Alabama Football: Agiye Hall, Trey Sanders and two Nick Sabans

College football fans from every other program in the nation relish attacking and discrediting Alabama Football and Nick Saban. Crimson Tide fans are so accustomed to it. Some Alabama fans actually enjoy the being hated part of being a Tide fan. As pervasive as the disparaging perspectives are. Nick Saban probably ignores 99.9% of the hogwash. The other 0.1% is not likely to bother him at all.

On Tuesday, when it was learned Agiye Hall was no longer on the Alabama roster, another wave of recriminations of Nick Saban came forth. Hall fueled it by tweeting it was news to him, implying he had been cut from the team without being told.

Social media and message boards lit up attacking Nick Saban. The chances Hall was unaware of his status as a Tide player, or uninformed by any member of the Alabama staff, are small. Nonetheless, what did or did not happen, does not matter for those always primed to trash Nick Saban.

The Crimson Tide fans, glad a disruptive player will no longer distract his teammates, are entitled to that opinion. Not unlike many 19-year olds, Agiye Hall may have made his situation worse by blaming everyone but himself.

He is too talented to not get a chance somewhere else. Even if he has, as some claim, serious maturity issues, plenty of other coaches will not care. He and the demanding Crimson Tide environment proved not to be a fit.

Nick Saban, the Alabama Football Devil

Back to Nick Saban; the story he cuts players, without informing them himself, will be repeated for years.

A different story of a softer, compassionate Nick Saban does not explode on social media. Maybe that’s because so many people refuse to think of Nick Saban as a good guy. One such story came out this week, told by Crimson Tide running back, Trey Sanders.

As Alabama fans know, after a serious injury and later a serious car accident, Sanders’ football career was in jeopardy. At one point, the prospects of a future, normal life were dim. The pelvic injury from the car wreck was one that can be fatal.

Nick Saban, the Alabama Football Messenger of  Hope

Trey Sanders recently spoke about the experience.

"I think Coach Saban was one of the main persons who kept me going throughout the process because it was times where I felt like I couldn’t do it.Coach Saban would call me into meetings and he’d talk to me and he’d give me hope on the future. Each time he talked to me, he gave me hope and just gave me a better outlook on how I wanted to come out of my injury and come out of my car wreck. I felt like having Coach Saban on my side, that’s helped me a lot, most definitely."

It’s safe to say, Agiye Hall and Trey Sanders know a different Nick Saban. Which Saban others believe in depends upon open or closed minds.