Nick Saban reveals how he keeps in touch with Alabama players in NFL

Alabama head coach Nick Saban has had a near endless pool of NFL talent flow to and from Tuscaloosa under his watch. Former quarterbacks Mac Jones and Tua Tagovailoa are just a tiny fraction of the Alabama alumni in the NFL.

Just from the 2020 Alabama roster, Saban said the NFL has 13 NFL players, not all of which are active. Still, the head coach stated in his press conference on Wednesday that both the Alabama program and the players should be very proud of that fact.

“13 guys on NFL rosters from last year’s team is a really significant accomplishment from a program standpoint. But also from an individual player standpoint. Guys create value for themselves and their career here. Learning what it takes to be successful on a consistent basis.”

As one might imagine, with so many former Crimson Tide players in the NFL, keeping track of all of them in the pros, would be near impossible. Saban did mention the program has a variety of ways of following their former players in the pros.

“I usually am focused on what our team is doing,” Nick Saban said of trying to keep in touch with his NFL players. “I think that we text all 70 players in the NFL and let them know that our thoughts and prayers are with them and we wish them good luck. But we have so many players in the NFL, I don’t really reach out to individuals and have a message for them.”

“We do send them a little good luck thing. But we’re always watching. We’re always hoping that they do well. We love it when our guys come back. We had probably 10, 12, 15 guys on the sidelines this last game in Atlanta that were all guys that were successful in the program here and having successful NFL careers.”

The Alabama head coach discussed how he has people within the program writing reports on his current players in the NFL to keep him informed of how they perform.

“We’re always anxious to see how they do,” Saban said. “I always read a report every week to see how each player did. Sunday’s a big workday for us so we don’t get to see the players play that much. I certainly wish I could. But we have a team here, and I think the players all respect the fact that they have a lot of pride in Alabama. I was in the NFL and I know how much trash gets talked on Saturday night about whose team did what; so I know those guys want our team to do well, too. And I think they know that I’m pretty much committed to that.”

The Alabama Crimson Tide square off against the Mercer Bears on Sept. 11. Kickoff is slated for 4:00 PM EST. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.