Nick Saban addresses Tyler Steen's growth, having players best interest at heart

Alabama head coach Nick Saban was asked about his transfer offensive lineman Tyler Steen, and his progress and adjustment during fall camp. Saban gave an update on his growth, and also pulled back the curtain on his player development philosophy and the culture created at Alabama.

“I think Tyler’s got a lot of ability, I think that all of the new players that come in, it’s a little different culture here. They all have to sort of buy into the culture of how we do things, what we do, not easily satisfied with what we do and how we do it, and to challenge yourself to be the best that you can be on every play. And I think that’s the question that I would have for a lot of different players, but Tyler has certainly shown a lot of ability, he’s made really good progress, he’s a bright guy.” Saban said.

Steen transferred in from Vanderbilt this offseason and is expected to be a contributor at the offensive tackle position up front for the Tide. Alabama lost their top tackle from last season in first round draft pick Evan Neal, and will need Steen and/or 5-star sophomore JC Latham to step up at that position to help protect their Heisman trophy-winning star quarterback Bryce Young.

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“But consistency and performance is something that we’re really focused on and that will create tremendous value for him. We want what’s best for all the players, I don’t see how any player ever could ever think that anything we do is not in their best interest to try to help them be the best version of themselves,” Saban said.

In recent history, if Saban’s players are best interested in winning National Championships and the best version of themself is being an NFL draft pick, he’s been able to do just that. Saban highlighted that this is not an easy process, and closed on the importance of doing things you may not necessarily want to do in order to be successful.

“They may not like it, just like sometimes when I was a kid I didn’t like what my parents made me do, I didn’t like it when my dad made me wash the car over because I didn’t do it correctly. I didn’t like that, but it made me better, so we all have to go through that to some degree,” Saban said.