The southern hospitality took Alabama football’s new offensive coordinator aback. Tommy Rees and his family were moving into their new house in Alabama and their neighbors, “about 10″ of them kept showing up to drop off baskets.

“That’s something that probably hadn’t happened before,” Rees said.

Rees is new to Tuscaloosa after spending most of his career in the same place. He played his college football at Notre Dame and after brief stops at Northwestern and with the NFL’s San Diego Chargers, he was back in South Bend.

He took over the offensive coordinator gig there in 2020 after a three-season stint as quarterbacks coach. Then Nick Saban and company called and he made the jump from his alma mater to the Crimson Tide.

It’s his first time coaching in the south. For a 31-year-old from the suburbs of Chicago, there some culture shock was a possibility.

But that hasn’t been the case. He attended a Thursday night scrimmage in May while on the recruiting trail and was impressed by how excited the south’s football fans were, comparing the atmosphere to a fall Friday night.

“That’s something somebody that loves the game and grew up around it, like that energized me,” Rees said. “And you feel the passion and support of the people and the fans for this game, for this program and at the high school level. It’s really cool to be a part of.”

And he’s fitting right in on Saban’s staff. According to defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, who knew Rees’ father, Bill, before Tommy was born, one thing sticks out.

“I kid him about this — Notre Dame quarterback, Chicago, he’s very tough. He’s got a defensive mentality,” Steele said. “I don’t know if he’d appreciate me saying that about him, but he’s a very tough football coach, very, very smart. But he’s the same every day. That’s the best part about Tommy, he’s the same everyday. He’s got ice water in his veins.”

The toughness has long been part of Rees’ reputation. In a 2020 social media post, former Notre Dame teammate Mike Golic Jr. said Rees “always said” that if he could play another position, he’d choose to be a pulling guard.

Rees joked the preference was due to the fact that he “wasn’t a very good quarterback” before confirming he would have loved to be on the offensive line.

“That physical part of the game has always resonated with me,” Rees said. “I think the offensive line is a group that can be unsung a little bit. Really without that group of five in front of you, it’s hard to do anything well, not just run the football, not just throw the football, but really, you face an uphill battle. I just always like the camaraderie of the group of the guys up front. There’s a toughness to this game that I always felt like I missed by playing quarterback, and something that I kind of longed for.”

Rees has challenges ahead of him at Alabama. For one, the Crimson Tide needs to replace Bryce Young at quarterback, with Jalen Milroe, Ty Simpson and Tyler Buchner competing for the job.

At Alabama, coordinators don’t implement their system either, so Rees is having to learn the UA way. He said that’s not a problem for him, and hopes to implement his own flair by way of helping the Tide’s personnel.

He’s already earning positive reviews from his players.

“Working with Tommy is great,” Wideout Ja’Corey Brooks said after the first preseason camp practice. “I really wouldn’t say it’s too much different, but he adds his tweaks in, and he’s going to develop us as an offense.”

Saban has been all in on his new coordinator throughout the offseason.

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“Tommy Rees is one of the brightest young guys that I’ve seen in a long time in this business,” Saban said at SEC Media Days in July. “And he’s been a great addition and brought a lot of positives to the offensive side of the ball in terms of his ideas and how he relates to players, how he presents to players, his energy and enthusiasm on the field has been contagious.”

Rees will continue to be under scrutiny as the season approaches the Sept. 2 opener against Middle Tennessee State. Alabama fans have been a hospitable bunch so far, but Rees knows they want winning football.

But Tuscaloosa’s ravenous devotion to the game is something he sees as worthy of embrace.

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