In what will be marked as the hottest summer ever recorded, a few changes happened in the offseason for the University of Alabama football program.
The routine and practice stations remain the same, but the coaching is louder, effort is more enforced, there is more yelling than usual and the terms violence, energy and technique have become second nature.
Other schools and its fan bases use different aspects to gauge the success and happiness of their respective institutions; however, only one thing satisfies Nick Saban and the supporters of the Crimson Tide: winning and winning national championships.
It is four weeks into a new college football season, and yet some Alabama fans still do not understand what happened in January.
A loss to the Clemson Tigers in the College Football Playoff National Championship was the result; nevertheless, the faithful of crimson and white crave answers as to why their favorite team did not look like a champion eight months ago.
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Even with the game evolving and Saban trying to stay current, Tide fans really don’t care to much for being an offensive show. The true diehards that have followed this journey since legendary coach, Paul W. “Bear” Bryant care about two things: an unstoppable defense and a powerful rushing attack. While the first of two was nonexistent against Clemson, the second started off wearing the opponent down – nonetheless, Alabama went away from the run game.
One rarely sees Saban get out coached and embarrassed, so a near 30-point loss (44-16) had fans that wagered money, those in bouts of depression, and those that thought the game was rigged searching for solutions. An answer came in the form of a documentary from The Athletic.
The media outlet got all-access into UA’s program before fall camp.
In meeting with the team’s head athletic trainer, Jeff Allen, the man behind what makes Alabama perform at an elite level shared shocking details as to why the Tide did not achieve an 18th national title to start the year.
“Our performance in that game was not up to par,” Allen said.
Allen is one of three long-time assistants under Saban – joining Scott Cochran and Burton Burns – and since 2007, he has been the one making sure each student-athlete gives the maximum performance at practices and games.
In the documentary, Allen held a piece of highly important machinery in his hands. The piece of equipment is placed in the shoulder pads of each player and records data that ranges from speed to effort, in terms of guys reaching their full potential.
Despite understanding how elite Clemson has become, Allen could not help but notice the lack of energy, effort and performance from the Alabama players that night.
Upon his return to the practice facility, he uncovered data from the catapult system that addressed his concerns.
*Allen’s segment starts at the 3:32 mark
“Our numbers were 15 to 20 percent lower in that game than what we’ve been all season,” Allen said on the CFP title loss.
To concur with his guy, Saban said the effort was lacking in practice too.
“I was personally responsible and to some degree embarrassed by the way we performed in the game,” he said.
A mixture of complacency and lack of respect for the opponent showed up in the metrics for the Tide in last season’s CFP run. A wave of veteran, seasoned assistant coaches look to put an end to that as Sal Sunseri, Brian Baker, Charles Huff, Kyle Flood and Steve Sarkisian are working tirelessly to reposition Alabama as the most feared team in the sport again.
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Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
