Everything Nick Saban said on Wednesday of Ole Miss game week

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama head coach Nick Saban spoke to reporters after Wednesday’s practice as the Crimson Tide continues to prepare for its SEC opener against No. 15 Ole Miss. Below is everything Saban said in his final press conference before game day.

“I think this is one of those games that you really look forward to as a competitor. It’s the opportunity to play in our stadium against a really good team. I think the players look forward to that. It’s great for our fans, it’s great for our players, the environment that they get the opportunity to play in.

“But I think, internally, we want players to be working to get the kind of mental intensity that you need to practice with a sense of urgency so you’re developing the right habits so that you can go execute and do your job on a consistent basis. If you evaluate our team to this point in the games, when we do things correctly, we’re pretty good. But when we don’t do things correctly – and it only takes one person on offense, defense, special teams not to do their job correctly with the focus or intensity that you need to execute – then we’re not so good. That’s the key to the drill, to me.

“Can we, on a consistent basis, have the kind of focus and mental intensity we need to develop the habits that will carry over in the game to help us play with more consistency? That’s what we’re really focusing on this week, and hopefully, we’re making some progress.”

Saban on Tyler Booker, Jaheim Oatis…

“Tyler Booker is practicing, and so is Jaheim Oatis. They haven’t had issues. That doesn’t mean they’re still not day-to-day in terms of coming back and getting over injuries, but they are practicing.”

Saban on Jalen Milroe’s week of practice…

“He’s doing good. I think his energy has been good. I think his attitude has been great. And I think the execution on the field has been good. So it’s been good.”

Saban on Ole Miss safeties coach Wes Neighbors…

“He was on staff here, and I always knew that he’d be a really good coach. He’s developed into a nice coach. Those guys play really well. His guys play well. They play hard. Pete (Golding) does a good job with the defense. They’ve got a good scheme. I think they’re playing a lot better on defense because of it. They play with a lot of inspiration and they do a good job of executing the scheme, and I’m sure Wes has a lot to do with that.”

Saban on the usage of true freshmen…

“I think last year we had two out of three games where we had an opportunity to play a lot of players. This year, we’ve only had one opportunity to do that. I do think we have two freshmen starting. I don’t know how that compares to how many guys we had in the past. I don’t know what the significance of that is. If we don’t have to play freshmen before they’re ready to play, I think that’s probably a good thing for our team. But I also like to see the growth of the young players as freshmen so that when they do get an opportunity to play they’ll be able to take advantage of it.”

Saban on if he expects to use more running backs…

“I hope so. I think Jase (McClellan) and Roydell (Williams) have played very, very well, both guys. But we also have confidence in Jam (Miller) and Justice (Haynes), and I think both of those guys will contribute at some point in time in the season pretty significantly because they’re both really good players and I think they’re both ready to play.”

Saban on filling the backup quarterback position…

“Right now, Ty Simpson has been getting most of the work with the twos. I thought he did a good job when he went in the game, so he’s kind of earned the right to be in that position. I’m sure that he’ll continue to compete and try to get better, and that’ll be good for us in the long term. We wanna develop every player that we have at that position and continue to work with all those guys so that they all get reps and have a chance to improve.”

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