Nick Saban sees room for growth following Jermaine Burton's career-best performance

Alabama WR Jermaine Burton exploded this weekend for by far his best game this season and the best of his collegiate career. Now, moving forward, Nick Saban is hoping to see him build off of it in every way that he can.

Saban shared his expectations for Burton on Monday after he exploded against Texas A&M this weekend. He knows how much talent that the senior receiver has and now wants to see him continue to grow in each facet of his game.

“Jermaine has got great ability. We want to sort of keep him focused on doing the things that he needs to do to be consistent in his performance. Fundamentally, just keep working on things – he runs good routes, he has got great ability, he has got really good hands, ball security. Things like that. Not getting too emotional in the game where you make bad choices and decisions,” said Saban. “Some of those things are just things that we can continue to work on. But we’re really excited about the game that he had, his performance, what we can build on with that.”

Burton’s nine catches against the Aggies were a career-high from over his four seasons with Georgia and Alabama. His 197 receiving yards and two touchdowns versus A&M also tied career bests for him.

In this one game, he caught one more pass and eight more yards than he had all season long while also doubling his touchdown total. For the season, Burton now has the top spot as Alabama’s leading receiver with 17 catches for 386 yards and four scores.

This is the type of performance that Saban and the offense had been looking for from Burton. If they can keep him focused on the right things, he has no doubt that he can continue to be an asset for them and an issue for their opponents.

“I think he’s learning that you really don’t want to do anything to help the other team,” Saban said. “He has done a lot to hurt the other team so let’s don’t do anything to help them.”

Saban elaborates on Jalen Milroe’s growth

Nick Saban is pleased with the growth he’s seeing from Alabama QB Jalen Milroe at the moment.

It hasn’t been easy but Milroe secured another victory for the Crimson Tide against Texas A&M in Week 6. Afterward, Saban took the podium to heap some praise on his quarterback during his press conference on Monday.

“Absolutely,” Saban responded, asked if Milroe’s been growing every day. “The big thing that we’ve tried to continue to keep playing the next play. There’s not always going to be perfect plays. But whatever happened on the last play is a learning experience for you to grow and get better. Focus on what you have to do the next play, but you cannot allow one play to affect the next play. So that’s something I think he’s learned, and doing a lot better.

“Staying much more positive on the sidelines. Communicating really well with his teammates and the coaches, in terms of what he saw, what he didn’t see, what he needs to do to get it corrected. So I think that’s something that comes a little bit with experience. But, also, it comes with awareness and I think we’re making good progress in both areas.”