Alabama football is quickly nearing the end of preseason camp. The Crimson Tide are scheduled to continue through Saturday before rolling into game-week preparations for the Sept. 2 season-opener against Middle Tennessee State.

Throughout camp, much like the rest of his Alabama career, Saban’s messaging to media has been consistent. Here’s what the head coach has said his points of emphasis are for the Crimson Tide ahead of the 2023 season.

Investment

Saban doesn’t want the Crimson Tide to think of fighting through adversity as a sacrifice.. He’d rather his players consider it an investment in their future success.

The head coach wanted to see that investment permeating his player’s lives on and off the field.

“You have to invest in yourself in terms of how you sleep, how you rest, how you recover,” Saban said after the team’s first scrimmage. “The habits that you have, how you eat, how you hydrate. There’s all kinds of things that go into ‘What is my level of performance gonna be?’”

Adversity has found the Crimson Tide in the form of the Alabama heat so far in preseason camp. Players have had to keep going, despite the inhospitable temperatures.

In Saban’s eyes, that’s a positive.

“The players have worked hard,” he said after the second scrimmage. “It’s been difficult and hot, which I think is a good thing because one of the things that I think go with discipline, mindset and mental toughness is can you stay focused when things aren’t comfortable for you, and they’re difficult? I think that’s something that we need to continue to work on. Are you going to let your feelings take over and affect how you play or are you going to be able to stay focused on doing the things you need to do to elevate your game?

Self-assessment

Saban and his coaching staff can point out players’ flaws all day. However, he’d rather those they look inward to see where improvement is needed.

After the second scrimmage, Saban explained after being asked about freshman quarterback Dylan Lonergan.

“Everyone says ‘What’s experience?’ What’s your ability to self assess?” Saban said. “I have better ability to self assess right now when I did when I was 18 (years old). How do you learn how to do that? Through experience. You have experiences, you make mistakes, you mess up and say ‘Well, I’m never going to do that again’. That’s how you learn and progress.”

Saban had explained what he wanted players to gain from self-assessment after the first scrimmage.

“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,’” Saban said. “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.”

Consistency

According to Saban, Alabama’s quarterbacks have made progress. So have the receivers, linebackers and the rest of the team.

But they’re not perfect all the time, something their head coach would like to see change.

“Are you going to let your feelings take over and affect how you play or are you going to be able to stay focused on doing the things you need to do to elevate your game?” Saban said Saturday. “That’s every day: it’s every day in practice, it’s every play in practice, it’s every play of the scrimmage, it’s every play in a game, because that’s the only way you’re gonna develop the habits and the consistency to do it right all of the time.”

For Saban, it’s all about repetition. It’s not ever dropping a pass, not ever jumping offsides, fumbling a snap or having some other mental error that costs the Tide.

“It’s not practicing until you get it right,” Saban said. ” It’s practicing it so much you can’t get it wrong. And that’s how you develop confidence in things in terms of the habits that you develop and the things that you need to do to be able to play to the best of your ability and that’s what we have to do.”