Steve Sarkisian eager to work with talented Alabama attack

AP file photo by Vasha Hunt / Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian
AP file photo by Vasha Hunt / Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian
photo Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, left, talks with wide receiver Julio Jones during training camp last summer. "Sark" now is back as the OC at Alabama, where Jones starred in college.

Steve Sarkisian is no stranger to inheriting well-stocked cupboards.

He's got another opportunity in his second stint as Alabama's offensive coordinator.

The Crimson Tide return an offense featuring quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, last year's Heisman Trophy runner-up; running back Najee Harris, a former five-star prospect who has averaged 6.5 yards per carry through two seasons; and receiver Jerry Jeudy, the reigning Biletnikoff Award winner who headlines the roster's most talented position.

"When I went to Atlanta, they were just coming off going to the Super Bowl, Matt Ryan was NFL MVP, and they obviously had Julio Jones," Sarkisian said in a news conference Saturday morning. "I'm a little bit accustomed to stepping into this role. I can even go back to 2005, when I had been with the Oakland Raiders and came back to USC the year after Matt Leinart had won the Heisman and they had won the national championship by beating Oklahoma.

"This isn't foreign to me, and what you do is try to evaluate the whole thing and see how you can help this team continue to get better and help these players improve."

Alabama's offense was a weekly pinball machine last season, averaging 522 yards and 45.6 points per contest. Tagovailoa had a chance to be the first in NCAA history to produce an efficiency rating in excess of 200 for an entire season, but his struggles against Clemson in the national championship contest resulted in a final clip of 199.4.

Sarkisian first came to Tuscaloosa a game into the 2016 season, after the Tide opened with a 52-6 rout of Southern California in Arlington, Texas. He served as an offensive analyst to coordinator Lane Kiffin that season but became coordinator after Saban parted ways with Kiffin following a lackluster showing in the Peach Bowl national semifinal against Washington.

In the 35-31 loss to Clemson in the title game of that season's playoff, Sarkisian called the plays, but he left a month later to become coordinator of the Falcons.

"I've always had a lot of respect for Sark," said Saban, who hired Sarkisian as an analyst less than a year after he had been fired as USC's coach due to alcohol-related issues. "He's very well organized and does a good job with the players. He's a good teacher and has a really good personality, and he's easy to work with.

"He does a great job of managing the staff, and I think his time in the NFL has developed him as a coach. He did a really good job when he was here before, and I have been very pleased with the job he has done since he's been here."

Sarkisian has known Tagovailoa since his days at USC, and the two reunited in Tuscaloosa during the 2017 recruiting cycle. Nearly a week before Sarkisian left for Atlanta, the Tide landed a signing haul that contained Tagovailoa, Harris, Jeudy and fellow receivers Henry Ruggs III and DeVonta Smith.

Alabama's 2017 collection also included current linemen Alex Leatherwood and Jedrick Wills, leaving Sarkisian familiar with more than half of his projected starting offense.

"I give Coach Saban a lot of credit, because he is not one who chases stars," Sarkisian said. "We pride ourselves on doing our own evaluation and trusting our own evaluation in trying to find the best players who fit Alabama and what it entails to play here. When you go back and look at that class, it was evaluated really well.

"We felt like they could come in and contribute, and then it's the development of the player. You've got to give those players credit, too, because they got some opportunities to play early in their careers and took advantage of it."

Although Alabama will enter this season with aerial components destined for the NFL, Sarkisian insists he's not going to abandon doing what he loves most.

"Every year I've called plays in college football, I've always had 1,000-yard rushers," he said. "You have to have the ability to run the football. When you can run the football, you can play-action pass, and the play-action pass game is the quarterback's best friend."

Background check

Saban was asked Saturday if he ever offered the receivers coach position in January 2018 to Zach Smith, the former Ohio State receivers coach who was fired last summer due to multiple alleged incidents of abusing his ex-wife.

"I really never did ever offer this guy a job," Saban said. "I did interview him, and he did a nice job in the interview. That's when we did the background check, and we decided there was a better opportunity to hire somebody else, and that's what we did."

Alabama wound up hiring Penn State receivers coach Josh Gattis, who stayed for one season and is now Michigan's offensive coordinator.

Tide tidbits

Saban said this is "one of the best-conditioned teams we've had coming out of summer camp." Tight end Miller Forristall (foot) and defensive lineman LaBryan Ray (ankle) could each miss the first week of camp. Defensive back Nigel Knott has "some medical issues," said Saban, who added that his return was unknown. Saban on former five-star outside linebacker Eyabi Anoma: "The guy was dismissed from school, and that's really all I can say about it."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.

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