Nick Saban Looking for Attention to Detail, Sustained Focus in First Fall Scrimmage

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Saturday afternoon marks the first of two scrimmages during fall camp before the Alabama Crimson Tide opens its season on Sept. 2.

Fall camp can be long and hard for some players — especially the younger ones. It's early August in Alabama — an environment not for the faint-hearted. Fall camp is an everyday grind — one that lasts a month before the regular season officially kicks off.

Whether or not they feel it now, these long, hot days in the sun will be for the better for the players. Many coaches agree that championships are won during camp — when you're grinding away in the summer heat for long hours without any fanfare.

Head coach Nick Saban noticed a drop off in sustained focus late in games last year. The Crimson Tide's two losses? The two games that went on the longest — on the road at Tennessee and LSU.

"You know one of the interesting things somebody brought to my attention — the two longest games we had last year, almost four hours long, two games — Tennessee and LSU. We made mistakes at the end of the game which were very costly," Saban said. "So the ability to sustain this level of concentration and focus no matter what you call it is something that we really, really need to do and continue to work on so that we have a chance to be more consistent as a team and don't make plays that are drive killers or give up explosive plays on defense or help the other team with penalties or whatever it is."

What is the key to maintaining your focus late in games when you're tired? Paying close attention to the little details of each play.

"I think the number one thing we need to focus on is we have to increase the level of attention to detail [and] focus on every play so that we can play and not have penalties and missed assignments," Saban said. "Communication goes with that — I don't care whether you're playing the offensive line and have to make line call or you're playing secondary and make a coverage call so everybody's on the same page. You can anticipate things, play better and you can play faster, but I think sometimes when things get a little bit difficult, we lose our focus a little bit."

Saturday will be another opportunity for those in a position to start to continue to create value for themselves at their respective position. Of course, the quarterback battle will continue on — as well as the other important battles at other positions.

Saban has preached a lot about the confidence he has in this team, this season.

"I like the attitude that the team has, I like the togetherness, I like the sense of commitment to the principles and values everybody seems to be buying into, but that's something that we need to work on," Saban said. And every guy has got to do a good job of working on that."

"It's a great opportunity for us to be able to stay focused in these kinds of conditions especially toward the end of practice when guys are getting tired and Saturday's scrimmage will be no different. We want to evaluate whether guys can block, tackle, execute what they're supposed to do — not so much try to game plan and experiment with things but just see how guys can play winning football, whatever position. That's something that I think is really, really important."

Saturday's scrimmage will begin at approximately 12:30 p.m. CT at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

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