No football team and no college football player has ever played a perfect game. That fact does not deter Alabama football coach, Nick Saban from being a perfectionist. What separates Saban from other perfectionists is that he does not focus on outcomes.
Saban knows positive outcomes are the byproduct of, as close as is humanly possible, perfect preparation. Saturday afternoon, following the Crimson Tide scrimmage, Nick Saban had considerable praise for players in his first units. Yet, he was far from satisfied. The source of Saban’s displeasure was the Tide’s second units – on both sides of the ball.
Speaking about the second unit players, Saban explained his dissatisfaction.
"We had too many guys – young guys, inexperienced guys, second-team guys – they had a bad play, and it affects the next five plays. Can’t do that. Can’t be a great competitor and not be able to overcome adversity and look forward and play the next play.We just have to get guys to understand that and have the mental toughness, mental discipline – whatever you want to call it – psychological disposition to be able to do that. But that’s the line, that’s the DBs, that’s everybody."
The 2022 Alabama Crimson Tide is an immensely talented football team. As much as Nick Saban values talent, he knows two things. Talent alone is not enough, nor is it always a solid predictor of future performance. Saban chooses words carefully and the quote above has six that pretty much define Saban’s vaunted ‘Process.’ Those words are “mental toughness, mental discipline and psychological disposition.”
Those six words can apply to players at any talent level. So Nick Saban refuses to accept not being the biggest or quickest or fastest or strongest, as an excuse.
Saban’s attention to detail and requiring players to focus on how they can improve in every rep of every practice is not new. Nick had developed it long before he and Miss Terry arrived in Tuscaloosa. While nothing akin to an epiphany, Saban got a strong reminder last January. Speaking about the loss in the National Championship game, rather than using the injury losses of John Metchie III and Jameson Williams as an excuse, Saban explained,
"We lost the national championship game, basically because we had 3 corners out, both starters and the best backup … It eventually got us in the fourth quarter.The lesson to be learned is there were 3 guys, and I’m not calling out any names, that basically didn’t do the things they needed to do throughout the season because they were frustrated with their circumstance. … of not playing as much…… 3 guys … all had a significant role in the national championship game, and not 1 of them, not 1, could take advantage of the opportunity they had, because they never ground through it. They never made themselves the best player they could be. When they got the opportunity, they couldn’t do it. That’s a lesson for everybody."
Nick Saban knows at some point in the season, perhaps again in the biggest game, one or more second-unit guys will be needed to perform at a championship level.
The second-unit guys who failed to measure up on Saturday will have other chances, but they missed an important opportunity in the last camp scrimmage.