Nick Saban dishes on Terrion Arnold's growth as a player, depth of Alabama cornerbacks

Alabama redshirt sophomore cornerback Terrion Arnold has a chance to step into a major role opposite Kool-Aid McKinstry and start in the Crimson Tide’s secondary. Based on the review he got from head coach Nick Saban on Tuesday, it seems Arnold is on the right track and in the mix.

Regardless, the third-year defensive back figures to play significant snaps for Alabama, either as a starter or coming in as a rotational defender. Saban explained how seeing game action a year ago is paying off big time now for Arnold.

“Terrion’s — you know, I think anybody that gets experience playing, which he got some experience last year, I think he’s much more confident, I think he has a better understanding and probably a little more maturity about what he needs to do to go out there and perform well,” Saban said.

McKinstry is comfortably the No. 1 corner for Alabama, arguably the best cover corner in college football heading into 2023. Arnold is seemingly competing mainly with Louisiana transfer Trey Amos to get in the mix as a starter opposite McKinstry.

While Arnold has some experience and a fine recruiting pedigree — he was the No. 35 overall player in the 2021 signing class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking — Amos has several years on him. Arnold played in 11 games last season after redshirting 2021, making seven starts. He acquitted himself well, making eight pass breakups and intercepting one for good measure.

Amos has three years and 34 games to his name, though his ball production — 14 pass breakups and one interception — is already close to being passed by Arnold at current pace.

Either way, the competition at cornerback has been strong this camp and Saban acknowledged it’s driving everyone to improve.

“And there’s competition at the position. He, Kool-Aid, Trey are all doing a pretty good job out there. So I think that’s good for everybody in terms of their improvement as well,” Saban said.

Saban opened his presser by challenging the Alabama players

Saban has a high bar for the players in his program and believes this year’s group still has work to do to reach it. With the Crimson Tide holding their first scrimmage on Saturday, Saban challenged his players to ask themselves how they can get there.

Speaking at his press conference Tuesday, the coach revealed the factors that he believes leads to winning football. He urged his players to “get out of your comfort zone” and take a step back to look at what they can do individually to make the team better.

“I think the question you ask is: What percentage of the guys are playing winning football and are you willing to do the things you need to invest in yourself so that you are doing the things you need to so you can improve?” Saban said. “Because the tendency, especially in the conditions that we’re in, is it’s very easy to endure practice.”