What Nick Saban Said After Alabama's Final Fall Scrimmage
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama head coach Nick Saban spoke to the media after the team's second and final scrimmage of fall camp inside Bryant-Denny Stadium Saturday.
Here's everything the Crimson Tide coach had to say:
Full Transcript
Opening statement
"I think the goal of camp has been 'How many guys can we get to elevate their game to where they can play consistent, winning football and the other players can trust them to do what they're supposed to do?' And I think we made a significant amount of improvement in this camp. The players have worked hard. It's been difficult and hot, which I think is a good thing because one of the things that I think go with discipline, mindset and mental toughness is can you stay focused when things aren't comfortable for you, and they're difficult? I think that's something that we need to continue to work on. Are you going to let your feelings take over and affect how you play or are you going to be able to stay focused on doing the things you need to do to elevate your game? That's every day: it's every day in practice, it's every play in practice, it's every play of the scrimmage, it's every play in a game, because that's the only way you're gonna develop the habits and the consistency to do it right all of the time.
"So that's what we're going to continue to work on and you have to want to do that. We have a lot of external factors that work on all of us, social media, what other people think but what do you think of yourself? Have a conversation with yourself about what you're doing and be honest about what you're doing and don't stand up and think you're a leader when you're really not doing all the things you need to do to be a leader. You need to give effort, you need to finish every play, you need to do all the things off the field and on the field that set a good example for other players. So you got to have an honest conversation with yourself about what you need to do to continue to improve and do the little things right to give yourself the best chance to be the best player you can be, and it's going to give us the best chance to have a chance to be successful.
"I think that everyone wants to have fun, but I don't know what's more fun than winning. And I know that if you don't win, it's not very much fun. And there's a price to pay for winning, there's a price to pay to be a leader and we heard that on The Last Dance from Michael Jordan. I think that's probably true with our team or any other team so hopefully we'll continue to work in that direction, but the execution was a lot better today. We still have a lot of things that we can improve on in just about every position, and we're going to keep on doing that so that we get these guys ready for the first game."
On the wide receivers...
"I think our receivers have really improved. I think they played faster (today). They're playing with more confidence. I think we've had less drops, but obviously the goal is you never want to have any drops. We're going to continue to work on that. But I think they've made improvement. I think we've made improvement in the passing game. I think we're more consistent in what we're doing and I think we're more confident. I think that's helpful for the quarterbacks as well as the confidence of the receivers."
On freshman QB Dylan Lonergan...
"He's done really well. He's shown great ability, great potential. I think that the thing that he needs is experience. Everyone says 'What's experience?' What's your ability to self assess? I have better ability to self assess right now than I did when I was 18 (years old). How do you learn how to do that? Through experience. You have experiences, you make mistakes, you mess up and say 'Well, I'm never going to do that again'. That's how you learn and progress, so he's a talented guy and certainly a guy that we want to continue to try to develop, but he's done a nice job so far in camp."
On the quarterbacks as a whole...
"They all got to play. They all took snaps. They all completed some passes. They all made some throws that weren’t as good as they should’ve been. They all got sacked. That’s what I saw."
On Quandarrius Robinson at OLB...
"We have three guys at OLB that I think have experience, have knowledge, have played a significant amount. Q is one of those guys. We have a lot of confidence in him. But again, this is about everybody’s ability to stay focused and not make mental errors and do their job all the time. The more experienced guys obviously do that better, but it’s important that they do it to set a good example for other guys on the team, and that’s something that we keep pushing that group of outside ‘backers to do."
On the offensive line, improvement on the left side...
"I think it’s made a lot of improvement. Basically, we moved some guys around to try and get a balance of experience a little bit more. Book played left guard last year. He was playing right guard, but we moved him back to left guard. I think that’s helped the left tackles who are less experienced, somebody that’s got more experience, more confidence, can make calls, can help them with their communication. That doesn’t mean it’s the way it’s going to be, but that’s one thing that has helped, to some degree, on that side of the line."
On the defensive line...
"I’m never satisfied with how the defense plays. We gave up some plays today early in the scrimmage. We’ve got to be able to play the run a little bit better. We’ve got to be stronger at the line, we’ve got to strike out of our hips, control blockers, get off blocks better, fit the runs better. We’ve got a lot of things we can improve on. Jaheim Oatis has done a really good job. Tim Keenan has had a really good camp. Justin (Eboigbe) has done a really good job. We need more guys to play with more consistency. Can’t make mistakes in pass-rush lanes. Can’t make mistakes when we’re running stunts in games and pressures. That’s one thing we need to continue to work on cleaning up."
On which RB answer is best in pass protection...
"Jase [McClellan] does a good job. Roydell [Williams] does a good job with it. Jam [Miller] does a good job with it. Justice [Haynes] didn’t practice today. He’s been out for a few days with a quad contusion. I think all of them can do it. Richard Young, having not been here, doesn’t have the most confidence in understanding the protections and all that kind of stuff, but all three of those guys did a good job."
See also:
How Alabama's Quarterbacks Looked in Final Scrimmage
Alabama True Freshman RB Justice Haynes Misses Second Scrimmage with Injury
