TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Welcome to the dog days of preseason camp.
Wednesday’s practice marked the proverbial halfway point for Alabama as it participated in its 12th workout of the 25 it is allowed prior to its season opener against Florida State on Sept. 2.
For the sake of everyone involved, here’s hoping the next 13 practices won’t be as hot.
Players sweated through two hours of 90-degree weather Wednesday with coaches routinely spraying them down with hoses to keep them cool. While Alabama head coach Nick Saban didn’t directly state that the heat affected his players, he didn’t seem to leave the workout particularly pleased with their performance.
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“You can have success on one play and one game. But if you're successful, you have consistency in performance over a long period of time,” Saban said referencing a speech gave by NBA legend Charles Barkley to Alabama players Tuesday night. “And you develop an identity. That takes a lot of competitive character. You can't be complacent. It's a lot of hard work and perseverance.
“Can't get affected by external circumstances. Because basically, if you can't give effort, you can't play with toughness, you can't focus and be responsible to do your job. How can you ever develop and get the trust of your teammates, who know what you're supposed to do, but are you able to go out there and do it on a consistent basis? Do they trust that you will do your part for what you need to do? So, our focus this week has been to get more people to do that.”
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By the time Saban moved on to the question and answer portion of his news conference, it was clear he was a little heated himself. Tensions only elevated when he asked about two things he doesn’t generally like to talk about — freshmen and social media.
It began with a question about freshman DeVonta Smith and his two highlight catches in recent video clips tweeted out by the university. Always guarded concerning both praise toward freshmen and giving away practice information, the head coach quickly turned toward an Alabama official and raised concern over how such footage was released.
After a quick explanation, Saban continued, albeit a bit put off by the situation.
"Well, for what we do in individual periods, I say he looks really good," Saban said jokingly referring to when the videos clips should have been taken. "Which is running routes on air, right? Yeah, really good catches in routes on air. That's all you're supposed to see. So that's all I can comment on."
Eventually, Saban got around to giving the four-star freshman some praise while still making sure not to signal him out too much.
"DeVonta is doing really, really well," Saban said. “But I would also say that several of the other freshmen receivers are doing well, too. I think they are going to make a contribution, and I think they are creating a lot of competition at those positions.”
Things only got juicer from there. When asked about cornerback Minkah Fitzpatrick, Saban made sure to praise the junior’s work ethic, seemingly holding him up as an example to the rest of the team while also using some colorful language.
“Minkah does it as well as anybody I've ever coached, in terms of how he works every day, how he finishes plays, his conditioning level, just phenomenal,” Saban said. “Pays attention to detail. It's important to him. Makes sure he knows what to do. A lot of players that are good players I've heard them say 'I'm saving it for the game.' Every one of those players, and all those teams that I’ve been on that the players say that, none of them are worth a [expletive]. He doesn't do that. He works every day to get better.”
Clearly frustrated by several things, Saban was also in no mood to single individual players out. After being asked about the progress of redshirt junior Christian Miller, the head coach reached the precipice of his rant.
"I don't know," Saban said. "You guys make all these predictions about everything, about guys that are going to be great players who have been here for two years and who is going to win all the games. I don't even know why we play. Why do we even play? Why do we even have practice? Why do we compete? Why do we coach guys? Why do we need to improve when you guys have all the answers to how guys are going to be or how they're going to do.
"I mean, sometimes I wonder why do we play? Why do we even have practice because you guys have all these conclusions drawn about who's what, how good they are, what they can do. I mean, so why would you ask me? That's puzzling to me. Why would you ask me? I read stuff all the time like ‘Hmm, that's nice to know. Where did that come from?’ And then you ask me?"
A smile soon slipped over Saban’s face as he calmed himself back down and eventually answered the question, stating that Miller has “had a very nice camp” and is “doing a nice job.”
In the end, Saban made it clear that he wasn’t actually too ruffled up by any of the questions presented to him. The head coach even fired off one last friendly parting blow, sarcastically saying “and thanks for asking,” before leaving the podium with a grin.
What Saban truly hates is complacency and the distractions that so often pop up on mid-August afternoons before the season. Wednesday, he handled those the best way he knows how — with a little heat.
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