Sarkisian familiar with molding talent
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Steve Sarkisian keeps hitting the jackpot when it comes to quarterbacks and offensive playmakers.
The former Southern California and Washington coach left Alabama after the national championship game in January 2017 for the NFL. Sarkisian took over an offense led by reigning NFL MVP Matt Ryan and All-pro receiver Julio Jones. Before that, he arrived at Southern Cal in 2005 with Matt Leinart returning after winning the Heisman.
Now, he’s back at Alabama with plenty of tools — including Heisman candidate quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
“This isn’t as foreign to me,” Sarkisian said. “I think what it is, is you come in and you try to evaluate the whole thing. We say, ‘OK, how can I help this team continue to get better? How can I help these players improve and put them in the best position to have success, not only short term but long term?’ That’s our job as coaches.”
For starters, Alabama’s offense is in pretty good shape. Mike Locksley directed the nation’s No. 3 scoring offense last season before leaving to coach Maryland. Even with the departure of tailbacks Josh Jacobs and Damien Harris to the NFL, Sarkisian has a bountiful selection of playmakers.
The backfield still has former five-star prospects Najee Harris and freshman Trey Sanders and a bulldozing Brian Robinson Jr.
Sarkisian brings a familiarity with Tide coach Nick Saban and his program — and with Tagovailoa. He recruited the quarterback when he was at USC and the left-hander from Hawaii was a 10th grader.
“It’s good to see coach Sark come back,” Tagovailoa said. “I have built a relationship with him since I was being recruited my sophomore year of high school.”
Learning from Saban was a big reason why Sarkisian made his initial stop in Tuscaloosa in 2016. He wanted to get a firsthand view of how Saban ran his program and what things he emphasized.
In the spring, he wasn’t hearing those messages for the first time.
“It just brought back a lot of thoughts and reminders and I was able to go back through some notes of why those things are important and then start to emphasize them on our own even on the offensive side of the ball to support that message,” Sarkisian said. “So I think it was big.”
He returns to the college ranks after two seasons in the NFL — much like Saban did after his foray with the Miami Dolphins.
“I always had a lot of respect for Sark,” Saban said. “He does a great job of managing the staff. I can’t really speak for him and how (the NFL) helped his development as a coach, but my time in the NFL was very beneficial to me and how you are going to bring personnel to your team. And when you do that all the time, I think you get better at it.”