Nick Saban says Terrence Ferguson is 'getting better every week' after high ankle sprain

For the last two weeks, Terrence Ferguson has been in uniform for Alabama. He hasn’t played, though, as he works his way back from a high ankle sprain.

According to Nick Saban, Ferguson is practicing — and has been — as he gets closer to full strength.

Ferguson hasn’t played since suffering the injury against Ole Miss and was listed as questionable for Alabama’s win over Texas A&M. Saban pointed out it’s not easy to come back quickly from a high ankle sprain, and he added Ferguson appears “closer to 100%” now.

“He’s doing better,” Saban said Wednesday. “He’s practicing every week. I think he’s getting better every week. I think he’s closer to probably 100% this week than he has been. Those high ankle sprains are not easy to sort of get over. It takes a little while to develop the ability to push off and have explosive power, which is hard to play in the offensive line if you don’t have that.

“He’s worked his tail off to get where he is and he’s really worked hard in practice and going through a lot to get back to where he is. But I think he’s getting pretty close to being where we need him to be.”

Terrence Ferguson’s return would be a big boost for the Alabama offensive line, which has struggled this season. Entering Week 8, the Crimson Tide have allowed the most sacks in the SEC with 31 through seven games — an average of 4.43 sacks per game.

Saban was asked if he was concerned about those issues, and he made his thoughts quite clear.

“To answer the first part of your question, I would say, ‘Hell, yeah,'” Saban said.

Saban said a big part of those struggles is execution. He detailed those issues, as well.

“I do think we have guys who are capable,” Saban said. “I think it goes back to that same attention to detail. There’s little things like, in certain protections, I know I have inside help. So, why would I get beat outside? Does that make sense? So, these are not all capability issues. Some of them are things that we could fix.

“When we’re sliding out, to block three on three, and a guy doesn’t slide out to block the third guy and he runs in and sacks the quarterback. That’s a mental error. That’s not a physical problem. So, it’s a combination of all those things that need to get cleaned up with better communication, better execution, and maybe the more knowledge and experience we get, the more we’ll be able to be more effective and consistent in those areas.”