Under head coach Nick Saban, Alabama has become the preeminent school for providing the NFL with talent. Since 2009, the Tide have sent 55 draft picks and 18 first-round selections to the league. Considering those numbers, who better to ask about improving the draft process than Saban?

So Emily Kaplan of the MMQB did just that, and reached out to Saban recently. Chief among Saban’s concerns was the ability to give both the prospects, the NFL teams and their evaluators as much information as possible early in the process.

So I recommend that instead of waiting until December for guys to submit grades, why don’t we do it in the spring before the season. When your seniors work out and get measurements, they can actually test the younger guys and give them all the tests, the Wonderlic and all the stuff they do at the combine, so that they have the information. Then they can evaluate that guy through the season just as they do the seniors. So when you do submit your name, you get a much more accurate assessment.

In Saban’s mind, if you don’t get back a first- or second-round grade, you should return to school in order to raise your draft stock. Speaking from his experience in the NFL, Saban also commented that NFL teams actively search for reasons to downgrade prospects.

Character checks, physically, mentally, everything. They’re looking for reasons not to draft you. Most people go down, not up.

Saban also noted that unlike the NBA, once NFL prospects commit to the draft process and earn evaluations in combines and in head-to-head competitions with fellow prospects, they cannot return to school. According to Saban, steps are being taken amongst his peers to discuss how to improve the process.

We had a conference call [with the NFL] about it. I think everyone was in agreement. Basically I called, Jimbo [Fisher], Dabo [Swinney], Bob Stoops, Urban [Meyer]—guys that have a few guys every year, and tried to get their input. This is the comprehensive input from all of us. Then we had a conference call with the competition committee, and they had some ideas too. Whether this gets implemented next year or not, I don’t know, but I haven’t seen a lot of resistance from either side.

How soon any of this could be implemented remains to be seen but it’s worth paying attention to someone with extensive experience on both sides of the draft process.