re: Bama Football Tidings

(Photo by Laura Chramer)
What Nick Saban said about Alabama’s progress so far in camp By Michael Casagrande | mcasagrande@al.com


Alabama just wrapped up its fifth practice of fall camp and Nick Saban is about to hold his second news conference of August.

A quick rundown of what was said in real time:

-- We are underway here at 4:53 p.m.

-- Saban said he’s “fairly pleased” with the way players have gone to work at this point.

-- “Run hard when it’s hard to run,” is one of the things Saban says to the team, he said. It’s a challenge this time of the year when it’s hot outside.

-- “It’s great to have high expectations,” Saban said, but if you don’t do things to the standard all the time, “you watch somebody else celebrate.”

-- The first five practices have been “heavy installation” and they might go back and review the next few days.

-- For the scrimmage Saturday, Saban said they aren’t necessarily trying to be fully game ready but they want to be able to evaluate where they stand in the run up to Aug. 31 vs. Duke. They’ll know who has the maturity after Saturday, he said.

-- Saban said he hasn’t seen the 2020 schedule so he can’t comment on what it says.

-- Brian Robinson is a tough competition who is an instinctive runner. If there’s anybody who deserved more of a role last year, it was him. Depth just got in the way.

-- Trey Sanders is a hard worker in camp. Attention to detail is strong and his ability might be able to contribute but it’s too early to say what that role might be.

-- Raekwon Davis has shown a lot of leadership so far this August.

-- Saban said there’s no update on cornerback Nigel Knott as he works back from rehab.

Nick Saban in 13th Alabama preseason camp (Photo: Courtesy of Alabama Athletics)
LINK ]Saban Looks For Players Doing Things ‘Right Way’By Kirk McNair

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Karaoke? Going out on a limb, we’ll assume that Alabama Coach Nick Saban doesn’t lie awake at night wondering if his players are stars on the karaoke stage. But on Wednesday afternoon, following the Crimson Tide’s fifth practice (and first in full gear) of preseason camp, it was part of his point to do things the right way.

Even if Saban has never seen one of his players singing “Dixieland Delight,” or “I Did It My Way,” or whatever, with a background track, he’s served notice that he’s watching just about everything else.

“Everything starts with discipline,” he said. “I don’t care if it’s how you do flex, I don’t care if it’s how you run across the field, how you do karaoke, how you do high-knee, how you do up-downs.

“If you don’t respect that enough to do it right when you know it’s the right way to do it, how are you going to be trusted in the game to do what you’re supposed to do. I think discipline is a mindset that’s part of who you are. It’s how you live your life. It’s what you do; everything you do, whether it’s how you focus in a meeting, how you get ready to practice, and how you sustain practice and make the right choices and decisions.”

For the most part, he said, he’s been “fairly pleased” with early practices.

A point of emphasis has been, “Run hard when it’s hard to run.”

He explained, “We have to get more guys to play winning football even when the circumstances get difficult.” They have been difficult with typical Alabama August weather, hot and humid.

“It’s hot and you’re tired, you’re not used to that many reps. But we need those reps so we can practice until we can’t get it wrong, not just until we get it right.

“If you don’t do things right all the time at a high standard, you watch someone else celebrate.”

He said his message to his players is, “What are you willing to accept?” adding that it is what they are willing to accept from themselves and from their teammates and they have to make a “relentless pursuit of excellence” and commitment to reach the “high expectations” that are part of Alabama football.

Saban is a supporter of the acclimation period that involves two days in helmets, two days in shells (shoulder pads and helmets), and full gear on the fifth day.

During that time, he said, “There has been really, really heavy installation,” and there will be reviews, going back over things that might not have been picked up “especially (by) the younger guys.”

Although there are a couple of more days of practice, attention of many now turns to Saturday’s scrimmage (closed) at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Alabama isn’t under pressure to find a quarterback (or just about any other position), and so the scrimmage will not be to make the players game ready, although it will have the game-like situation of players not having coaches on the field with them. Saban wants to be able to see if the players are ready to be evaluated.

