Alabama Prepares To Face An Opponent It Can't Scout On Saturday: The Heat

"The turf, that heat coming from that turf, the heat index was probably like 200," Coleman-Williams said, reminiscing on the hottest games of his teenage years in Mobile.

The number is an exaggeration, but the point isn't. Alabama's season opener is shaping up to be one of the hottest games in program history. With the heat index expected to be in the neighborhood of 110, it's a storyline the Crimson Tide can't avoid heading into the year.

But according to Coleman-Williams, it's one the team is ready for.

"We can't let circumstances define us," Coleman-Williams said. "It's going to be hot. Yeah, everybody knows that. You can look at the weather; it's gonna be hot. But what are you going to do when it's hot? So, we've been preparing all off-season, we were out there on field three throughout the whole off-season, getting used to it. So it's not like it's a shocker for us. We're just excited to go out there and play. It could be whatever weather it wants to be."

Cornerback Zabien Brown echoed the sentiment, despite the fact that he admitted this will be the hottest game he's ever played in.

"We've been practicing all summer in the heat, and we're ready for it," Brown said. "The weather's the weather, but we know what we have to get done. We're passionate about it. We've been putting a lot of hard work in, and are ready for the payoff."

The Alabama heat is far different from the Southern California weather Brown is accustomed to. Ninety-eight degrees in Tuscaloosa is far different from 98 in Los Angeles, which is typically accompanied by a fraction of the humidity and a life-saving breeze. The extreme conditions of fall camp place an impetus on the training staff to ensure that nobody is succumbing to heat-related ailments.

"Our nutrition staff, they have personalized plans for us between water intake, electrolyte intake, food, stuff like that," Brown, who estimated his daily liquid intake at over 192 ounces, said. "They're just keeping us on this great routine."

Hydration is at the center of everything the training staff does. But for all of their detailed planning and meticulously personalized work, the most effective solution is often the simplest.

"Whenever I can, I just drink," left tackle Jackson Lloyd said. "Even if I'm not thirsty, I just keep pounding water."

When temperatures creep above 95, it doesn't matter where a player grew up -- Brown, Coleman-Williams, and even the Canadian Steve Bolo Mboumoua suffer all the same.

"There's not really too much talking," Brown said of the practice conditions. "We kind of give each other that look, like, 'Yeah, I know.' Just got to keep rolling."

Saturday's game is going to be uncomfortable. Nobody is sugarcoating it as anything -- players will have to compete at the highest level in conditions that almost nobody even willingly steps outside in. But for a team that's already dealt with this for the past six weeks alone, it sure feels good to have somebody else with whom to share the suffering.

"It's always hot here," Lloyd said. "It's nothing different for us. We're used to it. I mean it's never it's never not hot here, so I mean we're not really worried about that. So they got playing the heat too, so we're just going out there and play football."

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