TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Although the University of Alabama football team was given Monday off from practice in order to heal up more, veteran players like senior safety Nick Perry knows that means there won’t be any let up the rest of the week.
Actually, the coaches will probably be even tougher on the team than usual as it prepares for Western Carolina of the Championship Subdivision on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, SEC Network).
“I think he just wants to make sure that we’re not overlooking these guys,” Perry said. “We’re going to get their best shot.”
Nick Saban set the tone during his Monday press conference when he openly asked during his introductory comments: Do you want to take advantage of the position you’ve put yourself in or do you just want to win the next game?
“The most important thing to do at this time of year is everybody stay focused on what they’ve got to do,” he said. “Focus is like momentum. When you lose momentum in the game, it’s really hard to get back. So if you don’t stay focused on what you need to do to get better, it’s not about the other team, it’s about what we need to do as a team.”
Normally Saban usually gives his players an extra day of recovery every six weeks, but made an exception after facing LSU and Mississippi State the last two Saturdays after having a bye at the end October.
However, it might again have tough back-to-back game when it hosts rival Auburn next week and with a win will play in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta.
Saban announced that three players – junior running back T.J. Yeldon (ankle/foot) senor wide receiver DeAndrew White (hamstring), and sophomore kicker Adam Griffith (undisclosed) were considered day-to-day in an effort to get them closer to 100 percent.
He then got a question about balancing rest and preparing for this week’s game, which happens to be homecoming.
“If I say what do we have to do to win this game, I might think, ‘Well, I don’t have to practice as hard this week. The guy’s not quite as big as what I’m used to having to play against,’ or whatever,” he said. “Are you going to get better that way or not? Taking advantage of the opportunity that you have is much bigger than that. I need to play better. I need to improve. I need to help my teammates play better. We didn’t execute these plays properly. We need to start getting these plays right. We’ve got to do a better job, whether it’s covering, blocking, carrying out fakes, catching balls, whatever it is. The major thing for me is stay focused on what you need to do to improve, so you take advantage of the opportunity. And that’s for every player.
“If we took the approach that OK, we want to get healed up, we’d have half the guys saying, ‘Hey, I think I need to get out this week because I’ve got a bad hip.’ My shoulder hurts from when I got hurt when I was playing. I got a separated shoulder. So maybe I ought to take a backseat out there as a coach, try to get healed up for the game.
“How are we going to get better? How are we going to get better?”
Christopher Walsh has covered Alabama football since 2004 and is the author of 19 books. In his free time, he writes about college football.
