Nick Saban outlines what he wants Alabama to accomplish during the first scrimmage of training camp
Published:
This weekend, Alabama will take the field for the first scrimmage of training camp with clear goals in mind.
The Crimson Tide didn’t have any major holes to fill heading into the latest training camp in Tuscaloosa but there are plenty of questions that have yet to be decided and roster spots up for grab all over the roster.
During his latest media availability on Wednesday evening, Saban shared what specifically he will be looking for his team to accomplish during his program’s latest scrimmage.
“Saturday, in the scrimmage, I’m sure somebody will ask, ‘What do you want to get out of the scrimmage on Saturday?’ I think really we’re not really trying to get the team like play it like a game; so that everybody’s getting more game-ready,” Saban noted. “I think the next step is to put the players out there, the coaches aren’t out there, make it like a game situation but really be able to see the things that they can do, so that we can evaluate them as football players.
“What is their ability to execute? Do they have, you know, the kind of toughness that we need? Can they sustain and focus whether they made a good player bad play the last play? So we don’t have to really decide about who we’re going to coach, this early in camp. But I think how they respond on Saturday goes a long way to telling you, if a guy has the right stuff relative to the maturity, to be able to be trustworthy to go out there and do a job, whether it’s on special teams on offense, defense or whatever part of our team. So. that’s going to be the number one priority for the scrimmage on Saturday.”
Based on that comment, it sounds like Saban likes what he has to work with heading into the season but he’s still waiting for the best players on his team to rise and take over. The 22 players on the roster that handle that challenge will start when the Crimson Tide take the field in Atlanta against Duke while those that don’t meet the challenge will be sitting on the sideline to start 2019.
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
