The NFL Draft has come and gone, and people are still talking about a couple of the top performers – on the broadcasts. Nick Saban and Bill Belichick both took part in the draft, albeit from much different sides than usual. Belichick had been on the team side, making picks, while Saban was usually waiting to see just how many of his Alabama players would be taken. This year, Saban was with his new team from College GameDay on ABC while Belichick hung out with his buddies from The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN+.
OutKick’s Glenn Guilbeau caught up with Davis this week and got more insight on Saban’s debut as a fulltime member of the show.
“He was sensational,” Davis told OutKick. “I know that’s easy to say, but he’s a gifted communicator in just about any setting in which he’s at. And it’s going to get just better and better and better because he doesn’t mail anything in. He’s not wired that way. He wants to be great at this. He told me that.”
Many of the comments about Saban’s performance have talked about how prepared he seemed to be and how well he knew players that he couldn’t have possibly been focused on while coaching Alabama.
“He was thoroughly prepared, as you might imagine,” Davis said. “He was very curious and wanted to know goals and how we were approaching things…He had done all the reading. He had everything prepared and organized. He did all of that. He was prepared and ready for the moment.”
Most of the time the public had seen Saban previously, he didn’t come off as someone who had a great personality and many wondered if that would hold him, and Belichick, back from being great on television. Davis said that was not the case at all, and several people commented on social media how relaxed Saban looked.
“As important as preparation is, I thought the most important thing he did over those two days was he became more and more comfortable and was willing to let people see more and more of his personality,” Davis said. “He would crack jokes. Little things, one-liners. He really just fit in with us very well.”
