What Nick Saban said following Alabama’s second scrimmage of the spring

“One of the things we tried to stress with the players today was what kind of team do we want to be? We want to play with great effort, great toughness, guys have the discipline to execute, so they can do their job and play well together as a team. Obviously, you’ve got to be in condition, and there are some other things that go with that to play with good fundamental execution, and that’s what we were looking for today out there.”

“I think some of the players, especially the younger players, gotta understand that how you practice… practice execution becomes a reality for you. Whether you drop balls in practice, it becomes reality in the game. Because what you do in practice is what prepares you, and you don’t really rise up when the game comes. You really drop down to whatever your level of preparation has been because that’s what develops the habits and the confidence and the things that you need to do to go out and execute and be consistent. We have guys that play really, really well, and then we’ve got guys that need to learn how to play well on a consistent basis. I would say that that probably sums up where we are.”

“I don’t want to sound like I’m disappointed in any way. It’s just trying to get everybody to play to their full potential. Every coach is committed to try to do that, but every player has to be committed to it. Not just when we have competitive situations, but every day in practice, every rep, every meeting, every learning opportunity that they have, so that we can develop the kind of depth and consistency and performance on our team where we have the best chance to be successful. So I would say, you know, that sort of sums it up.”

“I don’t get into individual stats for the scrimmage. Sometimes it’s affected by who you play against and who plays against you. So, we had some good plays out there, and we obviously have some plays that need to get cleaned up. We still probably have too many penalties. We had probably too many turnovers on offense today and too many penalties on both sides of the ball. So we’ve got plenty to work on. So I think the focus needs to be on not enduring the rest of the spring, but actually focusing on what we need to do to continue to get better.”

“Jalen is doing some really good things. I’m really encouraged by the progress he’s made. He makes a lot of plays. I think that he had a couple of interceptions today that really weren’t his fault. I mean he threw the ball, hit the guy in the hands and pops out, and somebody intercepts it. If you look at the statistics you’ll say, ‘wow, the quarterback threw an interception or two,’ but really wasn’t his fault. You have to be careful in how you analyze and make sure you’re looking at what that individual needs to do to continue to get better. He’s got a much better command of the offense. He’s much more confident. He makes a lot better decisions because of the confidence and the knowledge and experience that he has.”

“Ty’s a young guy. He’s really conscientious, really trying to learn, but just needs to continue to get more and more opportunities in practice so that he can gain the confidence that he needs to be able to go out there and play. I’m encouraged by the progress both of those guys have made.”

“I would say we were spotty. A little inconsistent in both areas. We made really good plays running the ball. We made some really good plays in the passing game but we were also inconsistent at times. When you pass it, you need to have really good protection. We had too much pressure in the pocket. People have to throw the ball accurately and when it’s thrown accurately, people have to catch it. We had too many dropped balls. I would say inconsistency would be the way that I categorize both those areas.”

“The tight ends are doing fine. We only have the three but I’ve been … Latu has had a good spring. Robby Ouzts has made a tremendous amount of improvement. He plays with a lot of confidence. He’s a tough guy. He’s a pretty good blocker. That’s an area of our team where we need to add depth. We’ve got a young guy that’s trying to learn how to play and we’ve got a couple of other guys coming in so it’s going to be really important that … we haven’t played Kendall Randolph there at all this spring. We’re playing him on the offensive line giving him every opportunity to be a starter. So, it’s … I’m not disappointed at all in the guys that we have. We just need more guys at that position.”

“Well, he made a couple of big plays today. I think it’s really important. I think he’s had a really good spring. I think he’s been really productive. He was productive again today. I think he had like seven catches and a couple of big plays. We just need for everyone else to sort of play with a little more consistency. He’s been a good addition for us. Hopefully, we can continue to improve around him.”

“That’s hard to evaluate how a group did when you don’t watch the film and you’re trying to watch 22 guys out there and you’re sort of looking at the big picture but I think the thing we need to improve on with that group, just based on practice going into the scrimmage, is striking people upfront. Playing with more power up front, staying in our gaps, playing with a little more discipline. I think we did that today. That’s something we emphasized yesterday in practice and I think they were a little bit better at that today but I’d like to evaluate it. But that’s something we really need to improve on with the upfront guys.”