Nick Saban speaks on team's growth in 2022

Alabama has had to go through some extra growing pains this season. While they sit at 7-1 on the year, they’ve already faced their fair share of adversity in the form of a defeat, a few close calls, and some impactful injuries. Even through all that, though, the team’s development has pleased Nick Saban, even if it’s been a bit of a roller coaster.

Saban talked about how the Tide have grown this season in an appearance on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt. He said Bryce Young’s injury stymied their progress a bit to start October. Still, he says they’ve persevered through that to be a better team now because of it.

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“I was really pleased with the progress we were making in the first three or four games of the season. Then Bryce gets hurt up in Arkansas and we stubbed our toe a little bit. (It) affected how we developed offensively, how we continued to develop confidence and continuity. But these guys have had a great attitude about what they try to do,” said Saban.

Young’s AC joint sprain threw Alabama out of whack last month. It nearly cost them a 28-point lead at Arkansas and a home game against Texas A&M. While they were right there in the end, that lack of growth may have played a factor in their loss to Tennessee too. However, they’ve bounced back with a win over Mississippi State and just took full advantage of a bye week off.

Saban says the greatest challenge in getting his team to continue that development is keeping their attention on what’s important. It’s not just about winning as much as it is what they’re doing to ensure they win. Ever since their loss in Knoxville, he says they’ve done just that. Now, he’s hoping for more of the same in their return to the field this weekend

“I think the biggest challenge in college athletics right now is to keep guys attached to the right things. Attached and focused on, not just winning, but the things that it takes that you have to do to win. That’s something I’ve been really pleased with since the Tennessee game,” Saban said. “We’ve got a big challenge. We’ll see how it goes and see if we can stay that way for the next few weeks.”

If they can keep that up, Saban will feel a lot better about their chances of getting out of Baton Rouge with a win against LSU on Saturday night. It will also go a long way in helping them get back to the SEC Championship for a shot at redemption come December 3rd