Aaron Suttles
TideSports.com Senior Writer
It was a rule passed in 2014, and its impact is being felt now in a direct way for the University of Alabama football program.
The NCAA rule, which allowed coaches to meet with players up to two hours each week during the summer, created an avenue for coaches to tutor players in video study and teach them concepts/ideas the players were then able to incorporate during summer 7-on-7 workouts, which are player organized and led.
"I think it was really helpful that we were able to spend that time," UA coach Nick Saban said. "We didn't always spend two hours. We spent 20 or 25 minutes on days where the players were going to do 7 on 7…On the days that we had that, which was two days a week prior to July, three days a week after the Fourth of July, we spent 20 minutes or so in meetings with players and made points of emphasis with them.
I think it was really good. It was really helpful."
That time spent with young players was one reason why the team eschewed its normal split-squad practice it usually opens fall camp with, instead going with one whole team practice. The main reason, though, was a focus on better time management of the players that Saban, during SEC Media Days, hinted would be a focus this season.
Saban felt his defense wore down at the end of the 2014 season, and said the coaches would find ways to better manage the student-athletes' time this season to avoid the same issues.
"The issue with (split-squad practices) in the past has been it really wears out the players because you only have 50 players out there at a time and you don't have enough guys to actually share the reps," Saban said. "Guys get too many reps, and then I always felt that really degraded us getting really some overuse problems the very first day.
"Because of the progress we made this summer…we decided that we had made good progress with a lot of the freshman that basically we put the 1s with the rest of the freshmen today on one end so we could spend the bulk of the time with them and actually practice the 2s and 3s in a different two spot situation so that we could actually spend a lot of time with those guys."
- See more at: https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1789736#sthash.JSgXVV8U.dpuf
TideSports.com Senior Writer
It was a rule passed in 2014, and its impact is being felt now in a direct way for the University of Alabama football program.
The NCAA rule, which allowed coaches to meet with players up to two hours each week during the summer, created an avenue for coaches to tutor players in video study and teach them concepts/ideas the players were then able to incorporate during summer 7-on-7 workouts, which are player organized and led.
"I think it was really helpful that we were able to spend that time," UA coach Nick Saban said. "We didn't always spend two hours. We spent 20 or 25 minutes on days where the players were going to do 7 on 7…On the days that we had that, which was two days a week prior to July, three days a week after the Fourth of July, we spent 20 minutes or so in meetings with players and made points of emphasis with them.
I think it was really good. It was really helpful."
That time spent with young players was one reason why the team eschewed its normal split-squad practice it usually opens fall camp with, instead going with one whole team practice. The main reason, though, was a focus on better time management of the players that Saban, during SEC Media Days, hinted would be a focus this season.
Saban felt his defense wore down at the end of the 2014 season, and said the coaches would find ways to better manage the student-athletes' time this season to avoid the same issues.
"The issue with (split-squad practices) in the past has been it really wears out the players because you only have 50 players out there at a time and you don't have enough guys to actually share the reps," Saban said. "Guys get too many reps, and then I always felt that really degraded us getting really some overuse problems the very first day.
"Because of the progress we made this summer…we decided that we had made good progress with a lot of the freshman that basically we put the 1s with the rest of the freshmen today on one end so we could spend the bulk of the time with them and actually practice the 2s and 3s in a different two spot situation so that we could actually spend a lot of time with those guys."
- See more at: https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1789736#sthash.JSgXVV8U.dpuf
