Nick Saban addresses practice following Week 2 rant

Alabama head coach Nick Saban is a man who thinks with tremendous clarity when it comes to everything surrounding his Alabama football team. He’s got a crystal clear vision of how his team should be practicing and playing and when they are not performing up to that standard, he will let them know about it.

In Week 2 leading up to their game with the Mercer Bears, Saban was furious at the lack of effort his players were giving in practice and he let them know about it in one of his many epic rants over the years.

How does he feel about his team’s practice habits leading up to their showdown on Saturday with the No. 11 Florida Gators in Gainesville?

“We’ve had a lot better energy. A lot better focus. Really practiced a lot better. So I’m not disappointed in the way we’re preparing for this game,” Saban said.

This is good news for Alabama fans because he was not singing the same tune after the Mercer game last Saturday.

Nick Saban is the ultimate perfectionist in every way, shape, and form. He gets a lot of that from his father instilling it in him growing up. He washed cars for his dad and if he didn’t do everything absolutely perfect, his father would make him start over and wash the entire car all over again.

After the Mercer game, Saban was very displeased with his team’s effort in the game. He delved back into some of the lessons from his childhood to get his team’s focus on the right track.

“I told this story today, maybe we need more of this,” said Saban. “When I was growing up, I worked for my Dad. So every day at dinner, he would (slams table) do that to the table, and there was a reckoning. A reckoning. For everything you were supposed to do that day.” 

“So if you were supposed to cut the grass — Did you sweep the walk? Did you put the mower away, clean the mower? And if you didn’t do any of those things right, you’re going to do it again! We might need a little of that, somewhere down the line.”

Kool-Aid snags his first interception

Former five-star prospect Kool-Aid Ministry made his debut against the Mercer Bears last weekend and made a splash in a big way for the Tide, hauling in his first interception. Saban was very pleased with the first start for his promising true freshman defensive back.

“I thought he did a good job. I really did,” said Saban. “He knew the game plan, he prepared well, he played well in the game.

“On the long touchdown pass…I know we busted in the backend on that one, and we busted on the other touchdown pass that they threw too. New group, one side’s running one thing, the other side’s running something else. So we got nobody in the deep part of the field. 

“But I thought Kool-Aid did fine.”

Ministry was widely considered the nation’s top defensive back prospect in the 2021 recruiting class. He was the 13th-ranked overall prospect in America, according to the On3 Class of 2021 rankings.

Head coach Nick Saban and his top-ranked Crimson Tide take on the No. 11 Florida Gators on Saturday, Sept. 18. Kickoff is slated for 3:30 PM EST. The game will be nationally televised on CBS.

On3’s Stephen Samra and James Fletcher III also contributed to this report.