The annual open-week speech at the Monday Morning Quarterback Club in Birmingham came Monday for Nick Saban. He spoke to a ballroom full of club members that included a few Crimson Tide players like John Parker Wilson and Cory Reamer.
Before that, he met with reporters since his regular Monday news conference is on the bye-week hold. Here’s a quick rundown of his thoughts as seen in the video above.
-- The subject of Saban’s 70th birthday looming Sunday was the first question. He said he’ll spend a little time at the end of the week after practices to celebrate his birthday. “But when you get to a certain point birthday-wise, I don’t know. It makes you think about a lot of things that you could back up and do differently. I guess that’s a part of the experiences that you develop through the years.”
-- Saban on his Thursday radio show said he’ll slip away for a day to visit his lake house in Georgia to celebrate his birthday but he keeps it low-key.
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-- ESPN cameras caught a moment between Saban and QB Bryce Young on the sideline where there was some coaching going on. Saban said his young quarterback is a very coachable player. “There’s also always time for some teaching moments, which players gain and learn through experience,” Saban said. “And you know, sometimes, you just need to talk about things, and Bryce is always really receptive to that because he’s one of those guys that’s never defensive about any corrections because he really takes it like you’d like people to in terms of trying to use that experience, that failure even, as an opportunity to grow and get better.”
-- Saban also addressed the delay of game flags that drew a different kind of emotional response captured by ESPN. Read more about that here.
-- Do the flashing lights and loud music distract from the coaching moments on the sideline? Saban said he hadn’t heard any complaints from anyone on his bench. “I know the players really like the atmosphere that’s created that they can play in,” Saban said. “It makes it special for them.”
-- On pass blocking, Saban said that was among the fundamental issues they will address on this open week. Recognizing protections is part of that equation, he said. It’s not always an offensive line issue when the wrong defensive pressure is identified, Saban said. “That means we’re going to leave somebody that we can’t block and we have to throw the ball hot,” Saban said. “So it’s a combination of all those things that we need to work on.”
-- Talking about the mindset of players, Saban said they are impacted “way more” than he’d like by outside noise like what’s written about them in the press. “Because these guys, everybody’s always on their phone,” Saban said, drawing a few chuckles. “You walk around campus, it’s not just the players, it’s everybody. People running into trees because they’re looking at their phone. And you start to believe what you read, and sometimes, that’s not really the reality, especially when you’re in a competition.”
-- Bryce Young is not among the young players who fell into that. “He’s one of those guys that’s focused on the right stuff,” Saban said. “He understands that his value is created by performance, and he’s focused on his performance. And players should come to Alabama to want to win a championship and create value for themselves. And the smart ones know that they create value for themselves by how they perform and that none of those things really should be a factor relative to all that.”
-- Alabama is off this Saturday before welcoming LSU to Bryant-Denny Stadium on Nov. 6.
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.
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