The decision to send home freshman linebackers Ryan Anderson and Dillon Lee because of their respective curfew violations didn't come straight from Nick Saban.
It was recommended by their veteran teammates and then executed by the Alabama head coach.
Both left guard Chance Warmack and defensive end Damion Square confirmed to AL.com that the team's leadership committee, a group comprised of veterans from a variety of positions, recommended the punishment to Saban.
"When you're in a situation such as this and you're playing in a big game like this, you have to establish a focus," Warmack said at Saturday's Media Day at Sun Life Stadium. "In order to establish that, you have to make examples of some people. As hard as it is, you still have to do that."
Saban announced the decision late Friday, hours after both players were seen at the Crimson Tide's practice at Barry University.
He provided a thorough explanation behind the reasoning Saturday.
"We clearly define the expectation for every player. We also clearly define the consequences if those expectations are not met," Saban said.
"The combination of all those things, itās very, very difficult. If you have children of your own and your children donāt meet your expectations and you have to sort of, whatever it is you do, whether itās punishment or whatever, itās probably more difficult for you to do sometimes than it is for them. And I think thatās certainly the case in this situation.
"It was more difficult for me to carry this out than it may be even for the players because I love the players. I love the players on our team.
I donāt really ever want to do anything that hurts a player. But does this hurt a player? Or does this help a player understand the consequences of not doing whatās been defined for you to do?"
Neither Anderson nor Lee were expected to play in Monday's BCS National Championship. That didn't make the decision any easier, Square said.
"You never want to take this experience away from those guys," Square said. "These are experiences that you'll probably never experience again in your life, being down here in South Florida and playing for a national championship game. It's very hard to take those memories away from the guys."
Square was confident it would benefit the duo in the long run.
"It's going to help them become better men," he said. "It's going to help them make better decisions in the future."
Anderson has been with Alabama since the spring but did not see the field in 2012. Lee intercepted a pass in the Crimson Tide's season opener against Michigan, but saw the field sparsely thereafter, playing almost exclusively on special teams.
The response to the leadership group's decision was universally accepted, Warmack said.
"It wasn't an easy thing to do," Warmack said. "Nobody wanted it to go down like that. You have to do some things sometimes in order for everybody to be on the same page."
It was recommended by their veteran teammates and then executed by the Alabama head coach.
Both left guard Chance Warmack and defensive end Damion Square confirmed to AL.com that the team's leadership committee, a group comprised of veterans from a variety of positions, recommended the punishment to Saban.
"When you're in a situation such as this and you're playing in a big game like this, you have to establish a focus," Warmack said at Saturday's Media Day at Sun Life Stadium. "In order to establish that, you have to make examples of some people. As hard as it is, you still have to do that."
Saban announced the decision late Friday, hours after both players were seen at the Crimson Tide's practice at Barry University.
He provided a thorough explanation behind the reasoning Saturday.
"We clearly define the expectation for every player. We also clearly define the consequences if those expectations are not met," Saban said.
"The combination of all those things, itās very, very difficult. If you have children of your own and your children donāt meet your expectations and you have to sort of, whatever it is you do, whether itās punishment or whatever, itās probably more difficult for you to do sometimes than it is for them. And I think thatās certainly the case in this situation.
"It was more difficult for me to carry this out than it may be even for the players because I love the players. I love the players on our team.
I donāt really ever want to do anything that hurts a player. But does this hurt a player? Or does this help a player understand the consequences of not doing whatās been defined for you to do?"
Neither Anderson nor Lee were expected to play in Monday's BCS National Championship. That didn't make the decision any easier, Square said.
"You never want to take this experience away from those guys," Square said. "These are experiences that you'll probably never experience again in your life, being down here in South Florida and playing for a national championship game. It's very hard to take those memories away from the guys."
Square was confident it would benefit the duo in the long run.
"It's going to help them become better men," he said. "It's going to help them make better decisions in the future."
Anderson has been with Alabama since the spring but did not see the field in 2012. Lee intercepted a pass in the Crimson Tide's season opener against Michigan, but saw the field sparsely thereafter, playing almost exclusively on special teams.
The response to the leadership group's decision was universally accepted, Warmack said.
"It wasn't an easy thing to do," Warmack said. "Nobody wanted it to go down like that. You have to do some things sometimes in order for everybody to be on the same page."
