Nick Saban might get credit for engineering Alabama’s dominating defense, but beyond the complex coverage schemes and confusing blitzes are a group of assistants working long hours to ensure everything goes right on Saturdays for the Tide.

One of those assistants is former Athens standout Rob Ezell. A two-time All-State selection as a quarterback, Ezell is partly responsible for the Tide’s success on defense this season.

Following his senior season with Alabama in 2010, Ezell began sitting in on defensive meetings entering the spring. Nine months later and Ezell is one of the gears that turn the Crimson Tide’s dominating defensive machine.

“He has worked on the defensive side of the ball and it has really helped from a coaching standpoint,” said Athens head coach Allen Creasy, who coached Ezell from 2003-06. “He was just in here a couple of weeks ago and it’s amazing how far he has come in the one year on the defensive side; all that he’s been able to absorb and what he’s been able to learn.”

Ezell’s road toward coaching began at an early age, following in the footsteps of his father, Garner Ezell. The elder Ezell is an 18-year coaching veteran who coached Athens from 1986-1995. Garner said it was evident from an early age that his son would become a coach.

“He really has always looked at the game differently,” Ezell said. “Rob has always been interested in the strategy and tactics of the game.  When I was a coach, I would always find him looking at my football books I left laying around. When other kids his age were reading fiction, Rob was looking at playbooks.”

Now a student assistant coach, Ezell works directly under defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, coaching Alabama’s linebackers. Although everything Ezell has learned to this point in his career is offense, Garner believes the switch will be good for him.

“If you are going into coaching at any level, it’s important to have experience on both offense and defense,” Ezell said. “Rob has really taken an interest in defense because of that. He really wants to be a college or NFL coach one day. He is pursuing either one of those careers right now.”

As an assistant coach learning Saban’s notoriously complex defensive schemes, Ezell is on the right path. While he could not reveal the secrets behind Alabama’s No. 1-ranked defense, Garner shed some light on what his son does as an assistant.

“Part of what he does is breaking down film of opposing defenses,” Garner said. “During the week, he is busy watching film and as far as practice goes, he has been working with the scout team defense preparing the offense.

“During the games, he holds up cards signaling the other team’s personnel groupings. It’s up to him to let the defense know if the other team brings in two tight ends, extra wide receivers, that sort of thing.”

Unlike graduate-assistant coaches, who are limited in how much time they may spend with the team, Ezell has unlimited time to coach up Alabama’s heralded linebacking core. But spending extra time on the practice field is nothing new to Ezell, who led voluntary team workouts during his final years as a player.

“The coaches can’t be on the field all the time and he has been the one to run it all,” Creasy said. “He’s gotten a lot more attention for his imitations off the field than what he actually does for them on the field, but he has one of the long-hour jobs. He has an energy that draws people to him.”

Creasy is referring to Ezell’s famous impersonation of Saban, which has garnered more than 100,00 views on YouTube.  Creasy believes his former quarterback’s clever imitation is not the only thing he has in common with the head coach.

“From the little bit that I have been around coach Saban, they are very similar in their personalities,” Creasy said. “Rob is very driven and focused on whatever task is at hand. They both are very goal oriented. That’s one of the reasons why Rob has liked being at Alabama. He has had his eye on the prize.”–

The latest prize for Ezell and the Alabama football team is Monday night’s Bowl Championship Series national title game with LSU. It’s no surprise that Ezell along with the other coaches have been burning the midnight oil the past few weeks in preparation for the big game.

“He has been really busy all season,” Garner said. “It’s amazing how much preparation goes into these games. He and the other coaches put in 15-hour days getting ready for games. This week has been even busier.”

Although Ezell did not make a major impact during his playing career on the field, he continues to make an enormous impact off the field as a coach. So when Alabama sacks the quarterback or grabs an interception in Monday’s game, look to the sidelines for Ezell and the other unsung heroes behind the Tide’s defense.