It’s fall camp and with no records, no stats and mainly no rat poison, Nick Saban hasn’t been afraid to joke around with the media this preseason. The latest example came following Alabama football’s first scrimmage.

When asked about the team’s physicality through three padded practices, Saban brought up a story he heard during Pete Rose’s talk with the team earlier this week about former MLB manager Sparky Anderson:

“(Rose) asked him one time what’s the key to handling players? (Anderson) says, ‘Well, you got to know when to kick him in the ass. You got to want to pat him on the ass. And you got to know when not to say anything.’ So we’re trying to figure that out. But I think I’ve been kicking them in the ass little bit more than I’ve been patting them on the ass. So we’re just keep on keepin’ on.”

Saban earned a couple of chuckles as he scampered off the podium. Previously in the press conference, Saban mentioned the team’s toughness as an adjustment it had to make entering the day. Overall, for the first time going full speed and tackling to the ground, Saban wasn’t “disappointed,” saying the team responded well.

The offense produced a couple of “explosive” runs, though Saban noted it’s hard to tell if it was a plus play for the offensive line or a negative one for the defensive front. The receivers also committed a few too many drops while the secondary worked through its versatility.

“I think it’s always important for players to self-assess and say, ‘OK, I played this many plays today. I would play this many plays if we had a game. I’m not in good enough condition to be able to sustain the level of effort, toughness, ability to stay focused and do my job for this many plays and yet I know I’m gonna play more later on.’ So every practice, every opportunity you get is not something that you want to endure in the practice, but you want to push yourself so you could get to the next level of where you need to be to stay focused for longer and play with more consistency for longer in every game that you play,” Saban said.

Alabama has its second scrimmage on Aug. 19. Like Saturdays, the session will be closed to the media and the public with Saban providing updates afterward.

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