Nick Saban supports his players’ ability to brand themselves but Alabama’s coach is being cautious when it comes to diving head first into his support of the pending name, image, and likeness rules.

During his recent appearance at the Regions Tradition Pro-Am golf event, the Alabama coach was asked to share his thoughts on name, image, and likeness rules, which are currently set to be made law in the state of Alabama on July 1 (in addition to other states like Florida and Georgia).

“I’m not sure anybody knows for sure the impact or effect, because we don’t know for sure what the parameters are and what the rules are,” Saban answered. “Look, I’m all for the players. You know, my biggest concern is how do we manage this? How do we police it? How do we make sure that it’s fair for everybody?

“The NCAA is always, you know, tried to keep a level playing field for everyone. So hopefully, this is something that will be fair for everyone, and everyone will have an opportunity to create some value for themselves and their brand. But at the same time, it won’t create advantages for anyone.”

It’s interesting that Saban is worried about a level playing field, considering his program essentially has no annual peer in college football.

At the same time, many of Saban’s concerns regarding the College Football Playoff — when it comes to devaluing the overall bowl system — have come true and he may be issuing this concern not on behalf of his football program, but for all the programs looking up at Alabama hoping to one day reach the pinnacle of the sport.