Nick Saban expects all of his 2020 Alabama football players to stay put.
Alabama football won’t have any opt-outs because that’s what Nick Saban is telling us.
With marquee players in the SEC such as Ja’Marr Chase (LSU Tigers) and Jamie Newman (Georgia Bulldogs) deciding to forego the 2020 college football season and get ready for the 2021 NFL Draft, there could be more players electing to do the same. However, Saban is very confident his team won’t have any opt-outs heading into the upcoming campaign. Should we believe him?
Alabama football is dangerous and powerful with no 2020 opt-outs.
Saban led the march from Mal Moore to Foster Auditorium on Monday, so the head football coach clearly has the pulse of the Alabama student athlete. It might be the strangest season of college football, but Alabama is very much in the mix to win another national title. The Crimson Tide are projected to win the SEC and play the Clemson Tigers for the 2020 National Championship.
“I’m excited about the fact that we have a bunch of guys that are committed to playing,” said Saban over Zoom Wednesday. “I know there’s a lot of things going on in the world right now that can affect that, as we see on a daily basis in terms of choices and decisions that players make.
“But I think it’s important that once you make a commitment to doing something — it creates more value if you do it the right way and you focus on what you need to do to be the best player you can be and control the things that you can control.
“I think everybody on our team can create value for themselves by playing. We’re going to play a lot of good competition. We’re playing all SEC games this year. We have a chance to have a pretty good team, but there’s going to be a lot of variables that we have to overcome this year relative to the circumstances that we’re in.
“I’m excited about the fact that the players are committed, and I’m hopeful that everybody will stay very much committed. I have no reason to think that they won’t, but it’s a changing time right now in terms of how people get affected by various things.
“Our guys have been really, really good about it, and I really enjoy the fact that once these guys made a decision to try to play and try to accomplish something, they’ve always stayed pretty much committed to it.”
It was a trying year for the Crimson Tide last season. They lost to two rival teams in the LSU Tigers at home and the Auburn Tigers on the road in the Iron Bowl. Tua Tagovailoa succumbed to a season-ending injury on the road vs. the Mississippi State Bulldogs. For the first time ever, Alabama didn’t even get invited to a New Year’s Six bowl. Naturally, this year’s team is hungry.
With their eyes on the big prize, look for Saban’s team to have serious championship aspirations.
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