Nick Saban didn’t offer much in the way of excuses for the way the 2007 season turned out for the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Poor decisions and a lack of what he called a determination for excellence plagued Alabama throughout its 7-6 season.
“You’ve got to have pride in your performance and got to want to dominate who you play until the last play. The guy I play (at a position), for 60 minutes, that’s what he should be doing,”
Saban said Wednesday during a speech at the Scottsboro-Goose Pond Civic Center.
“Last year, all of our games went down to the final play, except the Western Carolina game. We got up big on Arkansas, we got up on Houston and we got up 27-0 on Colorado in the bowl game and it came down to the last play."
“You can look up at the scoreboard and think that’s good enough, but it’s not.”
On and off field decisions haunted Alabama last fall, everything from interceptions to suspensions.
Saban made it clear during his speech that players’ judgment must improve in every aspect.
“Our guys have made tremendous improvement, (and most), they’re doing the things to be better,”
Saban said. “You take it as, here’s where you’re at and here’s where you want to go, and keep as many things, external factors (that hinder that) out of the way.”
Recruiting the players that fit his system and ways will be a continued focus, the coach said. Alabama hauled in a heralded recruiting class in February and is headed that way again recruiting experts say for 2009.
“The question was can we get the best players to come (to Alabama). We proved last year that we can,”
Saban said.
The Tide opens the 2008 season against nationally-ranked Clemson, and during the question and answer portion of Wednesday’s luncheon, Saban said games with Penn State are on the schedule and future matchups with Virginia Tech and Florida State are possible.
“Our goal is to play one (marquee out-of-conference team) every year. You get better by playing great teams,”
Saban said.
Another question focused on senior quarterback John Parker Wilson and his outlook for 2008.
“John Parker is our best chance to win,”
Saban said. “He’s got the talent and got the attitude.”
Saban also spoke highly of junior defensive back Ali Sharrief, a Stevenson native and a former North Jackson standout. Saban, while at LSU, recruited Sharrief to come to Baton Rouge.
“You’ve got a player from this area that you can be proud of,”
Saban said of Sharrief, “in the way he represents us, our program, his family and your community.”
