Nick Saban knows the New York Giants have a first-year head coach in 2020 in Joe Judge, formerly of the New England Patriots and, before the NFL, the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Judge sort of built his reputation at as an “up and comer” as an assistant to Nick Saban at Alabama, and Saban said Judge will provide the Giants with excellent leadership (via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk):

When Joe was here, he was a young guy, very bright, enthusiastic, great teacher, really good relationships with the players, had lots of leadership qualities about him because of the example that he set and the energy and the enthusiasm he had on a daily basis,” Saban told Giants.com. “And he was really smart. He had a good understanding of football. So no surprise to me that Joe has gotten to this point in his career, and we certainly wish him well. He did a fantastic job here for us.”

Judge worked at Alabama from 2009-2011 before heading to New England as a Special Teams Assistant and, later, the Special Teams Coordinator. Now he will try to put the pieces together with the Giants.

The 39-year-old Giants head coach will be one of the youngest head coaches in football, behind just Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay. But McVay has had success despite his age, and Saban indicated Judge possesses the qualities necessary to relate to his players.

The Giants are still in a rebuilding phase. New York has won just 14 games in the past three years combined, and it will rely on second-year quarterback Daniel Jones to make big strides.

Perhaps Judge will also offer a bit of a new approach from his predecessor, Pat Shurmur, who failed to instill a lot of confidence in the Giants.

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