Could Ryan Grubb coach from Alabama football sideline vs Auburn?
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Ryan Grubb tried something new with Alabama football.
In the Crimson Tide’s 56-0 win against Eastern Illinois on Saturday, Nov. 22, the Alabama offensive coordinator called plays from the sideline instead of up high in a coaching booth, where he had been all season.
Ahead of Alabama’s trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium for an Iron Bowl date against Auburn, Grubb said his experience on the sideline was “great.”
“It’s something I have been thinking about since, honestly, the beginning of the year. And the last few weeks, it’s kind of been adding up on me a little bit. And I just thought that I could make a difference, honestly. Some of it was for me, selfishly, to make sure that my communication with the coaches, the players was where I want it to be so I feel good about the plays that I am calling the next series.
“For me, just being right there in the thick of it of being able to make the adjustments that I want to make felt really good. It was great being down there.”
Grubb said he was on the sideline “a few times” when he was with Fresno State from 2017-21.
Grubb was very complimentary of Alabama‘s “eyes in the sky” — Alabama football analysts Tyler Hughes and Mitch Dahlen — who have been in Grubb’s system for years.
After Alabama’s win against Eastern Illinois, Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer said Grubb had been “thinking about” coaching from the sideline “for a while now,” looking for any way to improve communication.
“Today was a good opportunity to do that, so we’ll hash that out and see what we want to do moving forward,” DeBoer said. “I thought it was good, though; the communication, it was really good. There’s an impact he makes when he’s around the players. They feed off of him.”
GAMETIME
Alabama will take on Auburn at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 29 on ABC.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Ryan Grubb talks coaching on Alabama football sideline ahead of Auburn
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