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Nick Saban discusses Alabama's leadership heading into fall camp

47377776_10156854436900775_2208546246019252224_nby:Clint Lamb•08/03/22•

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TUSCALOOSA — Alabama head coach Nick Saban spoke to the media on Wednesday during the annual Nick’s Kids luncheon, which was held at Bryant-Denny Stadium ahead of fall camp starting on Thursday. Most of the questions weren’t necessarily football-specific, but we did get a few interesting responses.

One of those responses came from a question about Alabama’s leadership heading into fall camp. Some believe that a lack of leadership negatively impacted the Crimson Tide’s performance on the field. There’s a little more to it though.

“I think leadership is always really important on every team,” Nick Saban told reporters. “I think we do have good leaders on this team, but there’s two parts to leaders. There’s having good leaders and then there’s having people on your team who embrace the leadership and buy into the principles and values and things that make them successful as individuals, which ultimately helps you be successful as a team.

I don’t think people realize the importance of the second part of that statement. Having leadership in the locker room is always important, but having others who are willing to buy into that leadership plays a key role on the other side of that equation.

For some players on the team, buying in wasn’t that difficult.

Ja’Corey Brooks is a perfect example.

At the time, he was a five-star freshman who had all the talent in the world coming out of IMG Academy in Florida. Still, he accepted his role as a special teamer and seldom used depth wide receiver. In fact, the 6-foot-2, 196-pound pass-catcher only played 45 offensive snaps through the first nine weeks of the season.

Brooks bought in though.

Instead of complaining, he put his head down and went to work, looking to contribute in any way possible. After making an impact on special teams, he slowly saw his snap share increase at receiver. At first, he still wasn’t seeing many opportunities in the passing game, but he was willing to block and create opportunities for his teammates.

Fast forward to late in the fourth quarter of the Iron Bowl, and Brooks is the one on the receiving end of that game-tying touchdown catch from Bryce Young to send it to overtime. He played on 281 offensive snaps and caught 15 passes for 192 yards and two scores over the last six games.

That’s the type of story, which has been shared by many throughout the last 15 years, that has been a staple to the Crimson Tide’s success under Saban. Brooks is an example of a guy who bought in. But did Alabama get enough of that from its locker room in 2021? Probably not.

My guess is that Saban is hoping to get a little bit more of that from this current team.

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