Nick Saban evaluates Alabama's start to spring practice

Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide have plenty to be proud of in 2021, along with even more to be excited for in 2022.

Alabama, which won the SEC Championship and defeated then-undefeated Georgia, managed to make it all the way to the College Football Playoff finals, after earning a No. 1-overall seed and beating Cincinnati in the first round. However, that’s when things went awry for Alabama, as Saban’s Crimson Tide were unable to beat Georgia a second time, and the Bulldogs ended up winning the program’s first national championship since 1980. But Alabama is turning the page on a new chapter as it starts spring practice, and Saban believes the Crimson Tide are already improving in the early stages of practice.

“We’re really excited about the offseason program that we’ve had, the attitude that this team has presented, the work that we’ve been able to get done, the conditioning level that we’ve been able to achieve with a lot of the guys,” Saban said. “I think the commitment has been good. We had a really good offseason program.”

But despite the disappointing ending, Saban’s team had a lot of positive building blocks last season, and it returns plenty of talent. Among the returning talent is quarterback Bryce Young, who won the Heisman Trophy last season and threw for 4,872 passing yards, 47 touchdowns and seven interceptions, all while completing 66.9 percent of his passing attempts. And on the defensive side, Saban will welcome back the Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner, Will Anderson, who put on a show in his second season with the Alabama Crimson Tide, logging 102 total tackles (58 solo stops), 34.5 tackles for loss, 17.5 sacks and three passes defended. So far, Saban seems pleased with the progress that Alabama has made in spring practice.

“I think the most important thing about the first practice is — I don’t care what grade you’re in, how long you’ve been here, whether you’re an early enrollee, whether you’re a senior. Everybody has got to focus on what they need to do to improve,” Saban said. “So, this is a good starting point for us. We’re not disappointed in where we are, but we’re certainly not satisfied with where we are, where we want to go and how we’re going to get there. But everybody has to have the ability to self-assess, because I think that’s the best way to improve. There’s not one player out there that’s playing for us right now that doesn’t have something that they can improve on. Obviously, it’s a new team. You’re looking for new leadership. There’s guys that have opportunities at several positions and there’s competition at those positions. It’ll be interesting to see how some of that stuff shakes out for us.”