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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: FLORIDA VS ALABAMA

December 5, 2015

Atlanta, Georgia

Alabama - 29, Florida - 15

THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by Alabama head coach Nick Saban and SEC Championship Game MVP, Derrick Henry. We'll ask both to comment on the game and then take questions.

COACH SABAN: As I said out on the field, very proud of this team. After the Ole Miss game, these players all said they wanted to be a different team. They wanted to do something special. And probably more than any other time I've ever coached, I wanted to see those guys succeed today and win the second back-to-back SEC Championship and have an opportunity to get in the playoff.

I think there's a lot of people that deserve a lot of credit. These players have worked really, really hard. The coaches have worked really, really hard. We have a great team in Alabama, from our administration, athletic administration, Bill Battle, all of our coaching staff, all of our support staff that works to help these guys be more successful in life for having been in our program, whether it's academic support, personal development, or being a better football player.

I can't tell you how proud I am of this guy. He's had a phenomenal season, and he deserves every accolade that anyone could ever throw his way.

We knew that this was going to be a tough game today and it would take sort of our best focus, our best mental and physical toughness, our best discipline to execute, and it was a tough game. Florida is a very good team. They should be congratulated for winning the East. They competed really hard out there today, and I have a lot of respect for Coach McElwain and their players.

But I sure was happy -- I made a statement earlier that the best fighter doesn't always win the fight. You've got to go fight the best fight, and that's why we needed to respond today. Our players certainly did that.

So what's important now, that spells win, w-i-n, and I think the players did all the things they needed to do to prepare for this game, and I'm really proud of their performance out there tonight.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

Derrick, your thoughts on the game and winning an SEC Championship.

DERRICK HENRY: Like Coach said, I'm very proud of the team. It's a team effort. Like Coach said, I feel like the Ole Miss loss, we really came back together and mentally locked and was focused.

We wanted to get to this SEC Championship, and we knew that we had to come battle every week and we got better week after week. I'm proud of the team and proud of what we accomplished.

Q. Derrick, how would you rank the defense that you went against today as opposed to the rest of the ones you faced this year?
DERRICK HENRY: I think it's the best defense that we faced. They're very physical, very disruptive, very fast on the defensive line. Athletic linebackers who are very physical and try to knock you out and good secondary. So I think it's the best defense that we've faced all year.

Q. Derrick, the last couple of weeks have been almost like high school was for you, where you get almost 40 carries a game. Why do you get so much better as you get the ball more?
DERRICK HENRY: My main focus is on finishing and helping this team win. I'm going to do whatever it takes to help this team win. Whether it's me running the ball, catching the ball, or pass blocking, I just want this team to win. It's a team effort. All the success I've had, I credit my teammates and coaches and God, because I couldn't do it without them.

Q. Throughout this game, you just seem to be getting stronger again. Talk about that focus and what you're thinking about. You get carry, you're up the middle, feel you're going to break one, you get more yards, you get more yards. What are you thinking? What's your mental outlook at that point?
DERRICK HENRY: I'm just finished. We wanted to start fast and finish fast. Credit to the offensive line. They really take pride in controlling the line of scrimmage. Throughout the week, they work hard and keep pushing the defensive line. All credit to my teammates, but my main focus is to finish and helping the team win.

Q. Nick has complimented your ability to pick up pass blocking the last year or so. How much of a focus was that for you this off-season, and how much did you struggle with that earlier in your career?
DERRICK HENRY: I'm still not where I want to be with pass blocking. Still some things I've got to improve on. I could have did better in the game. I feel like if you want to be a complete back, you've got to know how to pass block at this level and at the next level.

This whole off-season and during the season, I just worked on trying to get better at that week after week. Like I said, I'm not where I want to be right now, but I'm going to keep on working.

