Get our free mobile appNow, Simpson will face the protégé, Kirby Smart, for the first time as a starting quarterback. He told the media on Tuesday that he sees a lot of similarities between Nick Saban's defense and Kirby Smart's defense. "I’ve been going against Coach Saban’s defenses for two years… literally, I feel like I’ve seen everything in the book from that guy." It makes sense that defenses would have a lot of similarities, with Kirby Smart commanding Nick Saban's defenses for eight seasons in Tuscaloosa. However, Simpson understands that it won't be a carbon copy of what Saban ran at Alabama during his two-year crossover under Nick Saban.