Nick Saban: Alabama's leaders want to 'do something special' this season

Alabama lost its heart and soul in Bryce Young and Will Anderson to the NFL at the end of last season, so it was anybody’s team for the taking. A handful of players have since emerged to take over things in Tuscaloosa — and according to head coach Nick Saban, they’ve been impressive.

Saban ran down the players made his list of leaders, and that have stood out to him this season on his weekly coaches show:

“I think there are several. [Tyler] Booker, offensive guard No. 52 has been the leader of the offensive line,” Saban said on Thursday. “Jalen [Milroe] has shown some positive leadership as he has gained confidence. Jase [McClellan] has been a really good offensive leader. On defense, Dallas Turner has been really good. Deonatae [Lawson], Malachi Moore. [Chris Braswell] is also good in his own quiet way. We have some guys that have shown some really great leadership this year.”

While Booker holds things together in the trenches, he’s allowed Milroe to command the rest of the offense. Through seven apperances this season, Milroe has compiled 1,659 all-purpose yards with 18 touchdowns to his credit this year. Running back Jase McClellan has been more than serviceable out of the backfield.

Meanwhile defensively, it looks as though Saban looks toward his linebacker corps to anchor his defensive group.

“The biggest thing with those guys is that they always make the team first,” Saban continued. “A lot of guys on the team — they have a hard time with that concept. They love playing, they love competing but sometimes they’re more worried about what they’re doing than rather than being more about the team. The thing about all of those guys that I just mentioned — they want to do something special for the team.

“The team means everything to them. When the team doesn’t have success, you can see that it really bothers them.”

Saban is going to need each of these players and then some to come up big if Alabama wants to find itself in the College Football Playoff, or the SEC Championship game for that matter, for the first time since 2021.

Of course, Alabama has a tough LSU team coming to Tuscaloosa this weekend. If they can get through that, the Crimson Tide rounds its regular season out against Kentucky, Chattanooga and Auburn — which can likely be chalked up in the win on paper.

Saturday’s kickoff agaisnt the Tigers is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. ET live on ABC.