📡 Video (highlights, transcripts) Saban Press Conference following Monday's practice.

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Opening statement:

I was really interested in the tempo today, which was really good after the players were off for kind of a long weekend. Because we moved A-Day back, we've got a little bit more time. Spreading practices out has really helped the teaching, because so far we've had an off day between every practice, which has probably been good for the learning curve, especially for the young players. I would say that we are at the point now where I would say it's really important for people to start paying attention to detail. Probably a lot of guys are focusing on what to do, trying to struggle through how to do it, but they also have to understand why it's important to do it and we've got to pay attention to detail to what we're doing. Most of the time when you don't have success it's not because you didn't have the ability to do it or to get it done correctly, it's because you either made a mental error or you didn't do it exactly right or weren't focused on it and then we end up not playing as a unit, whether it's offense, defense or special teams.

As we look ahead, I know we have a scrimmage coming up. The focus so far has been on installation, and I think that now we start focusing on allowing the guys to play. I talk about this just about every year, that the coaches are out there telling the guys what to do, what formation to get in, and then how to get in it, and what route to run, what the coverage adjustment it is, but the telling tale is how do these guys go out there (and perform on their own). We have to give them some space now to get them ready for the scrimmage to see exactly how they do when nobody is there sort of looking over their shoulder making sure they do it right. That takes a little maturity, but that's the things we're looking to do to get them prepared for the scrimmage. When the scrimmage comes, I want to see who can do the fundamental things well. Who has the toughness? Who's a good tackler? Who can block people and get movement on the offensive line? Who can hold the point and get off blocks on defense? So it's not going to be like some sort of schematic escapade in what we're doing. It's going to be more about how do we execute the fundamentals and who shows the maturity and capability to do that with any kind of consistency. So that's what we're going to be looking for Saturday.

On how seniors Rashaan Evans and Da'Shawn Hand have matured throughout their careers:

Both guys have a made a significant contribution and have played a lot of football around here. We think the both of them are really, really good players. I think both of them have responded well as starters this spring and are starting to show some leadership. I've been really, really pleased with those guys. Hopefully, they will continue to improve and grow and become the kind of people who can impact other folks on our defense so that not only do they play great football, but they help others to do the same.

On if any players are standing out of punt or kickoff returners:

We're looking at it. I can't really say that I can evaluate it. We've had two days of kickoff return and two days of punt return to this point, but most of it's been fundamental stuff, so I can't really say somebody (is standing out). I think we've got enough good guys to be able to do it extremely well. I just think that we've got to develop them and help them understand what that role entails, and I think we will be probably better than we were a year ago.

On the progress of right tackle Matt Womack:

Matt's done a really, really good job. He's been playing right tackle. Thought he had a really good off-season. His body is starting to develop, starting to show a lot of maturity, balance and body control, better conditioning, better ability to sustain, more mental toughness, better idea of what he supposed to do, grasp of the offense, which has allowed him to play with more confidence. Been really pleased with him.

On the offense possibly using more two-tight end, one back sets:

Maybe. I think that's a situational thing. Look, leave me a lot more place around here we spread people out then we do only play one ball, which is what I used to play when I was in high school, everybody's tight formation and all 11 guys on defense or with a really short area and you really have to dominate everybody that you block to make plays work. Some people will do it more effectively than others. We've been able to do it to some degree around here when we needed to. But I think it's more of a situational thing and we will probably still use it as that, whether it's short yardage, four minute, that type of thing.

On what he wants to see out of Jalen Hurts in Saturday's scrimmage:

I think decision making. Getting the ball out of his hand more quickly. Not looking at the rush. Not drifting in the pocket. Reading and having his eyes in the right place relative to the coverage and the read that that particular play has. I think those are the things that fundamentally we're trying to get him to improve on and I think he's doing a much better job in that regard. He still has the ability to run. He can still make plays with his feet, but that's not really what we want to focus on right now. I think he's kind of bought into that and he's done a really good job with it.

On who is stepping up to replace O.J. Howard at TE:

We've got Hale (Hentges) back. Irv Smith played some last year and has really shown a lot of potential to either play on the line as a tight end, off the line as an H, or even be flexed out. So he's got a pretty good flexibility. Miller Forristall played a lot last year for us. He's gotten bigger and stronger, so he'll probably play a little bit more H. He's a little more O.J.-like in terms of being a very good receiver. O.J. became a very good blocker, but in the early stages of his career it was one of the things that he really needed to improve on. I think that Miller is making progress in that area. Ronnie (Clark), we moved there just to be an H, so that's really what he's doing, really fullback-like in some regards. (True freshman) Major (Tennison) is a young player who looks like he's got some potential and promise to maybe develop into a guy that can do all the things. It'll take a little while for him to feel confident and comfortable. So that's what were working with and that's kind of the roles that they're playing right now.

On Damien Harris possibly not getting the credit he deserves:

Look, we think Damien had a great year last year. I think he was hurt a little bit toward the end of the season, probably slowed him down a little bit, but I think the guy gained over a thousand yards. Until he got injured, he was probably our most consistent guy at that position, especially to do all things relative to third down, blocking, understanding protections, being a halfway decent receiver. I just think if he could play at a high standard of consistency all the time, which he is showing at times, I think that would certainly sort of be the next step for Damien, because he certainly played some good football for us. But that was a little bit of the whole deal at running back last year. As soon as a guy started to really look good, he'd get beat up a little bit. The next guy would come in and then that guy would start looking good and he'd get beat up a little bit. We feel one of the strengths of the team is the running back position. Having the three guys back from last year, plus adding a few more that are out there right now that have shown good promise and potential, I think it's one of the strengths of our team and we will have to find roles for some of those guys, because they're some of our best guys at that position.