Getty Nick Saban will be willing to start any number of true freshmen if they are "clearly (the) best at a position"
Nick Saban is and has always been willing to start any number of true freshmen for Alabama — with the caveat that those players are “clearly best at a position” — according to Bama Hammer’s Ronald Evans.
“When selecting Alabama Football starters, Nick Saban has never been deterred by choosing the best players,” Evans prefaced before saying, “If a true freshman is the Crimson Tide’s clearly best at a position, Saban is willing to start him.”
Evans did point out the potential pitfalls of trekking to the fountain of youth to answer too many problems, though.
“On the opposite side of not worrying about youth at individual positions, is there a threshold where too much inexperience among starters becomes a liability?” Evans asked. “Most coaches value experience highly because of predictability. Even when more talented than other teammates, less experienced players make more mistakes in games.”
Young Roster Makes Alabama Goals ‘More Difficult to Achieve’
Evans did not hold back in being trepidatious about the youth Alabama will have to rely on during the 2023 season, calling the Crimson Tide’s goals “more difficult to achieve” given the inexperienced roster.
“That mistake-free football is unattainable does not diminish Nick Saban’s pursuit of it,” Evans wrote. “A primary goal for the Alabama Crimson Tide’s 2023 season is to be more disciplined and reduce the number of mistakes from last season. Having a young roster makes that goal more difficult to achieve.”
Evans projected his fear for when Alabama could have its youth disrupt its pursuit of another College Football Playoff National Championship.
“When Nick Saban uses his standby phrase ‘a work in progress’ to describe the 2023 team, it will have never been more true,” Evans wrote. “Growing pains can be expected. How painful will they be? Let’s just say the Crimson Tide will be more vulnerable than normal in the first half of the 2023 season. And that first half includes Texas in Tuscaloosa, plus Mississippi State and Texas A&M on the road.”
Nick Saban ‘Dealing With Babies’ in 2023: Analyst
According to the Tuscaloosa News’ Chase Goodbread, Saban is “dealing with babies” given his young roster this spring.
“Nick Saban is dealing with babies,” Goodbread prefaced before saying, “Not in the sense of immaturity, necessarily, but from the standpoint of game experience, the Alabama football coach is leading what is almost certainly the most youthful collection of Crimson Tide players to gather for spring practice in his 17 years at UA. That’s right − stack this spring group against all others since Saban’s 2007 arrival, based strictly on time in the fire − and it’s hard to rank it anywhere but the bottom.”
That heightens the importance of spring, as Evans had pointed out, as incoming freshmen get the chance to earn starting positions out of the gate. The quicker players get on the gridiron, the sooner an NFL draft profile is built up. That makes evaluating talent “more important” for Saban this spring than usual.
“That can only make this particular round of spring drills more challenging for both players and coaching staff, and make it all the more important, too,” Goodbread wrote.