Everything Alabama Offensive Coordinator Ryan Grubb Said During Monday’s Press Conference Ahead of Kentucky

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Here is everything Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said on Monday of Kentucky week.

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Opening Statement...

"A couple of things right out the gate. Obviously, some of the operational stuff we'll be focusing on and getting with the guys. It was a bummer starting the game with a penalty. Really, that one- we were in a legal formation; it was a missed call. We should've done a better job making sure that-- maybe the refs knew that we were lined up and unbalanced. But just hated to see Keelon get the game started that way. Was disappointed with that. I thought the guys in the first couple of drives did a great job responding. It's just making sure we don't have to respond so much, just trying to stay more in rhythm. And when they found the rhythm in the second and third drives, I thought they did a great job. I think seven out of 10 drives were scoring drives. So it was kind of a bummer we had to kick a field goal on the one. I thought we had a good hit to Keelon on a run play.

"We were misassigned on the outside with one of our receivers, so just a lot of first-game stuff that was honestly a little bit disappointing. I thought we would have operated even better. We had some good under-center run hits from Daniel and EJ. It was encouraging to see some of the line of scrimmage move like that. You know, as far as the offensive line gelled through the second quarter, the third quarter, you know, halftime was super disappointed. We came out flat. Guys weren't ready to play. Going to challenge them with that. They'll take it. They know they got to be better. That was the part of just with a young offense and these guys. Ryan Williams comes out there; he's ready to play, he knows the deal. He knows what it's like to come out of the locker room, and that stuff can't happen. You're not going to play with a three, four-touchdown lead every week. So, a missed opportunity in the third quarter in a different game scenario would be much more costly.

"So just got to get all that stuff cleaned up. And for our guys, just the pre-snap penalties, I thought we rushed the ball OK; we certainly can improve on that. I thought the one big hit on TB (Trae'shawn Brown) that got called back could have been the explosive play that really sent us kind of through the roof on that one. I think it was 60-plus yards, so that's the one we really wanted to uncork the whole game. It was unfortunate to get that call back. Thought they blocked very well. Thought the guys did exactly what they're coached to do. But otherwise, Keelon played tough, made some off-schedule plays, and I was super proud of him. We've got to limit the number of off-schedule plays; timing mechanics, footwork, and patience in the read are things that need working on. The guy is obsessed with getting better, and I'm proud of him for that. He'll keep working."

On Keelon Russell's performance vs. East Carolina...

"Yeah, very coachable guy. I thought he was dialed on the headset with me in between series. Took coaching well, was able to pick up some of the nuances of the game in between series. Again, it's going to be some of those things where finding how to really master that competitive stamina. And that's where, for Keelon, coming out of halftime, his heart rate's up, he's been running around a bunch, and then you come out, and you cool yourself back off. It's understanding what it takes to get him back up and ready to play. I thought that showed up at times in between plays, and just getting in and out of the huddle and operational stuff that I know Keelon wants to do.

"And the best part is that one of the things that's really hard to teach guys is how to stay calm. And honestly, it's one of Keelon's superpowers. He's really good at being unflappable. It's just finding the urgency at the right moments and continuing to improve on that. He had two balls that I wish he would not have thrown that were poor decisions. We got to get those cleaned up. And then obviously the exchange between him and Ryan was really disappointing. We've taken care of the ball all fall camp, and to put the ball on the ground like that, put our defense in a bad spot was wildly disappointing. We gave up points on that, so that was on us.

"So again, those are the things I think that the guys, when they're in these positions, Keelon included, where you've got 9-10 practices to get ready for an opponent. We've got three and a Friday practice that they got to be ready to go beat a really good Kentucky team on the road. So those are things I think for the guys that haven't played a bunch, they're starting to see how quickly those things come to light on the field."

On Racin Delgatty's Performance...

"I thought Racin played well. I thought that he built momentum throughout the football game, and he's one of the guys that I thought had juice on the field and played with some passion, some emotion, made some really good late calls, corrected a couple things at the line of scrimmage for us that I thought made a big time difference.

