Nick Saban challenges younger WRs to follow Traeshon Holden's example

Plenty of Alabama’s young receivers are getting playing time early this season, but this week, Nick Saban commended sophomore wideout Traeshon Holden. The 6-foot-3, 208-pound former four-star prospect is separating himself with his “process.”

“Traeshon has been the most consistent guy,” Saban said. “He’s got the most playing time. We need for some of our younger guys to step up, in terms of maturity, preparation, ability to execute, knowledge. They need to follow the lead of some of the other guys, in terms of how they practice, prepare, what they do. I think that’s going to be really critical for us as we move down the road.

“There are two parts to leadership. You gotta have people who lead but you also have to have other people who recognize leadership and follow along. Take the example that they see and implement that in their play. Creating the right habits is something every player needs to understand.”

After a quiet first season, Holden bloomed in the spring. In the annual spring game, he hauled in in nine catches for 89 receiving yards, leading the team in both categories.

That success has carried into the 2021 season. The Kissimmee, Florida-native is second-string behind upperclassmen, but he’s played in all five games. Holden’s caught five passes for 73 yards. He hasn’t hauled in a touchdown yet but given the head coach’s praise, that could be right around the corner.

Holden is serving as an example to freshmen wideouts like JoJo Earle and Agiye Hall.

The Nick Saban Process

Alabama national championship-winning head coach Nick Saban is famous for what he calls, “the process.”

It’s been a major element of the Crimson Tide’s success for more than a decade. As the head coach at Michigan State in 1998, Saban led his squad to an upset win over No. 1 Ohio State. With that win, the process was born.

“We were just going to focus on the process of what it took to play the best football you could play – which was to focus on that particular play as if it had a history and life of its own,” Saban said.

“Don’t look at the scoreboard, don’t look at any external factors, just all your focus and all your concentration, all your effort, all your toughness, all your discipline to execute went into that particular play. Regardless of what happened on that play, success or failure, you would move on to the next play and have the same focus to do that on the next play, and you’d then do that for 60 minutes in a game and then you’d be able to live with the results regardless of what those results were.”