CFP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: ALABAMA VS GEORGIA

January 5, 2022

Bill O'Brien

Lucas Oil Stadium

Alabama Crimson Tide

Press Conference

Q. Just as a general rule of thumb, with a rematch, I mean you had a lot of experience with those in the NFL, do you start from scratch? Do you start from where the last game left off? How do you deal with all that information that you got from the last game?

COACH O'BRIEN: Yeah, it's tough. It's tough. I think you have to do a little bit of both. You have to go back to the drawing board, so to speak. You've got to start from scratch. You have to look at the last game. You've got to go back and review the whole season, your season, their season.

It's a long week. They have a great defense. Almost like a generational defense. They have amazing stats and they play hard. They play good, a lot of great players and coaches on that side of the ball. It's going to be a challenge for us.

Q. Teams that decide to double Jameson or bring extra coverage to his side, what can you do as a coordinator to free him up and make sure he gets opportunities?

COACH O'BRIEN: That's a great question. We're always finding ways to get all of our guys the ball. Our guys are really smart. You can move them around. You can do a lot of different things with them. But schematically I'll probably try to stay above the fray here in this Zoom session.

But all our guys are really capable and they're excited about the opportunity and we're excited for Monday night.

Q. I wonder how the experience has been just coming back to college and calling plays at a top program. You've got a Heisman winner on your record now. What's a self-scout on Bill O'Brien this year?

COACH O'BRIEN: It's been a great experience. It's been awesome. We have a lot of great kids to coach. They're hard working. They love football. They're great teammates. The coaching staff here, led by Coach Saban, is one of the best coaching staffs I've ever been a part of. It says a lot because I've been part of a lot of coaching staffs. I've been fortunate that way. It's just been fun.

A lot of fun to coach a guy like Bryce and the rest of the guys on offense, work with the offensive staff. I can't say enough about this program. And I've said it time and time again, how grateful I am to have this opportunity to be here and to try to do my part to help this team win.

Q. What has been your biggest learnings with Coach Saban? You have a long coaching career yourself but what will you take away from this experience?

COACH O'BRIEN: I've learned a ton. I've learned a lot from Coach Saban, not only, obviously, schematically, but also how he runs a program. The organization of it, the detail of it, the work ethic that goes into it, the discipline, the regimen.

He's an amazing guy. He's a guy that is the same guy every day. He's a very hardworking guy, very disciplined guy. Loves football. And I've learned a lot from him and like you said, I've had a career of a lot of years. I've been fortunate to work for a lot of great guys and with a lot of great guys. And this has been a great experience for me.

Q. Against Georgia the first time, they got to Bryce, hurried him eight times but didn't get a sack. What makes him so effective in those open-field situations?

COACH O'BRIEN: It's tough. I don't know. That's an interesting stat. When I watched the film I see it a lot more than that. They've got a great front. We've got to do a good job against that front. I think Bryce does a really good job of understanding and processing. But it's a whole different ball game on Monday night.

So it's a tremendous challenge. Coach Smart, Coach Lanning, Coach Muschamp, those guys are at the top of their game when it comes to defensive coaching. And then they have the players that can make it happen. So we've got a big challenge. We're excited about it. We're practicing hard. Our guys always practice hard. That's the way this program's been built. And we'll be there Monday night but it's going to be a tremendous challenge for us.

Q. An old NFL guy, when you guys got Jameson Williams, did you feel like you hit the free agency jackpot in terms of filling a need with a guy who has obviously done what he's done?

COACH O'BRIEN: You know, it is similar to free agency but without the rules, to be honest with you. There are some rules in college, but the portal is an interesting deal. And I'll stay away from that. I'll let Coach Saban handle that.

But when we were able to bring Jameson into our program, he was a guy that came in right away and wasn't in spring practice and started with us in the summer and just really did a great job learning our offense and hit the ground running.

I think Bryce, the rest of the offensive guys did a great job with him helping him out. John Metchie, all those guys that play receiver out there that have been here, they did a great job. And he picked it up fast and obviously he's a huge part of our success.

