Alabama influence big for Bulldogs, Gators
ATHENS -- Nick Saban doesn't have a game to coach this weekend with his team on a bye.
Therefore, Saturday's Georgia-Florida game could interest the Alabama head coach, considering a total of eight former assistants of his will be coaching in this game.
The most notable is Florida head coach Jim McElwain, who served as Saban's offensive coordinator from 2008-2011. During his four-year stint running the Crimson Tide's offense, Georgia defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt was coaching the secondary.
Each team will have four former Alabama coaches on the EverBank Field sidelines and coaching booths.
For Georgia, Pruitt, offensive line coach Rob Sale, outside linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer and strength and conditioning coordinator Mark Hocke were all assistants at Alabama. For Florida, that list includes McElwain, defensive coordinator Geoff Collins, offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier and defensive line coach Chris Rumph.
"I think that speaks volumes for Coach Saban," McElwain said. "Not only coming from his tree but moreso of his value of guys he wants in his tree. That speaks to him. In Jeremy's case, not only is he a great friend but one heck of a ball coach."
McElwain got his first head coaching opportunity at Colorado State in 2012 after his 2011 Alabama offense averaged 429.6 offensive yards in a national championship season. McElwain took over a team coming off three consecutive three-win seasons and proceeded to win 10 games in his fourth year.
In his final season with the Rams in 2014, McElwain's offense averaged 480.9 yards per game, which helped Florida identify him as its next coach. The Gators are now off to a 6-1 start and are in first place of the SEC East at the moment.
Pruitt said he has remained friends with McElwain since their days coaching together under Saban.
"He's a great coach but a better guy," Pruitt said. "He's got a great imagination on the field and a great imagination off the field. We had a lot of great times together, with not only him but Coach (Nussmeier) and Coach Rumph, and I actually spent a year with Geoff Collins, the DC. I got some good friends on that staff and got a lot of respect for those guys. They do a great job and that's obvious."
The Gators rank eighth in the SEC in scoring offense at 31.6 points per game and are 11th in total offense at 376.3 yards per game. As far as trying to defend Florida's offense this week, Pruitt has only seven games of film to look at.
Having coached with one another, both Pruitt and McElwain likely know each other's basic tendencies. And Pruitt admitted they've been going through some of McElwain's past plays when the two were at Alabama.
"I think we've got too much information," Pruitt said, smiling. "You're going through all the playbooks back in (2009), (2010), (2011) and (2012). We've been chasing a lot of ghosts here the last two weeks."
While eight coaches in this game all came through one location, head coach Mark Richt admitted earlier this week that he didn't know McElwain too well. This week, Richt has certainly become acclimated with McElwain from those on his coaching staff who knew him.
Given each team is entering its eighth game, however, Richt believes the familiarity between the staffs won't be too relevant in this year's meeting.
"I think this deep into the season, I think the tape tells the tale," Richt said. "You've got a bunch of games to look at -- six, seven games to look at -- that's plenty to know what they like and what they believe in. You have to adapt your system to your personnel, and they're doing that."
This story was originally published October 28, 2015 at 10:37 PM with the headline "Alabama influence big for Bulldogs, Gators ."