How has Alabama managed to stay on top of the college football world for so long?
Much of the credit belongs to Nick Saban and his ability to recruit elite prospects to Alabama on an annual basis but the program’s ability to stay ahead of the curve in terms of ingenuity cannot be overlooked.
The latest example of that ingenuity comes with Alabama coming up with the idea to use Apple Watches to track and monitor workouts and the training schedule of its players while they are away from campus due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Nick Saban shared that information during his Thursday’s teleconference with media members.
“They were very instrumental in setting up this whole program of what we’re doing with the players in terms of Apple Watches for their workouts, apps on their phones for weight training programs,” Saban said on the call. “We had issues with some players not having a place to work out because high schools are closed. We put them on band workout programs.
“They’ve done a really, really good job of managing this to this point and the players have done a really good job responding to it.”
While the use of Apple Watches has been called into question by some, Alabama cleared the use of the devices with the NCAA. Here is the statement Alabama provided following Saban’s comments, courtesy of Matt Zenitz of AL.com:
“The SEC is aware that Alabama provided Apple Watches to some of our student-athletes. We are in constant communication with the SEC discussing the appropriate manner in which to utilize these and any other resources to provide for the health and well-being of our student-athletes during this crisis.”
Well, it didn’t take long for word of Alabama’s use of Apple Watches to reach Clemson.
During a Friday call with media members, Dabo Swinney was asked to share his thoughts on Alabama’s creative idea.
“Our guys are putting the work in. I don’t need an Apple Watch to track ’em,” Swinney responded.
Even with college football put on hold for the time being, the rivalries around the sport never take a break.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
