Nick Saban believes that college quarterbacks are no longer being prepared properly for the NFL game, and he knows why.
Saban was a guest on “The Pat McAfee Show.” McAfee brought up that people say college quarterbacks have become unprepared for the NFL. Saban addressed the query and explained why that is the case — he says things have become simplified for college QBs due to the proliferation of run-pass option offenses, as well as Air Raid passing attacks.
“I think the one thing RPOs did was to take away from quarterbacks needing to be developed as drop-back passers, which in the NFL you eventually have to do. Because RPOs make a simple read; you’re reading one thing. Then they got into these wide spread formations — whatever you call that, Air Raid offense or whatever. Now the quarterback only reads one side of the field,” Saban said.
“So the quarterback never really develops in terms of what you have to know to play in the NFL. How you have to redirect protections so you protect yourself. How do you read coverages so you’re in the right place. A lot of times, the offensive coordinator’s going to give you a middle-of-the-field read on this side and a half-field coverage read on this side, and you gotta be able to figure it out based on reading the safeties. They never learn how to do that in college anymore, which I think really doesn’t help us develop quarterbacks for the NFL like we used to.”
McAfee suggested that simplifying things for college quarterbacks leads to more success in the college game, but does not help develop the quarterbacks for the long term quite as well.
Saban also said during his appearance that he viewed himself as a defensive and special teams coach. He said he wouldn’t have been able to be an offensive coordinator.
Keep Saban’s explanation in mind when you wonder why some quarterbacks who had success in college don’t see that transfer over to the pros.
