Nick Saban is not announcing a depth chart for Alabama ahead of the season opener against Middle Tennessee State. The move had Saban in an apologetic mood with the media, but he explained why the depth chart creates a feeling of finality within a number of people.

“I know that your No. 1 focus is not on the game, it’s on the depth chart,” said Saban to the media. “And look, there’s a lot of competition on the team, and when we put a depth chart out, you all think that’s final. Like this is etched in stone, that it’s going to be this way forevermore just because we’ve come out of fall camp and that’s where it is.”

Saban went on to describe the distractions it causes on the team, something the head coach is trying to avoid. Instead, Saban wants every player on the team to work to get better and fight for playing time without feeling like a backup.

“It creates a lot of distractions on our team, creates a lot of guys thinking ‘Well, this guy won the job now and I’m not going to play’ or whatever. And quite frankly we don’t need that,” said Saban. “I want all our guys to continue to compete, continue to compete for playing time to try and play at the highest level and I don’t want anybody on our team to think they’re a backup player or whatever.”

Of course, that means fans will have to wait a bit longer to learn who will start for Alabama at quarterback. Saban did however note Jalen Milroe continues to make strides in his game, but the key for Milroe is finding consistency at this point.