The Process, Part II

TUSCALOOSA | At the University of Alabama, Nick Saban calls it the process.

It's about discipline, motivation and being responsible to yourself and others.

It's about minimizing mistakes, maximizing potential and taking the necessary steps to excel.

It's about the small things, doing things the right way and, well, everything.

Oh, and it's about football, too.

For Saban, it's teaching his players how to be physically and mentally sound, finish games and win. It's always about the winning, but just as important, if not more, is the learning how to win and what it takes to be successful. That's actually much harder.

Perhaps more than anything, it's about opportunity and being ready when it comes around.

All of that is part of the process, and more, something the Crimson Tide players have been learning since Saban arrived in January 2007 and partake in daily. It may not have been overly obvious the first week, month or even year, but the differences become more apparent over time and figure to do so this fall: The Process, Part II.

'Year one, I think everyone was just so uptight,' senior center and co-captain Antoine Caldwell said. 'You couldn't really take a breath. You didn't know what the next thing was going to be. When you're thinking like that, you can't get your job done the way you want, not just us players, but staff, everyone.

'This year, everyone's a lot more comfortable and knows what Coach Saban wants and what to expect from him. That makes an incredible difference.'

Caldwell called last year the deer-in-the-headlights look, when just about anything and everything was being scrutinized, challenged and changed by the coach. Some of the differences were obvious, like the new video introduction at Bryant-Denny Stadium and players participating in the brutal fourth-quarter conditioning program.

However, the majority was much more subtle.

'He expects you to be there five, 10 minutes before a meeting,' Caldwell continued. 'Early is on time with Coach Saban. If you walk in two or three minutes before he's already started the meeting, you're running after practice.

'You just have to get used to it. I never experienced anything like that and the speed and tempo of practice.'

Of course, some student-athletes didn't make the adjustments or adhere to the coaches' relentless style and left. Although many fans openly wondered about their commitment and reasons for doing so, others did something worse. They stayed.

'It's the example that they set, by the way they go about what they do,' Saban said about leadership. 'They make calls, they help other people, they talk to guys on the sideline when they're not in about what's happening, how they can help develop a young player.

'Rashad Johnson (safety) makes all the calls in the secondary, makes every call when he's not in there almost like a coach. John Parker Wilson (quarterback) is constantly trying to help the receivers, help them get on the same page so they can be more efficient, effective in the passing game. Travis (McCall, tight end) never says a word. What he does is just bring his lunch pail every day, works hard, plays with a lot of toughness.

'What happens is you get a critical mass of guys who buy into that and have very few guys who don't do it that way. It helps your entire team develop. I think they recognize the guys who don't buy in, and there are very few of those guys left around.'

There are ways to see the process in action, and here are three examples:

1) The coaching staff

One not-so-subtle change from last year was in Saban's staff, with the initial group featuring a number of coaches who had never worked with him before. Following the 2007 season, offensive coordinator Major Applewhite (Texas), tight ends and special teams coach Ron Middleton (Duke) and director of football operations Todd Alles departed.

Added were offensive coordinator Jim McElwain, tight ends and special teams coach Bobby Williams, assistant athletics director for football Mike Vollmar and director of player personnel Tim Davis. Only McElwain had never previously worked with Saban.

Notably, the defensive staff remained virtually intact, although Kevin Steele was promoted to associate head coach and head defensive coach, and secondary coach Kirby Smart was given the additional title of defensive coordinator.

'I think just as you talk about players and them being in the second year of the process, the older guys, it makes it just more adaptable,' Steele said. 'You kind of know what the other is thinking before you get to the problem. You can anticipate problems and have them solved in advance, and I don't think it's any different for a staff. You just kind of have a feel.

'I know my 20th year of marriage is a lot different than my first year of marriage was.'

Considering that Alabama's defense has a lot of new faces, especially at linebacker, that staff continuity could be crucial to this team's success, especially considering Saban's defense can be tricky to get down.

'It's a defense you can do a lot of things out of,' junior defensive end Brandon Deaderick said. 'This being our second year everyone has a pretty good grasp on it. We're not going to be waiting and guessing. Instead we'll be reacting. The second year you're going to see big strides in how everybody plays, up front the linebacking corps and the secondary — everybody's going to be able to turn it loose and have fun.'

2) Creating experience

It may surprise some to learn that there are essentially four returning offensive starters who are seniors, and just one on defense, Johnson (if you don't count defensive end Bobby Greenwood after he sustained a foot/ankle injury last season).

For many programs, that would be downright frightening.

Nevertheless, Saban has been cultivating whatever leadership he can find, like with Caldwell and Johnson, one of whom will address the team before every practice.

It's obviously different with other players.

'What happens when a lot of guys come to college, and I think it's happened to some of the freshmen we have right now, they've been in leadership roles and have leadership qualities and characteristics,' Saban said. 'But yet they're frustrated that they're not in that role because they don't totally understand what to do, how to do it and why it's important to do it that way.

'I always look at guys when they get into that one developmental stage, like (sophomore cornerback) Kareem (Jackson) and (junior receiver) Mike McCoy for example, who last year played. Now I see a more confident guy who sets an example, who is not just worried about what he does but acts on how he can affect other people and how his example affects other people.'

This season, Saban isn't just throwing a player or two into the fire but the whole team by scheduling the season-opener against Clemson. By doing so, the young depth chart is forced to grow up faster.

3) Recruiting

That Alabama landed the No. 1 class of prospects didn't surprise anyone considering Saban's previous success at LSU. Not only did his staff target what the Tide wanted and needed, but they also put a premium on keeping top in-state talent at home.

Each assistant coach — and Saban only hires those who are good recruiters — is responsible for both a position and an area, and only when both think that a player should be considered for a scholarship does Saban get involved. By that point, three different people will have already evaluated the prospect, rating him on everything from his physical prowess to possible academic, character and injury concerns.

'We have three critical factors for the defensive backs,' Saban said. 'You have to be able to tackle, play the ball in the deep part of the field and you have to play man-to-man. We have a dozen criteria that allows a guy to do that — quick feet, change of direction, lower body explosion, ball judgment is important. So you have these 12 things and you rank them.'

Alabama's recruiting board resembles a set of tiers, with each player rated accordingly. Tough questions are asked, character evaluated and decisions finally made.

'Personnel evaluation is an inexact science because of one thing. It's very hard to figure out what's in somebody's head, what kind of passion for whatever they do and all that kind of stuff,' Saban said. 'How important it is to them, how much they're going to work if you invest time in them. Those are the multiples you try and work with, and you try and do it by talking to coaches and the people around them and get to know them.'

It all adds up, or at least that's the plan, and everyone involved has a better feel and understanding of that now.

'We're a lot more laid back because we know what's coming,' junior running back Baron Huber said, but he could have also used words like confident and focused.

'I think we're getting kind of used to the process. We're more into it,' McCall said.

So what's the process about this season?

'Finishing,' McCall said.

Reach Christopher Walsh at christopher.walsh@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0196.