Q. Derrick, two-part question. First, how's it feel the last two weeks, you break Bo Jackson's Iron Bowl record for rushing yards in a game and now Herschel Walker's all-time SEC record. I'm sure you grew up watching them on film and hearing about them. How does it feel to break their records? And second, what has Burton Burns meant to your career?
DERRICK HENRY: It's a blessing, and God is good. Like I said, I'm still going to give credit to my teammates and coaches because without them it wouldn't be possible. But they are like my heroes, my football heroes. Growing up and hearing their name and just watching what they did is incredible. For my name to be mentioned with theirs, it's an honor and a blessing.

Coach Burns is like a father figure and like a brother. He's really taught me a lot about the game, helping me get better the fast few years. Week after week, we're always talking about what we need to get better on. Never complacent, never satisfied, just staying hungry week after week.

Q. Your offensive line gets stronger in the fourth quarter as the game goes on. What's it like in the huddle with your teammates when it's time to put away a game?
DERRICK HENRY: Offensive line stays motivated. I just tell them to keep running it and keep staying hungry. Like I said, they practice hard in practice. So in the game it's not surprising when they're controlling the line of scrimmage and we're moving the ball like we did.

Q. You guys are used to winning these games. Is this one any sweeter than last year's championship game?
DERRICK HENRY: I would say it's sweeter for me because I consider myself a leader on the team, and all I want to do is make these guys better by the way I work and by the way I practice and by the way I carry myself. The younger guys really just bought in.

We're really like a family. Like I said, the Ole Miss loss, when we lost, nobody really hung their head. Everybody came back and refocused and wanted to get here and that's what we tried to do. I'm just proud of this team. We're like a family. It just means everything to win this.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Derrick.

Q. I've got a two-part question for you. The first one is you talk about the Heisman, he's in contention, and a lot of people say the Heisman is a player that's the most valuable to his team. I'm curious what his character means to this team.
COACH SABAN: I don't know that I've coached many players that actually set a better example to affect other people. He doesn't really do it for himself. He does it for them. That has as much work ethic, that doesn't get frustrated, can overcome adversity, and really sets the best example every day not only on the field and how he practices and what he does, but how he lives his life, how he goes to school, how he does in class.

He's not afraid to tell somebody else that this is a better way to do it. So he is a really good leader, sets a great example. I don't know that there's any player on the team that the team means more to them than it does to Derrick.

Q. You said afterwards on the podium you really wanted it the most for this team -- I'm paraphrasing. You really wanted it. I'm just curious about that because you had some pretty special teams. Why do you want it most for this team?
COACH SABAN: I don't think anybody really thought after the Ole Miss game this team would wind up here. To be honest with you, I had some questions in my mind as to whether we'd wind up here.

To see all the things that this team did and to stay together as a team and for everybody to be committed to doing what they needed to do to improve and whatever their role was on the team, there was a real togetherness with this group. We haven't had issues. We haven't had lots of problems. I don't have to call guys in at all. Everybody sort of bought in. Really a fun team to coach.

Sometimes you have really good teams that have talent, but they also -- with that talent comes some issues. This team doesn't have a lot of issues. So for where they came from, what they accomplished, what they did -- I mean, I remember after the Ole Miss game, every time I would have a press conference, someone would ask me, what are you going to do this week to prepare better for this game? And I would say, if there was a better way, we would have done it last week because you asked me that question last week.

That's how many big games this team had against really good teams in our league and our division, and they responded every time in some very difficult places to play.

Q. From the end of the first quarter until roughly five minutes to go in the game, they really didn't move the ball hardly at all. Tell us a little bit about the in-game adjustments you made on defense.
COACH SABAN: We really played well on defense. They did some things that are a little different, and they got some guys open, made a couple big plays. But we probably should have went the dime in the series that they went down and scored, like three or four plays. We were in nickel, should have been in dime. They got empty and put some linebackers in tough spots on some people. So that was probably a little bit on us. We didn't execute very well.

I think there's a lesson to be learned for our players in that particular drive you've got to play the game for 60 minutes. It's not over. They get the onside kick there, and they've got a chance to get back in the game.

We didn't make a lot of adjustments. The biggest thing, we had a good plan on defense. We knew what they were going to do. They had a lot of personnel groupings. The biggest one was we got a little messed up playing regular defense against two tights and two wides. And when they had 32 in there, it was all nickel formation. Once we made that adjustment, it was very beneficial to us. That was probably the biggest one we did in the game.

