Nick Saban Details Internal Motivation of Players Heading into Texas A&M Game
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It was a short yet sweet press conference with Alabama football coach Nick Saban on Wednesday evening.
While Saban's weekly Wednesday press conferences are usually shorter than his Monday appearances, Wednesday's was even shorter and clocked in at just under seven minutes.
Saban started by detailing an emphasis that he has been relaying to the players this week.
"I think it's really important for players to be able to generate their own 'want-to' when it comes to goals and things that you want to accomplish relative to your team, your season and your own personal performance," Saban said. "I think that you've got to sustain that every day — and I know that's difficult — but that's something that's a challenge to each and every one of the players on our team.
"It doesn't always have to be because somebody disrespects you from the other side or you get motivated for some external reason. It really should be all about internally what you want to accomplish, what you want to do. Everybody's got to respect winning: what it takes to win, the kind of preparation, the kind of work ethic in practice, the kind of habits you gotta create so that you have an opportunity to do that."
This week, Alabama prepares to face Texas A&M on Saturday (7 p.m. CT, CBS) in College Station. While the Aggies are off to a 3-2 start — including an 0-2 start in SEC play — they still possess some high-level talent on both sides of the football.
Saban stressed that this is a Texas A&M team that should not be underestimated.
"I think this is one of the best teams we've played all year from a personnel standpoint, they've just had some tough breaks," Saban said. "Probably the best team in the SEC last year. Could've been in the playoffs and they got 15 starters back so I think we need to have great respect for what we're going to have to do to have success against this team in this game."
On Monday morning, Saban announced that running back Jase McClellan would be out for the season after requiring surgery on an injured knee. So far this season, Brian Robinson Jr. has served as the team's primary starter with McClellan serving as the team's second man. However, with McClellan gone, Roydell Williams is looking to be the player to assume McClellan's role on offense.
"Roydell’s played," Saban said. "Played a lot against Southern Miss. Gained 100 yards. Roydell is a good back. He’s got good explosion. He can run behind his pads. He’s tough. He’s got speed and burst. He’s a good receiver. We have a lot of confidence. Other than the Southern Miss game, he’s carried the ball a few times other than that. But he got some good experience in that game so hopefully that’ll help his confidence and he’ll be ready to take on a bigger role now with the offense. And we’re confident that he’s very capable of doing that."
So far this season, Williams has rushed 24 times for 154 yards and a touchdown. That measures out to an average of 6.42 yards per carry.
