Fall camp is another opportunity for Tommy Rees to get acclimated with his new players.

He wants each member of Alabama’s quarterback competition to attack, own each chance they get in practice and minimize mistakes. But the Tide’s newest offensive coordinator also recognized success must include a bond off the field.

Speaking with the media on Sunday — his first press conference since he was hired in February — Rees broke down the importance of the QB-OC bond and how he approaches that task.

“You got to be honest with them. You have to build trust from an early onset. You gotta find something off the field that you can connect with so that they don’t feel like it’s always transactional,” Rees said. “There needs to be an actual caring relationship there.

” … You show them that you want to build trust. You show them that you’re gonna put the expectations at a high level and hold them to that all the time. That’s what they want. Then you got to have moments, too, away from the game where you can have a relationship based on other interests and other things that they’re into. I do believe that the relationship between a play-caller and a quarterback is as important as anything. They’ve got to be an extension of what we’re trying to do as a staff. The only way you can there is if there’s full trust, and it’s a two-way street between a play-caller and the quarterback.”

Rees likened it to “any other relationship that matters in your life.” He went through it when he was Notre Dame’s quarterback from 2010-13 and as a recruiter for the Fighting Irish a few years later. It also played a part in quarterback Tyler Buchner’s transfer to Alabama.

When Rees recruited Buchner, the pair discovered similar personality traits according to Buchner’s former coaches at The Bishop’s (Calif.) School. That relationship paid off as Buchner committed shortly after his visit to Tuscaloosa, his lone trip this spring.

On Thursday, Saban said Rees knew Buchner “better than anybody could know him.”

Aside from Buchner, there are two other throwers competing for the job: Ty Simpson and Jalen Milroe. When asked about them, Rees said both have “improved greatly” since the spring and have stayed true to the process even when some expected a transfer out once Buchner came in.

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All three starting contenders are sharing reps through fall camp while the coaching staff waits for one of them to elevate themselves. Along with freshmen Dylan Lonergan and Eli Holstein, Rees couldn’t think of a program in the country that’s rotating through five guys.

“I think one thing we’re trying to get the whole quarterback group to understand is, when one guy has success, first of all, we need to look at it as shared success,” Rees said. “We need to look at it as the group. We want to leave practice saying, the quarterback position, the quarterback group had a good day. The other thing we want to see is when one quarterback has success, it’s going to challenge the rest of the group. And when we can do that, it’s going to raise the level of play in the room. And so we don’t want to look at it and shy away from it, we want to look at it as an opportunity to improve.”

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].