Coach Saban gives insight in LT Cam Robinson's less-than-stellar game
Alabama left tackle Cam Robinson wasn't himself on Saturday in the Tide's win over Arkansas. Robinson didn't appear to have the same power or quickness he's shown in the past when anchoring the left side of the Tide's line.
On Monday, Saban provided a little insight into what's been slowing Robinson down.
"He wasn't able to practice as much last week as what he usually does," Saban said. "And I think it's pretty typical that when a player can't practice, it affects their performance a little bit. I think that was an issue with Cam last week."
Saban wouldn't elaborate on what limited Robinson during the week leading up to Saturday's game. But he's confident the sophomore will improve going forward.
"Cam is a really good player for us," Saban said. "He's played really well at times this year. I don't think he would say or I would say that this last game was one of his best games. But we have a lot of confidence in him as a player and we have a high expectation for how we'd like for him to play and how he needs to play for our offense to be effective."
While unrelated to Robinson's injuries, Saban also commented on another topic involving Robinson in last week's game.
Robinson drew a flag for an unsportsmanlike penalty following a Tide interception. ESPN's camera didn't pick up the incident, but a video posted to the Twitter account of Anthony Jacks, a high school football coach at Pelham, provided an angle from the Arkansas sideline.
In the shot, Arkansas coach Bret Bielema could be seen approaching Robinson, who appeared to be jawing with some Arkansas players. Bielema got between the players and instigated the issue while making contact with Robinson.
While Robinson didn't appear to make any contact with Bielema, the refs threw a flag after Bielema jerked as if he had been shoved. Upon seeing the flag thrown, Bielema then celebrated by pumping his fist and spinning around.
Arkansas received the ball at the 12-yard line, which set up the game's first touchdown.
Saban said he hadn't seen the new video from the Arkansas sideline.
"I really hadn't seen it. This is something that just came up here recently for me," Saban said. "I have not seen it. What I did see was Cam got blocked pretty well on the play by one of their players. On our tape, he got up and shoved another player in frustration. That's basically what I saw and what I assumed the penalty was for and about.
"That's really all I can comment on. I think when you retaliate and push a player, you can expect to get a penalty. The rest of it I can't really comment about because I haven't seen it."
Arkansas, which has a bye week, has not released a statement. The SEC has yet to comment as well.
Contact Marq Burnett on Twitter @Marq_Burnett.
This story was originally published October 12, 2015 at 9:43 PM with the headline "Coach Saban gives insight in LT Cam Robinson's less-than-stellar game ."