Alabama DB previews Texas A&M trash talk: âYou know what Coach Saban wants, huh?â
Keep an eye out for Texas A&M’s No. 0 this Saturday. After an incompletion or tackle, look for an Alabama defensive back to share some words with Aggies wideout Ainias Smith.
Tide cornerback Terrion Arnold said Tuesday he may saunter up to Smith following a play and ask rhetorically:
“You know what (Nick) Saban wants, huh? Dang. What he want?”
Arnold is referring to part of Smith’s comments that he made on Monday. Smith’s older brother Maurice Smith had a public transfer spat with the Crimson Tide and Saban in 2016. Smith detailed how it hurt seeing his older brother treated in a way the family called “very disappointing.”
But in a game of social media telephone, Smith’s overall comments were dispersed in clips. The graduate student also talked about quashing No. 10 Alabama’s momentum. In July, Smith said his favorite college memory was scoring two touchdowns in an upset of UA in 2021. So, when Arnold was asked by a reporter about taking comments personally or deploying some smack talk mid-game, Arnold was equally entertaining.
“If you had another reporter, and you felt like he was asking you certain types of questions and trying to get a reaction out of somebody else and he was coming at you, how would you take that? So if I’m in the game and he’s saying that he knows what my coach wants, I mean obviously when I go out, I’m going to be like, ‘You know what Coach Saban wants, huh? Dang. What he want?’
“(Smith) plays in the slot primarily. If Malachi (Moore) goes out there and gets a (pass breakup) on him, you walk beside him like, ‘Hmm, you know what he want?’ Just little things like that. Little things, trying to get in somebody’s head.”
Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. on CBS. Last year’s game between the Aggies (4-1, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) and Tide had the pregame hype of being the first matchup since Jimbo Fisher and Nick Saban’s verbal war. Alabama won 24-20 after a thrilling ending in which Arnold played a major role.
“When I seen that I was kind of like, what does coach Saban want? I mean, I’ve been here three years and I don’t know what that guy wants,” joked Arnold.
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Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].