MIAMI GARDENS — Media Days are fun. Try as we may in the media, we don’t uncover any deep dark secrets. Alabama head coach Nick Saban did not reveal his plans to slow down the potent Oklahoma offense. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa did not indicate just how may points he feels the Tide will roll up on the Sooners’ porous defense.

What was extracted from the 45-minute session on the Club Level of Hard Rock Stadium where the Tide will play the Sooners on Saturday in a College Football Playoff semifinals game, is that the coaching staff prefers silver over gold while the players lean toward gold if given a choice.

Those are the kinds of Earth-shattering revelations that we in the media, stealth in our dogged approach, are able to expose in the time allotted, as we crammed microphone-to-microphone into the posh and restricted surroundings of the NFL home to the Miami Dolphins following recent and substantial renovation both inside and out.

Making our way through the scores of crowded round tabletop and chairs for the groups of players who are not yet household names — linebackers over here, secondary there, special teams to a table, and on and on in a cafeteria-styled setup — the media made its way around as an overhead clock counted down the remaining minutes of the event. The bigger name players garnered their very own table and chair with an Orange Bowl backdrop.

Photo by Glenn Sattell

Of course Saban, on Podium 3, and Tua, on Podium 4, were the main attractions. But the other Alabama players stationed at their own podium — NG Quinnen Williams, RB Damien Harris, FS Deionte Thompson and WR Jerry Jeudy — also attracted a share of attention as well. And Jalen Hurts, well, he might have stolen the show.

So, what is The Process?

The quote of the day came from Saban in explaining “The Process.”

Saban: “The road to success is always under construction.”

He explained to me just what “The Process” entails and how it remains a living continuous approach.

“It’s forever ongoing,” Saban told Saturday Down South. “The analogy we use with the players is that every year we’re climbing a mountain. But when you reach the top, if you reach the top, the next year the boulder that you pushed up the year that year is at the bottom again. So you’ve got to go through the same process.

“Process is just simply a definition of what you have to do to be successful. The road to success is always under construction. Success is not a continuum, it’s momentary. And you’re only as good as what happens next. So we always say, ‘What’s next. What’s going to help you be successful the next time.'”

Photo by Glenn Sattell

The Process starts anew with each year, but it’s never exactly the same with each new beginning.

“You’re constantly building and you’re constantly defining, ‘here’s the goal and here’s what we have to do to accomplish the goal. And here’s the discipline that we have to have to do it,'” Saban said.

Hurts’ big thrill? Graduation day

Quarterback Jalen Hurts looked dapper, or as dapper as one could look like in a sweat suit – the uniform of the day for all Alabama players. Hurts sported a more sleek and clean look with short hair as compared to the dreads he wore last year around this time. Recently graduated, Hurts said that walking across the stage to receive his diploma was one of his young life’s biggest thrills.

“I felt like I was about to play in a game,” Hurts said. “Damien (Harris) was in front of me and I was like, ‘Damien, let’s go. Let’s get it’ like we were about to play (in a game). It was one of the most exciting moments I’ve ever experienced,” said Hurts, who has applied for grad school to study Sports Management.

No transfer talk, either

He was asked, several times in a variety of ways, but Hurts insisted he never said the “T” word.

“I’ve never talked transfer,” he told the media Thursday. “Those words have never come out of my mouth. Those (rumors) have always been assumptions.”

All focus is on Saturday and completing the team goals set for the 2018 season.

“I’m here,” Hurts said. “I’m here for this team and that’s the most important thing.”

Some football talk, please

Oh yes, and there was some talk of a football game on Saturday. Alabama’s “other” QB Tua Tagovailoa talked about the suspension of starting OL Deonte Brown.

“It’s definitely tough,” Tagovailoa said. “But I have faith in the rest of the guys. It’s just an opportunity for other guys to step up and show what they can do for our team.”

Saban looked at the bigger picture.

“When you look at the big picture when you play a team like (Oklahoma), it’s not about one side or the other, it’s about how the whole team fits together,” he said. “They score a lot of points and sometimes when you score a lot of points, defensively you’re going to give up more points because of the style the other team has to play.

“We look at it as if we’re going to have to control the game to some degree on offense by probably being more physical, being able to execute, not giving them extra possessions by missed executions on offense.”

Yes, there’s a big game on Saturday, a big one, but for nearly an hour on Thursday the team was able to somewhat relax and have a little fun with the media.

Saban chilled

It was such a relaxed atmosphere that even Saban was able to set aside the demeanor that accompanied his familiar unopened Coke bottle to the podium and just sit back and chat unguarded with the media. He even cracked a smile, an emotion he put on display more than once, when talking about friends and family and their influences and roles in his illustrious career. It was a 180-degree turn from his occasional berating of certain reporters and their particularly provoking questions.

No, the scene Thursday was nothing like that. It was perhaps the opposite, much more like sitting and enjoying a beer with what many believe to be the greatest college coach of all time. Only without the beer.