SEC Media Days: One-on-one with SEC Network’s Roman Harper

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WBRC) - WBRC caught up with two-time Hall of Famer and SEC Network analyst Roman Harper in Nashville at SEC Football Media Days to talk about the upcoming Alabama football season.

Looking back to last year, Harper said the biggest thing missing from last year was on defense.

“I spoke to (Coach Saban) about it earlier and he agreed with me wholeheartedly that that was the biggest difference between this past year’s defense and any other defense he’s had, the struggle with creating turnovers,” said Harper, who had five interceptions, five forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries during his time at the Capstone.

Kevin Steel returns to Tuscaloosa this season as defensive coordinator, but Harper doesn’t believe that will be as important to the Tide’s success as being more aggressive and creating turnovers.

“They’re going to run a lot of the same looks on defense,” he said. “For me, it’s not so much about the coach, I don’t care about that. The most important thing is creating turnovers on defense. Alabama really took a step back on that category last year. That’s really been the key thing that Alabama has done under Nick Saban. You could always count on a timely interception or a turnover to really turn the tide and really get it going, no pun intended.”

While Alabama will certainly be looking to shore up its defense under Steele, first-year offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tommy Rees from Notre Dame will be leading a quarterback room without Bryce Young.

Redshirt freshman Ty Simpson and redshirt sophomore Jalen Milroe are competing with former Notre Dame starter Tyler Buchner, who followed Rees and transferred to Alabama during the offseason.

“I anticipate Jalen Milroe is going to have every opportunity to win it,” Harper said. “But at the same time, you bring in Tyler Buchner and you also have Ty Simpson who’s been in the same system with a lot of talent. It should be competition driven and the best player always plays.”

While Harper didn’t give any predictions for the upcoming Crimson Tide season, he did say that Nick Saban’s legacy isn’t in any danger of being tarnished.

“How do you tarnish a legacy when you’re the winningest coach with the most national championships?” he said. “I think Alabama is right in the thick of things.. a place where they’re not picked all the time by everybody, and I think Nick Saban kind of enjoys the actual fact that they get to play underdog for a little while. Until you start playing games.”

Alabama kicks off its season September 2 against Middle Tennessee at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

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