It’s homecoming week on the University of Alabama campus as the Crimson Tide prepares to face its first non-Southeastern Conference opponent since defeating Southern Miss 52-12 on Sept. 13.

Here are five interesting things that Nick Saban said prior to Saturday’s game against Western Carolina (4 p.m. ET, SEC Network).

1. On recruiting Amari Copper: “The thing that was so impressive about Amari Cooper was that he came to our summer camp before his senior year and the guy was … I think maybe, and we’ve had some good receivers that have been through our camps all these years, he may have been the most impressive to me in terms of his ability, his ability to change direction and get out of a break, the quickness, acceleration, the speed, good hands, hard worker. I walked away from that camp saying ‘You know this guy may be the best receiver we’ve ever had in our camps,’ and we’ve had some really good ones. So that’s what I remember the most, and I remember his high school film and he was a very productive player and all that stuff, but we what he did here at camp is what I remember the most because that’s the thing that was most impressive to me.”

2. After getting a question about the seniors playing their final games: “I would disagree that the season’s winding down, it’s kind of winding up in terms of where we’re going, and I don’t mean that in a bad way, but in terms of what we have in front of us and all that type of thing.”

3. Blake Sims working with a private coach: “I know that a lot of these quarterbacks go to camps and there are quarterback coaches and all that kind of stuff, we have no problem with it all. We’re trying to do everything that we can do to help our players become the best players that they can be. Now we can’t orchestrate those types of things unless it’s with our coaches, and it’s certainly just up to the player, but I don’t know where, I can’t say what caused or what created the improvement in Blake. I think he created it with his work ethic, with how important it was to him to be a good player, how badly he wanted to be a good player, and he did everything that he could possibly do to improve as a player whether it was here or it was when he was aware from here. And I think that’s served him very well in terms of how he’s played, and hopefully he’ll be able to stay focused on the right things, continue to improve and a strong finish to the season.”

4. During his weekly radio show Saban said he didn’t realize he had four former head coaches on his staff: “You media guys always try to throw me a curveball.” (Note: Here’s our curveball from July, Reclaiming the crown: Coaching staff nothing short of historic) He closed the show by saying what motivates him. “I want to see if we can do it. I want to see if this team can do it.”

5. On sophomore defensive end Jonathan Allen: “He played a lot last year as a freshman and he’s really a starter in nickel, and we really play more nickel than we’ve played anything else just about. And he’s been very productive, very instinctive, really good person, really bright guy. Has a lot of pride in how he goes about whatever he does personally, academically or athletically. When you have good players who has the kind of character that he has that’s what makes it really fun to coach. I would give him an ‘A’ in all areas, personal, academic and athletic.”