Alabama Football: Nick Saban in fine form after fifth Tide practice

Nick Saban spoke to the media after the fifth Alabama football practice of fall camp. There is no question Nick Saban is primed for another football season.

The rest of the college football world enjoys making negative assessments of Nick Saban’s press conference rants. Alabama football fans revel in them, the saltier the better.

Wednesday was not one of those infamous rant days. It was a day that showcased Nick Saban’s unrelenting resolve to help his players be the best team they can be. In Nick Saban’s mind, there is no time allocated to focus on anything else. When asked about today’s release of the 2020 SEC football schedule, he said he had not seen it, had no opinion on it, and quickly added all he knows is Alabama football plays Duke in three weeks.

Saban did admit to being “fairly pleased” about the team’s progress so far in fall camp. In the tweet below he explained “high expectations” are not enough.

Nick Saban’s expectations are clear. He has no intention of watching somebody else celebrate at the end of the coming season.

The first scrimmage of fall camp is Saturday. It will not finalize a two-deep roster or realign practice reps. That will not happen until after the second scrimmage of fall camp. But the Alabama football staff will be measuring the players in a multitude of ways on Saturday. Errors will mostly indicate that a player needs to better learn a technique or a read. Any lack of fully focused effort will put a player at risk of being bypassed in the training pecking order.

In the tweet below, Nick Saban explains what he is looking for in the first scrimmage.

The full video of Nick’s press conference is included below. We’ll provide some highlights of note.

• It will be a medical decision about a return for defensive back Nigel Knott.
• Running back, Brian Robinson was a guy on the 2018 roster who deserved a bigger role than he received. There is no reason for him not to assume a bigger role this season.
• The experiment of Chadarius Townsend at running back appears to be over. Saban said the Alabama football staff thinks Townsend’s best position is wide receiver.
• Nick complimented freshman running back, Trey Sanders, saying his work ethic is good and he could become a contributor this season.

Check out the full press conference video.

Wednesday was the first fall camp practice in full pads. Terrell Lewis is, no doubt, very happy. Some of us would rather see him fully covered in bubble-wrap until the LSU game.