Q. What's been your approach in your process your name has come up these past couple of weeks other college jobs, NFL jobs, deciding whether there's mutual interest on your part?

COACH O'BRIEN: It's one of those things that happens all the time. It's part of the career, part of what you sign up for. My focus has always been on the task at hand and that's just the way I operate.

I just think that this is a great opportunity for this program. And we've put so much work into this. And really if you're here, if you're able to follow us around for a week, your focus is completely on Georgia and your team and what you have to do to try to help do your part to help your team win. So that's what the focus is.

Q. You've been around some tremendous receivers in the career you mentioned. What makes Jameson Williams special and are there qualities from guys like Hopkins [phonetic] and some others, that are there any similarities with him to some of the great receivers you've coached in your time?

COACH O'BRIEN: Great question. I've been very fortunate. I've coached a ton of great receivers. And Jameson, relative to the stage of the career that he's at, being a college player right now and having a chance probably to play pro football. Excellent speed, excellent route runner, very competitive guy. He's a very instinctive player. He's a very smart player. And I can't say enough about his competitiveness. He's a player that goes out and practices every day like it's a game.

And so I think that's something that the great ones have those traits. Everybody's a little bit different. Everybody's built differently. Everybody has different skill sets. Different speed things like that. But the best ones that I've been around and Jameson's in that category, they all have that competitive spirit that's really hard to find sometimes.

Q. Sticking with the receivers, before the Cincinnati game you talked about the loss of John Metchie, how have you seen a guy like Ja'Corey Brooks step up and how has he done it over the course of the season?

COACH O'BRIEN: Ja'Corey is a very young impressive player, really good size. Really good work ethic. He's a very serious guy. He takes his game very seriously. He tries to work every single day to get better.

I think it's really hard to play receiver at a young age at this level and at the next level. And he's doing it really well at this level. He's getting better every day because of his work ethic.

So Ja'Corey has really come up big for us. He's come up big for us with some big catches over the last few games, and that's been important for our team.

Q. When you get to Alabama, you've been around a lot of good programs, college programs, but when you get to Alabama, does it at all take you aback a bit when you see how much talent there is available to you compared to some of the other places where, again, you've been around good programs? Do you really get to appreciate how much talent is at Alabama until you've seen it like you have?

COACH O'BRIEN: I definitely think you see it firsthand. You notice it right away. And you also, when we got here there was a number of guys on last year's team when you put the film on, that offensively were first-round draft picks, six or seven of them. I think they said Landon Dickerson was a second rounder. Probably if he wasn't injured he would have been a first-rounder.

So with that being said, to be able to have the depth and the ability to come back with some really good players at a lot of different positions says a lot about Coach Saban, his organization relative to recruiting. It's every single day. It's 365 days a year that he recruits, that we all recruit. And he leads it.

And I think that's what it's about in college football is developing relationships with the player and his family and showing him what you're all about. And it's just been really cool experience to see that. But that's really what it's about. It's a relentless approach to recruiting, not just a relentless approach to football coaching. And that's what Coach Saban has done here and it's been proven and it's been awesome.

Q. What can you say about, you had the unique experience of having worked with Bill Belichick and Nick Saban, arguably two of the greatest ever. Just what you can say about what makes them similar and maybe some of the differences they've had with you working with them?

COACH O'BRIEN: It's a question, obvious question I get a lot. I actually enjoy the question because I take a lot of pride in the fact I've been able to work for both guys. I've learned so much from both guys. And you said it, these are two of the best ever to do it.

And they're both very similar in some of their philosophical beliefs -- hard work, good teammates, trustworthy people around them, uncovering every stone to try to find out what we can do to try to get an edge in a game or the way we practice, things like that.

And they are two very different people. And that's just the way -- that's just the way it is. And I think that's what's pretty cool, the fact I've had a chance to be around both of them, work for both of them. And it's something that I'm very grateful for and I'm very proud of.