Everything Nick Saban Said at Fall Media Day
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama football took a brief break from fall camp for the annual media day before the season begins. Both coordinators and head coach Nick Saban spoke to the media.
Here is everything Saban said on Sunday:
Nick Saban Transcript - Aug. 7, 2022
Opening Statement
"We're obviously very excited about the challenges of the season, but even more excited about what you have to do to try to develop a team, a team that can play with consistency. guys that can go out there and give the kind of effort, play with the kind of mental toughness, ability to sustain, execute, do their job together as a unit and have the kind of team chemistry that promotes the togetherness that you want on a team so that you can be successful. And the next challenge is, can you sustain that?
"We've had some really good speakers here the last couple of nights. If you sort of boil it down to what's the message, it's all about choices. Michael Phelps spoke last night and talked about your actions speak louder than your words. You have a short window to really accomplish things as an athlete, because it's not something you can do your entire life, at least as football players. So make a commitment to doing things that you need to do on and off the field that's going to help you be successful. That's also been the message from everybody else. It comes down to choices and decisions. So the kind of choices and decisions the individuals on our team make is going to make the team what it is. We have some good pieces.
"It's kind of interesting to me that I see articles every day that, you all have decided already what kind of team we're going to have, what the expectations are for the team. I think in some ways this creates a much more difficult challenge to have players be hungry, try to prove what they can do together as a group. But it is a challenge that we're willing to deal with and hopefully we've got the right kind of leadership on our team to be able to overcome some of that so that we can avoid complacency and stay focused on doing the right things, deal with success if we have success, be able to deal with frustrations if we have failures. I think how we manage all those kind of things will determine what kind of team we really have.
"You asked me about injuries the other day. Obviously Cam Latu is the guy that you asked me about. He has a minor knee injury, he's going to be out a couple of weeks. I don't know exactly how long that is. It happened about 10 days ago. These things usually go day to day.
"We had [Isaiah] Hastings came in with an injury, we fix. He'll be back shortly probably. Elijah Pritchett tore his pec in the weight room a while back in the summer so he'll be out for a little while. Earl Little had a shoulder injury that was bothering him so we decided to fix it, so he'll be out for a little while as well. Aaron Anderson has a little knee injury but he'll probably be back in a few weeks as well. Those are kind of all the guys on our team that have issues. Four of them are freshmen.
"We're just kind of trying to get better each and every day and challenge guys to be the best they can be on a consistent basis.
On Will Anderson and Bryce Young avoiding complacency
"Will and Bryce are great. They do a good job every day in practice. They're very focused on what they want to do, what they want to accomplish. These guys are sort of driven individuals. That's why they've had the success that they've had to this point. But I haven't seen any indications at all that they're not continuing with that same drive to be the best that they can be. They continue to set good examples for other players on the team. They're not an issue. I thnk their leadership has been very, very helpful in helping other players actually continue to make good choices and decisions so they can be successful."
On the competition at corner spots
“Well, I think the good news is, we have competition. I can't tell you that any guy on the depth chart has sort of separated himself in terms of who's the most consistent performers, who's going to give up the fewest plays, who’s going to be the best tackler, but we do have really good competition at all those positions. Khyree Jackson, Eli Ricks battle it. Kool-Aid [McKinstry] and Terrion Arnold battle it. Jahquez Robinson has shown a lot of improvement to be a contributor at some position. I think Brian Branch could actually play corner if we needed him to. We do practice him some there. So I can't give you any like it's a horse race, who’s in the lead, who’s in second, who’s in third. That’s why we have a competition.”
Eli Ricks
“He's made a lot of improvement. I think that Eli sort of with the injuries that he had and the time that he was off, it was really a more difficult transition for him physically, emotionally, mentally, to come from where he was, to where he needs to get to to be a kind of player that he wants to be. And we certainly want to help him do that in every way we can. I think that sometimes when you go through all those things, it can affect your confidence a little bit because you get frustrated and struggle because you're not used to being in the kind of condition that you once were. No fault of his, but he had some difficult circumstances to overcome with the injuries and so forth. But he is making very, very good progress physically and on the field in terms of grasping the system and having a better understanding of what's required of him to be a good player.”
Summer additions at wide receiver
“I think Jermaine Burton is the guy that has played with the most consistency out of the receiver group. Of course he was here in the spring, so he's a little ahead of the other guys. Tyler [Harrell] has been sort of in and out a little bit to this point. He has been able to practice on a daily basis but not 100%. I do think that he has shown that he has a lot of ability. We just need to get it channeled in the right direction so that we can use him in a way that's going to be most productive for him and for us.
The freshmen, I think they've all showed some promise. Which ones are going to be able to sustain, that's always the most difficult thing for the younger guys on the team. They've never been through a college season. They've never been through a fall camp probably as demanding as what a college fall camp is. So we'll see who can sort of sustain and continue to grow and develop. And I think there are some guys there that could make a contribution depth wise as well.”
