In the summer of 2013, Nick Saban was coming off consecutive national titles as Alabama’s football coach and Gehrig Dieter was a former three-star receiver transferring from SMU to Bowling Green.
The two are now an unlikely grouping for one season in Tuscaloosa.
“It’s crazy, because you grow up and always see him on TV,” Dieter said this week in a news conference. “He was always on (ESPN’s) ‘College GameDay,’ and now having him 10 feet from me and seeing how he coaches players is definitely a cool thing to see.”
The Crimson Tide held a two-hour workout in full pads Wednesday and will practice today, Friday and Saturday before taking Sunday off and beginning game-week preparation for Southern California on Monday.
Dieter announced in February that he planned to play his final season at Alabama, and he graduated from Bowling Green in May. The 6-foot-3, 207-pounder from South Bend, Ind., racked up 94 receptions for 1,038 yards and 10 touchdowns last year for the Falcons, who went 10-4 and won the Mid-American Conference title.
Alabama already has standout receivers Calvin Ridley and ArDarius Stewart back from last season’s national champions, as well as Robert Foster returning from injury and Cam Sims providing quality depth. Throw in Dieter, and the Crimson Tide may have their deepest crop of wideouts of the Saban era.
“He has added a lot,” Stewart told reporters earlier this month. “He has come in and fit right in with the band of brothers. That’s what he was supposed to do, and he’s done a great job at it.”
The arrival of Dieter comes a year after Richard Mullaney joined Alabama as a graduate transfer receiver from Oregon State. Mullaney made the most of his one season in the Southeastern Conference, collecting 38 catches for 390 yards and five touchdowns.
Mullaney was involved from the start last year, and Dieter hopes to have a similar impact.
“It’s been great coming in,” Dieter said. “These guys have really accepted me. I had to earn their respect in the summer, and I think I did that.”
Dieter had 10 catches for 168 yards and a touchdown as an SMU freshman in 2012, and he sat out the 2013 season after transferring. His 2014 season at Bowling Green consisted of 35 catches for 460 yards and a score, which set the stage for last season’s productivity.
In last year’s opener against Tennessee in Nashville, Dieter frustrated the Volunteers, snagging seven receptions for 133 yards as Bowling Green lost 59-30.
Dieter had the opportunity to go several places earlier this year but didn’t take long to pick Alabama. Why the Tide?
Why not?
“Who wouldn’t want to come here with all the resources and the coaches?” he said. “Obviously I’m playing for the best coach of all time, and the list goes on and on as far as how many great coaches are here.”
Heading Alabama’s offense, of course, is third-year coordinator Lane Kiffin, who was able to insert Mullaney into the game plan with ease. The Crimson Tide haven’t named a starting quarterback, but Dieter has seen enough of Kiffin and the candidates to know that he made the right decision in terms of his transfer destination.
“Whoever the quarterback is will definitely have a lot of weapons,” Dieter said. “We worked really hard all summer, and we’re having to bring it every day against defensive players who are all four- or five-star guys.
“We have really high expectations for ourselves, and we’re confident right now in where we are as a group.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.