Everything Nick Saban Said After Alabama's Second Fall Scrimmage

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — In exactly two weeks, the Alabama Crimson Tide will take the field in Bryant-Denny Stadium for the season opener against Utah State. To replicate that, the team held its second and final scrimmage inside the stadium Saturday.

Alabama coach Nick Saban will address the media at approximately 3:00, and you can follow along on BamaCentral for live updates and a full transcript to be posted after.

Live Updates

Saban showed up early to the press conference after the scrimmage was cut short due to a storm rolling through Tuscaloosa.
Areas of improvement for the second scrimmage: discipline to execute (less penalties), effort to finish plays. Saban saw a lot of improvement in the first units.
He saw lots of errors from the second team. "We obviously need to get more guys who can play winning football."
"If we're going to accomplish something of significance this season, it's not going to come easy."
Saban says the drops among receivers were improved a lot compared to last Saturday. He didn't see any among the first group. He says the receivers played well, and that Bryce had a really good day.
Khyree Jackson did participate in the scrimmage. Eli Ricks went through warmups, but didn't scrimmage because he hasn't been practicing this week.
Saban said there was no big difference for the second team offensive line, or the second team overall. The young guys are letting bad plays affect their next play.
Saban says Kool-Aid has been the most consistent guy on punt returners. He says there are four or five guys working and capable for kickoff returns.
Saban says Traeshon Holden had a really big day in the receiving game.
Darrian Dalcourt has been playing well at center. Seth McLaughlin did not scrimmage today, but is doing well.
He feels really good about the five running backs they have.

Full Transcript- August 20, 2022

Opening Statement

"I think the big thing we wanted to see from scrimmage one to scrimmage two was how much progress that we could make as a team, how much improvement we could make. The areas of improvement were discipline to execute—we had too many penalties last week, too many mental areas. So we made some improvement in that area. Effort to finish plays was much better, and ability to sustain for the most part was better even though we got cut short a little bit, probably by maybe 10 plays for each team because we had a storm coming in. So we had to cut it off at the end a little bit.

"But all in all, I saw a lot of improvement, especially in the first units. The first offense and the first defense were very productive in terms of how they played, how they executed, how they communicated and played together. Second group, both sides of the ball, lots of mental error, still lots of struggles, lack of confidence in terms of how they play and how they execute. Which we obviously need to get more guys who can play winning football.

"But I think everybody's got to ask themselves are the choices and decisions you make helping you get closer to your goals, or further away? In terms of the way you practice every day, whether you prepare to practice every day, how you take care of yourself off the field. All those things are really important, and I think some of these guys, especially the young guys are probably not used to doing that. So that's just a habit that we gotta create. If we're going to be able to accomplish something of significance this season, it's not gonna come easy and people are going to have to make sacrifices to do it. We'll see how many people we can get to do that. Some of the older, experienced players understand that. I think some of the younger guys that we need to come along need to be able to play winning football and need to make progress in those areas."

Last Saturday drops were a problem, what were they like this week?

"We were much better. We didn't have a lot of drops. I don't think we had any with the first group. I think some of the down-the-line guys may have had a drop or two, but for the most part, there was a significant improvement in that area. I thought the receivers played well, made plays, Bryce had a really good day, so it was a lot of positives."

Health of corners

"Well Khyree scrimmaged about, I would say, two-thirds of the time, maybe three-quarters of the time. He’s making progress. He was able to practice the last two days, Thursday and Friday, probably about half the time. So, he’s making progress and I thought he did a nice job today when he was in there. Eli dressed out and went through warm-up, but we held him out because he really hadn’t practiced, but I think he’ll be ready to go on Tuesday."

Improvement in second-team offensive line from last week?

"No different. First team line did a nice job. Second team, period -- not signifying and specifically talking about the line, the receivers – they all struggled. We need to get better. That’s the most important thing we need to do. One of the things that the players need to do is they need to be able to respond after a bad play. We had too many guys – young guys, inexperienced guys, second-team guys. They had a bad play, and it affects the next five plays. Can’t do that. Can’t be a great competitor and not be able to overcome adversity and look forward and play the next play. We just have to get guys to understand that and have the mental toughness, mental discipline – whatever you want to call it – psychological disposition to be able to do that. But that’s the line, that’s the DBs, that’s everybody."

How the return game has looked

So far, Kool-Aid’s been the most consistent guy on the punt-return side of it. We’ve got a couple other guys making some progress in that area. Kickoff return, a lot more guys besides Jahmyr. We’ve got four or five guys that can do kickoff return pretty well.

Center battle?

Darrian Dalcourt started all last year and he’s had a really good fall camp. Seth McLaughlin, when he played, played like a starter, and the competition has been good. Seth was out today. But he’ll be back shortly as well.

Traeshon Holden?

He had a really good day today. Made a lot of good plays. Had, I don’t know, four or five catches, couple big plays. So he did a nice job today. I’m pleased with his progress.

Running game, having McClellan and Williams back?

I think had Jahmyr had, like, 60 yards or something today on just a few carries. He’s very explosive with the ball. Really good receiver, really good all-around player. Jase, Roydell – those guys have done really well. Trey Sanders has done really well. So I feel really good about five running backs that we have. Emmanuel Henderson we’ve been working at receiver some and he’s been doing a nice job of making progress there.

This story will be updated with video.