He listed, “What is their ability to execute? Do they have the kind of toughness we need? Can they sustain and focus whether they made a good play or a bad play the last play?

“We don’t have to really decide who we’re going to have to coach this early in camp, but I think how they respond on Saturday goes a long way in telling you if a guy has the right stuff relative to the maturity to be trustworthy to go out there and do a job, whether that’s special teams, offense, defense or whatever part of our team. That’s going to be the No. 1 priority for the scrimmage on Saturday.”

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Can’t wait to watch BRob play this year.

Question for anyone in the know:

Through this first handful of practices, are there any backup olinemen who are making serious cases for PT? If so, at which position and to replace whom, assuming a post-spring starting unit of Leatherwood, Ekiyor, Owens, Womack, Wills?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

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Through this first handful of practices, are there any backup olinemen who are making serious cases for PT?

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I imagine Deonte Brown could regain his starting position after he serves his 4 game suspension. If that were to happen I think Ekiyor would slide inside to Center and Owens would go to the bench.

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Heard this scenario from a talking head or two, just sub Brown's name with Evan Neal...

Laura Chramer
LINK ]Alabama’s new 5-star running back doing ‘really, really well’ By Matt Zenitz | mzenitz@al.com

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At one point during Alabama’s Saturday afternoon practice, one of the Crimson Tide’s reserve quarterbacks threw a pass to the flat that was well behind its intended target, freshman running back Trey Sanders.

It didn’t fall incomplete, though.

Sanders smoothly spun, reached back to make a one-handed catch with his right hand mid-spin and then showed some of his explosiveness while taking off down the sideline.

It’s been a good start to fall camp for the five-star recruit.

The feedback was good regarding Sanders coming out of summer workouts. It continues to be good through the early portion of fall camp.

“Trey Sanders is doing really, really well in camp,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “His work ethic is really good. He's learning every day. His attention to detail seems to be pretty good. He's got some ability I think may be able to contribute to the team.”

The feeling at Alabama is that Sanders could end up being a factor within the Tide’s running back rotation this season, especially based on how the Florida native has looked through his first couple months on campus,

The 6-foot, 215-pound Sanders was the top running back and No. 6 overall prospect in this year’s recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

“Everything I’ve seen out of him is that he wants to be a great player,” Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian said of Sanders, whose high school position coach at IMG Academy was former Auburn star running back and current Tigers running backs coach Cadillac Williams. “He wants to work extremely hard. We have a long way to go. ... But early thoughts on him are that he’s a hard-working guy, serious about what he does.”

Sanders has been fourth in line for running back drills through the first five practices of fall camp, behind juniors Najee Harris and Brian Robinson as well as redshirt freshman Jerome Ford.

It may be tough for Ford to hold onto that third running back spot though, especially if Sanders continues to make plays like that one-handed catch from Saturday.

“Trey has shown some pretty good size, agility and elusiveness that he’s been showing since high school," Robinson said. "He’s a physical runner, he’s aggressive, he plays hard and he just likes to compete. That’s the biggest thing that stands out to me is that he’s a competitor.”

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Matt Zenitz is an Alabama and Auburn reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mzenitz.

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I imagine Deonte Brown could regain his starting position after he serves his 4 game suspension. If that were to happen I think Ekiyor would slide inside to Center and Owens would go to the bench.

Heard this scenario from a talking head or two, just sub Brown's name with Evan Neal...

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I heard the same thing you heard a while back.

Hasn't Saban said good things about Owens a few times about how well he is doing?

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Hasn't Saban said good things about Owens a few times about how well he is doing?

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When I've seen Saban speak about Owens, it was always in response to a direct question, and his answers to me always seemed positive but purposefully measured, and seemed to include phrases like "if he continues to do the right things" or "he's doing well and we hope he continues to develop". I personally never heard anything approximating glowing praise.

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So he specifically noted the work of Robinson and Sanders but not the assumed first string back, unless I've missed it. May be nothing or may be a point to Harris, who I think will have a break out year.

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Don't read too much into it. He was asked a direct question about Robinson, and then was asked another direct question about Sanders.