Alabama Football: Monday practice and Nick Saban’s press conference

Alabama football began preparations for their SEC opener on Saturday with practice on Monday. Also, Nick Saban met with the media, gave some updates to the injury list and provided an outlook of the team three weeks into the season.

Alabama football practiced in shells Monday for 75 minutes to prepare for their first true road game against the Commodores. The practice was the first since the 41-23 win over Colorado State. After the game, Nick Saban wasn’t exactly praising the defensive game, particularly towards the end of the game.

The linebacker position has been depleted lately, but there is hope for Bama fans. Rashaan Evans was back on the practice field doing drills. Anfernee Jennings was also out there, but his time before he gets back to full strength isn’t clear. Dylan Moses was also out there, who was a little banged up before Colorado State.

Otherwise, there were not any eyebrow-raising observations from Monday’s practice. Both Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa ran through passing drills together. The other positions were about the same as usual, even on the offensive line.

It was mentioned after Saturday’s game from Shaun Dion Hamilton that the players would have a meeting today:

Nick Saban responded to that at his weekly Monday press conference:

"I think (the meetings) are really up to the players…Every player’s got to look at what they have to do to try to improve and get better….I don’t think anybody needs to be panicking. I think the leadership on the team is making an attempt to affect other players…We don’t want these things to be “feel-good” meetings."

Other notes from Nick Saban’s press conference

-Just as we saw from practice, Saban said that Evans, Jennings and Evans are returning to the practice field. The status of these guys for Saturday is unknown, however, and will be evaluated based on the progress of team.

-Saban notes that Vanderbilt is “probably a team that deserves to be in the Top 25.” He notes that the Commodores beat ranked Kansas State last weekend to go 3-0.

-Saban praised Jalen Hurts and his ability to take care of the football. The Tide has not committed a turnover this season.

Certainly, nothing too surprising coming from the practice field today. We’ll see if the linebackers get some depth this week, which is desperately needed. We may not hear about that until Wednesday, at the earliest.

Next: Is the Alabama football glass half-empty or half-full?

We will be covering the Alabama football preparation for Vandy all week. Check in with us often.