Alabama Football needs 'simple execution, taking care of the football, communication and alignment'.

Two things about the Alabama Crimson Tide can appear as a contradiction while being true simultaneously. One is Alabama Football has had and continues to have a lot of ground to make up. An almost completely new coaching staff is one example of needing to catch up. Another reason is of the Crimson Tide's 85 scholarship players, 37 are newcomers. In addition, 17 of the returning players are redshirt freshmen.

The biggest catch-up challenge is except for four Washington transfers, the rest of the Alabama football roster is learning a different way to play football, in systems that may somewhat resemble past defenses but are significantly different offensively.

Spring, summer, and 20 Fall Camp practices are not enough for the Alabama Crimson Tide to fully catch up.

So what is the other thing that appears to be a contradiction, but is not? Alabama can afford to be patient. The 2024 Alabama Crimson Tide will not be a finished product on Aug. 31. The Tide may not get close to being a finished product until well into the season.

Players, and especially fans, may want to speed up the process, but the coaching staff understands a work in progress (to use one of Nick Saban's favorite phrases) cannot succeed if any of the building blocks are hurried or bypassed.

The Alabama football staff is still installing what's new and can't afford to rush through the process. The first Fall Camp scrimmage is on Saturday. There will likely only be two, so Saturday is important, but mostly as another teaching tool.

Alabama Football Scrimmage Goals

On Wednesday, Alabama Football Offensive Coordinator, Nick Sheridan was asked his goals for Saturday's scrimmage. His answer was "simple execution, taking care of the football, communication, alignment." Those are not lofty ambitions for a team chasing another championship. They are essential ingredients to winning one.

There may well be explosive offensive plays on Saturday. They will be celebrated, but the one word multiple coaches have repeatedly used during Fall Camp has been consistency. As Nick Saban would say, the goal of practice is not doing something until you get it right, but doing it right so many times, you can't do it wrong.