Takeaways From Nick Saban on ‘Hey Coach’

Coach Nick Saban made his weekly appearance Thursday on “Hey Coach” live from Bob’s Victory Grille in Tuscaloosa, AL. This will be the last we hear from coach until just before kickoff this weekend when the Tide travels to Fayetteville to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks. ESPN will carry the game and kickoff is set for 5 p.m. CT.

These notes were taken from the AL.com article on their site. You can check out more of the rundown from those folks if you wish.

1) Emphasis this week on attention to detail. Eliminate the mistakes with penalties and turnovers and Alabama will put itself in a better position to win. Saban has been preaching on penalties and turnovers for a few weeks. Through week six, Alabama ranks ninth in the SEC for penalties per game with 35 so far this year and they are averaging 53 yards in penalty yards per game. They currently rank near the bottom in turnover margin with a -4.

2) “Losing, to me, is one of the best ways to get better.” In the past few seasons, the Tide has suffered a loss and gone on to play in the BCS title game with the exception being last year out of the last three. I personally think Saban can do his best motivating with a loss. It’s bad that it comes to that and it’s also true you have to have some help from other teams losing to make it. In this conference’s day in age, I think that is going to be more of the norm from now on. The middle of the pack and bottom dwelling teams are improving each season and making more noise. You got to be ready every single Saturday, now more than ever.

3) Saban says his weekly radio show is his first interaction with human beings outside the football program every week. The man is dialed in. I know the fans, including me, sometimes question what he does and that’s part of the passion of being a fan. In my old age though, I have found myself trying to remember that everyone can make a mistake and there is no one that sacrifices more for the team. This is a man that gets up at 6:15 a.m. on Sunday to watch film and then gets up at the same time during the week to head to his office.

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4) Maybe a hint on what they are looking for during the Arkansas game. Saban says that the Tide has ran 229 rushing plays this year with only two of those being explosive plays. We need to get those up. Impose our will on the running game. He also says that we need discipline and physicality at the line against the Hogs.

5) Injury Updates given during the show. Saban did say wide receiver DeAndrew White only practiced once last week but was back at it again this week. Running back Kenyan Drake also returned to see Saban in his office. Saban told him that he had the same injury that he had when playing in college where he had a broken leg and bone separation in the ankle. On the other injuries, here is a small part of their write up:

"This is something he’ll recover from.”-On DrakeSaban said Drake’s attitude has been really positive. He also met with Devall, who had ligaments repaired. Kelly’s injury is similar to the ones he had last year."

6) This game will be Coach Saban’s 100th game as the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. If any of you happen to run up on him, be sure to thank for him everything he has done for the university and that you are looking forward to seeing what the future holds.

And here is just a bit on the comments that former Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron made earlier this week:

"Contrary to what people think and what was said this week, we have good leadership on this team.”“Why wasn’t this an issue when we were winning?”Saban references AJ McCarron’s quotes about handcuffing offensive coordinators. Raises voice: “I have never."

Mrs. Karen did seemed pleased with that while she was in attendance.

If you can’t be there or listen each Thursday, Bama Hammer’s on Karen Shaw on Twitter as she tweets live from the show every Thursday. Keep it here on Bama Hammer and The Houndztooth Powered By Bama Hammer for all of our free Alabama Crimson Tide news and discussions.