Our team does a good job of tracking what the other team is doing and what we need to do, but nothing different than what we practiced and what the players need to know. They did a nice job executing, did a good job up front stopping the run. They were behind the sticks a lot, and we did a good job on third down.

Q. Last week you said that Derrick insisted on staying in the game even after the game was pretty well out of reach. Again, tonight 44 carries. Did he insist again tonight on staying in the game?
COACH SABAN: No, we took him out of the game. When Florida scored, he wasn't going to play anymore. 17 and 9 were going to play the rest of the game. But we needed to get a couple of first downs because it was really a two-score game, if they make a two-point conversion. We felt like we needed to take the arrow on offense, and he's the best guy to do it.

He wasn't happy when I told him he wasn't going to play anymore. But when they scored, he got to play some more, and he was happy. Then he made me happy by the way he played. So everybody was happy. Not that they scored.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the growth of two players, one on offense and one on defense. I wanted to ask you about ArDarius Stewart and his growth as a player this year, and also Tim Williams on defense.
COACH SABAN: ArDarius Stewart really came into his own at the end of last season, and then he got injured and missed the rest of the season. So then we kind of went back and -- ArDarius is a guy that's really had to learn how to pay attention to detail, do the little things right, and do it on a consistent basis. He has done that extremely well, and I think that's the difference in his performance. He's always been a talented guy, and he's made some great plays for us this year.

Tim Williams, I'm really kind of proud of Tim Williams. He's had some struggles in his career. He's battled hard to overcome them. And he's doing better in school as well as has really got pass rush ability, and we've been able to use him in that role this year, and he has created a lot of pressure for us playing on third down and done a really good job of affecting the quarterback.

Q. On that same note, talk about the improvements that you've seen in Calvin Ridley, a freshman, of course, and, of course, Minkah Fitzpatrick as well, on the defensive side.
COACH SABAN: Those two guys are special, to be freshmen, to contribute as much as they've contributed this year because what happens a lot of time with the young guys on your team is they can't sustain the season. They don't have the maturity to stay focused on the next game plan. These two guys are special because they've never skipped a beat. They've always been able to focus on what they need to do to go out and do their job well in a game and make very good plays.

Those two guys have been fantastic additions to our team this year, and their contribution has been very, very important to us. Calvin got an opportunity when Robert Foster got injured in the Ole Miss game and took great advantage of it.

Q. This is probably obvious, but do you feel now that this is a lock as far as the Final Four tournament goes?
COACH SABAN: Can I ask you a question?

Q. Yes, sir.
COACH SABAN: What are you holding up there? I'm not real good with this technology, but this is a new one on me.

Q. Just a microphone. That's all.
COACH SABAN: Okay, good.

Well, I certainly think that this team deserves being SEC champions -- they were No. 2. I don't know what they did out there tonight that would dispel their opportunity to play in a playoff.

Our league is a tough league, and we beat each other up. And then people say, well, you don't have that many ranked teams this year. Well, that's because we beat each other up. When we played a lot of teams this year, they were ranked in the top 15 or the top 10. Maybe they're not now because we all have to play each other.

I think, if you win this league, you should deserve the opportunity to be in a playoff. Other than one game where we played poorly and turned the ball over five times, this team has shown a lot of consistency. Now, I'm sure there are a lot of other coaches out there who are going to lobby for their team being in it, but I would be surprised if anybody has a lot of doubt about whether we should or shouldn't be in the playoff.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you for your time and congratulations.

COACH SABAN: One thing I would like to say to two people. Our fans do a fantastic job of supporting our team, and they certainly did a great job, and I know how much our players appreciate it.

And I know how you all think that I don't like the media, and that's not really true. I really do appreciate all that you do to -- for the positive self-gratification that you give the players by covering our sport. I know they appreciate it. I just don't like to tell you all stuff sometimes, and it's kind of my way of keeping secrets. But I really do appreciate what you do. So thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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