Nick Saban has always been known for having a rigorous offseason training program and it tracks all the way back to his days at Toledo.
One of his players who lived to tell the tale of those grueling offseason days was Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus who played for Saban with the Rockets.
During an appearance on “Pardon My Take” Eberflus recalled Saban sharing that the next few sessions would be the “hardest thing you’ll ever do” which resulted in several scholarship players deciding to leave the program.
“By the time we got halfway through it I think we had eight scholarship players quit,” Eberflus said. “And I had shin splints so bad I could barely walk down the stairs.”
Eberflus shared that the workouts entailed 16 different stations for players to complete beginning at 6 a.m. inside the basketball stadium.
Besides the long days in the offseason, Eberflus knew that there was something different about Saban and his attention to detail which he tries to bring with him every day with the Bears.
“You could certainly see in his demeanor and how he operated things and the attention to detail that he was building a champion at that point,” Eberflus said. “And I’ve taken that with me all the way through because he is just outstanding from day one. From my perspective as a player, you could see that his leadership skills and attention to detail was off the charts.”
The full clip can be heard below:
Bears HC Matt Eberflus is a Nick Saban disciple. Bears are back https://t.co/EyQU5ARPSW pic.twitter.com/3xcWsEWJk9
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) March 6, 2023
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