year at Georgia.2. A win by Alabama would clinch an eighth consecutive 10-win season.3. Crimson Tide tailback Derrick Henry has rushed for 1,458 yards and needs 222 more to break Trent Richardson’s single-season program mark of 1,679 set in 2011.
Now, as the No. 3 Crimson Tide prepare for Saturday’s visit from Charleston Southern, the perception of 18 months ago has turned into a brilliant reality that not even Saban can downplay.