Still working on some of the consistent communication that needs to happen and be even better. But I thought he played well, and honestly, I think he's just going to keep getting better every single week."

On William Sanders and Mal Waldrep Jr. Swapping at Left Guard...

"Will was dealing with a little bit of an oblique, and so, trying to help him out to get through the game, he had battled through it all week, and he's doing great now. But we knew we had a guy now that had taken a lot of reps with the ones all camp. So I felt good about getting both those guys out there and getting reps. Certainly would've loved to see Will finish out the game. He came back out there. But we'd like to keep the lineup as consistent as possible."

Will There be more RPOs in Alabama's Offense...

"Yeah, I think depending on the opponent. Yes. You know, there's some games where RPOs aren't that great if there's accessible throws and things like that. I think it just depends if you feel like there's an advantage there. If there's not, you know, you have to have the run answers to go block the hat. You know, sometimes, you know, that's the danger of living in one world is your receivers don't know how to block if all you do is run RPOs. And certainly I like to put that on our receivers, and I thought that showed up. Derek Meadows and Rico both had excellent, you know, tight red zone blocks that sprung our running backs for seven or eight more yards on some under center runs. So I think, you know, just, I like to be able to show that we're capable of doing both those things and that our guys are more than just, you know, catching hitches out there and they can go be part of the road game."

You talked about first-game stuff that was a little disappointing. As you're going into the first SEC game and also the road game. How do you make sure those things get better for the offensive line? And Keelon is going to be facing some noise for the first time...

“Yeah, I think you got to push him on the mechanics at practice, you know, make it loud at practice, make it disturbing. A lot of chaos. You know, when you get to the game, it should almost feel easier than what you did at practice. So we want to raise the level of, you know, creating some urgency and some forced communication through a lot of practices and things like that because we know the fan base up there is super excited and I think anytime Bama comes to town, people are pretty wired up. So, you know, we got to get the guys ready for those environments."

Takeaways from the Run Game Against ECU...

“I thought Daniel Hill ran like a big back should run. I thought it his touchdown run from the four-yard line or whatever yard line he was on was super impressive. He got his shoulders square, had a profile tackle guy that just bounced right off of him, kept the ball tight, finished the run. I thought Daniel had some really good runs that way, and then 13 is pretty good. He's not a bad player. I like that guy. So we'll see how much more we get him out there. It was great to see TB hit the gas on that one, you know, just kind of show that he’s He's got that top-end speed to break away. And I thought TB had two really good blind cuts into a safety that were excellent seven-yard runs. And one was an 11-yard run. So was excited to see all three of those guys get out there and do some work.”

How Did Ryan Coleman-Williams Respond to the Drops...

“Just like Ryan does. Doesn’t faze him. He’s just going to keep working, and we're going to keep feeding him the ball. You know, I thought how he responded was exactly what I expected a third-year player like Ryan to respond. And you know, that's just with confidence. He knew he was going to make those plays, and he had a couple catches that he got whacked on and hung onto the ball. So, you know, for us, you know, business as usual with Ryan. We'll keep highlighting him with the football.

How do you balance Keelan's ability to extend plays while also encouraging him to protect himself...

“Oh, my God, this guy. Yeah, we're working on sliding. I know that question's coming in. You know, any young quarterback that has the ability to move like that, your responsibilities as a coach is that he came here to play quarterback and continue to develop him as a quarterback. Not a runaround guy. The off-platform stuff is an absolute blessing that he's able to do it. We just don't want it to have to keep happening at the wrong time, when he's late on the decision, things like that. It's a long season, this is a competitive league, and if he runs around like that every week, it's going to be a even a longer year for him. So I think there a couple inspirational plays for him that he's going to remember that hopefully we can continue to develop his idea of when to get the ball out of his hand, when to take care of edge protection, when to get down in the open field. So we'll keep working those things."

No. 13 Alabama (1-0) will face Kentucky (1-0) on Saturday, September 12, at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky.

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.