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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. _ Ever wonder how and when University of Alabama coach Nick Saban goes over the film of something like Saturday’s first scrimmage of training camp?
The drenched coach was asked about it after rain fell throughout the whole scrimmage (and one point coaches pulled players off the field at Bryant-Denny Stadium for 40 minutes).
“I usually do it at home, so tonight,” he told reporters. “They’ll have the film on a computer at my house before I get to my house. I have a hookup in my chair where I sit at home and watch it.
“I grade the offense and the defense based on winning plays relative to the down and distance and losing plays relative to the down and distance. And why those plays were successful and when we failed, why did we fail. Who got hooked? Who didn’t do their job right? Who didn’t do play the play right? Who didn’t block the right guy on offense? Same thing with special teams.”
Sunday morning the team had its camp tradition of going to church together, although it’s not mandatory. Saban attends every week, even after road games.
“I do this in season on Sunday morning before I go to church,” he continued. “I’ve already watched the film, go to 11 o’clock church. We start at noon and I’ve already seen all the film.
“I meet with the coaches about the comments we have and sometimes I’ll watch parts of the film. Then I mark plays for what we call the ‘Good, Bad, Ugly’ reel. We show some good plays, we show some bad plays and we show some ugly plays. We try to make corrections and make it a learning experience for the whole team especially when there’s a situation in a scrimmage can be a learning point for everybody. Maybe a guy runs out of bounds when he needed to get a first down in two-minute or something like that. Maybe the guy needs to have a better awareness for it.
“I’ll be watching some tonight while you’re watching golf or going to the movies and all that.”
Christopher Walsh has covered Alabama football since 2004 and is the author of 19 books. In his free time, he writes about college football.