Thought process behind spreading carries at RB
“Well the plan works if the best players play. We don't have a plan to say OK this guy gets this many reps, this guy gets this many reps… This guy’s the best player, then we're going with the best player. And the next best player is going to spell him, and he'll get playing time. If somebody else can contribute in terms of a winning performance, whether that’s on special teams or in a limited role we can create for them, then we’re certainly going to try to do that.
“But it’s good to have depth at that position. It’s a position where we had significant injuries last year. Just let the guys compete. But you compete, and the guy that comes out the best is the guy that has the most opportunities. And that's just how we've always assessed the positions on our team.”
Fall camp guest speakers
“It’s all about messaging. You’ve heard me say this many times before. We're trying to help our players be more successful in life in terms of sort of the psychological disposition, the mindset that they can create for themselves in terms of the habits that they create that's going to contribute to them being successful in whatever they choose to do. And realizing what they do on the field and off the field are things that I think a lot of lessons can be learned from those things that can carry over in their life.
“So when we do evaluations of who's going to speak to the team, we actually do evaluate what is their message? All these people have a message, they’ve spoken somewhere before. And if we think that's something that can impact our players and create interest in them making the choices and decisions and changes they need to make to help them be more successful, that’s how we determined who would like to visit with them.
“Sometimes it's sort of character development. Sometimes it's also behavioral issues, which all come down to choices and decisions as well that can sidetrack your chances of being successful in the future because that's also very, very important. So, understand the consequences of good and bad behavior, cause and effect— all those things are taken into consideration when we try to make an impact and influence on what’ll help these guys make better choices and decisions to have a better chance to be successful.”
Jaheim Oatis weight loss transformation
"I am pleased with several of our guys. We've almost eliminated a lot of weight issues, which come from a scientific approach, not me looking at a guy and saying he needs to lose 10 pounds but a muscle mass/body fat correlation that helps a guy be more efficient. And i'm pleased with the way a lot of our big guys have sort of got that into balance. I think Miss Amy does a really good job of helping guys. And again, it goes back to the kind of choices and decisions you make about what you eat, when you eat it, how much you eat of certain things that can create the kind of increase of muscle mass, decrease of body fat, that makes you a more efficient player.
"When I say efficient, I'm not talking about your ability to do something once. I'm talking about your ability to sustain it for 40-50 plays in a game at the same high level. Those guys have done a good job. I think it's contributing to them being better football players. And I'm pretty pleased with the overall team impromvements that we've made from that standpoint as well as explosive movements and speed.
"I think Dave Ballou and his group have done a really good job of motivating the players to work hard in some of those areas, which hopefully will be helpful on the field."
Continuity at the coordinator spots, four new assistants
"First of all, I think continuity is important.I think it's important for players A) in relationships that they have, respect and trust that they develop in the people who are trying to help them be successful. Coaching is teaching. Teaching is ability to inspire learning, so to have that respect and trust, I think, is beneficial for all players. We've had a lot of changes here in leadership positions. We've made pretty good transitions in that regard.
"But I think to have the continuity on the staff enables you in the offseason to do a better job from a quality control standpoint of evaluating, what did we do last year? How could we make it better? And I think that's really, really one of the most important things that we can help ourselves systematically with. So player relationships, systematic implentation of the system, how we can do it better from a year ago. All those things, I think, contribute in a positive way.
"All the new coaches that we have... Eric Wolf[ord] is really a good offensive line coach. I think he's developed really good relationships with the players. I like the progress that we've made in the offensive line.
"Coach Cox is probably one of the brightest young guys that we've seen in a while, so we're glad to have him on the staff.
"T-Rob has got a really good relationship with the players. They relate to him really well. He's done a good job of learning the system. Having Charles Kelly there, too, in the secondary has been beneficial.
"And I think Coleman has done a really, really good job with special teams. His energy and enthusiasm and getting players to buy into playing special teams is one of the most important things that you do. Plus, I think we've improved ourselves systematically. So I think all the additions on the staff have been a real plus for us."
Biggest challenge for integrating transfers
"I think that we've always, and I think our players have done a good job of this _ we've had so many new guys come into the program. Even back in the years, how many freshmen have we had contribute to the success of our team? I mean, when we won a national championship in 2017, there were six freshmen on the field when we won the game in overtime. All three receivers. Leatherwood was playing left tackle. Najee Harris was playing tailback. Tua was playing quarterback.
"So we've always promoted for our current players to embrace new players. And I think our players want to win and our players understand that when we bring players in and they help them in the transition, that it actually enhances our chances of being successful. And I think our players have done a really, really good job of that. So everybody wants to play. Competition, I think, is a good thing in terms of helping everybody get better, because it makes everybody better. Not only the guys you're competing against at your position, but also what kind of guys do they have that you go against every day?
"That helps guys develop tremendously. Our players have a pretty good respect for that, and they've always sort of embraced guys coming in to the program. And the guys that we've brought in so far, they've done a really good job of buying into the principles and values of the organization. So it was easy for all of us to respect and trust them in terms of how they can contribute and what they can do."
