January 17, 2007

Tuscaloosa, AL (CSTV U-WIRE) -- Alabama Football head coach Nick Saban is close to finalizing his coaching staff as five new assistants were announced over the weekend.

Among those is former University of Texas quarterback Major Applewhite. Applewhite comes to the Capstone from Rice University, where he was the offensive coordinator.

Joining Applewhite over the weekend as coaching additions were Ron Middleton, Steve Marshall, Bo Davis and Burton Burns.

Saban has not announced the duties of any assistant coaches at this time.

Applewhite, who was the youngest offensive coordinator in college last season, orchestrated a spread option attack that broke numerous school records at Rice. Applewhite has also served as quarterbacks coach at Syracuse in 2005, and he was a graduate assistant at Texas for two years.

As a quarterback at Texas, Applewhite set school records for passing yards, passing touchdowns and total offense.

Middleton comes to Alabama after two seasons as tight ends coach and assistant special teams coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Prior to his NFL stint, Middleton spent five seasons at Ole Miss. Under his tutelage, Ole Miss kicker Jonathan Nichols won the 2003 Lou Groza Award.

Marshall, who spent the 2006 season out of football, was formerly the offensive line assistant for the Houston Texans. Marshall also spent four seasons at Colorado under Gary Barnett.

Davis makes the trek to Alabama from the Miami Dolphins, where he was assistant strength and conditioning coach and assistant defensive line coach under Saban.

Davis also spent three years at LSU as the strength and conditioning coach under Saban and one year under current Tigers coach Les Miles.

Burns, who was the running backs coach for Clemson, was officially added to Saban's staff on Tuesday. Burns coached Clemson backs C.J. Spiller and James Davis, who combined to rush for more than 2,000 yards in 2006.

Burns also brings strong ties to the state of Louisiana. He was a successful high school coach for 10 years in the state at schools in New Orleans and Shreveport. Burns was on Tommy Bowden's staff at Tulane in 1993 before he followed Bowden to Clemson.

Saban's coaching staff now consists of 10 assistants. The five aforementioned coaches join Kevin Steele, Lance Thompson, Joe Pendry, Todd Alles and Kirby Smart on staff in Tuscaloosa.

(C) 2007 The Crimson White via CSTV U-WIRE