Head coach Nick Saban continued to focus on the improvements he wanted his team to make after their first scrimmage of the spring on Saturday.

“The big focus after watching the scrimmage film on Monday was everybody’s got to have sort of an individual, collective responsibility to do what they need to do to improve so that we can improve as a team,” Saban said. “Everybody has an opportunity to improve.”

Saban then drew parallels to teams that showed improvements and teams that didn’t. Saban said he thought the 2009 team, which won the national championship, showed improvement throughout the season. In contrast, the 2010 team, which finished with a 10-3 record, did not improve very much, which Saban identified as the reason for the three losses that season.

Saban said he thought the players responded to that idea in practice.

“I thought that the players responded very positively today and had a little more intensity, a little more energy, a little more enthusiasm about doing what they were doing,” Saban said.

Experimenting with personnel

            Wednesday’s practice saw numerous players receive practice time at new positions; something Saban said was nothing more than a simple trial. There was a good bit of shuffling among the linebacker corps, with players who normally play inside linebacker moving to the outside, and vice versa.

Saban also said early-enrollee defensive tackle prospect Alphonse Taylor saw time as an offensive guard in Wednesday’s practice. Taylor played offensive line, in addition to defensive line, at Davidson High School in Mobile, Ala. Brent Calloway, who has predominately practiced at running back or linebacker, practiced at H-Back today, a version of the tight end position.

“The decisions about where those guys end up playing will be made as we gather information about how they do,” Saban said. “Then we’ll be able to make a better assessment of what the best position and what role that they have on the team really is.”

            Senior safety Robert Lester added, “I guess he’s trying to get the best out of the guys he moved around.”

Saban’s personal life

            In response to the motorcycle accident that injured Arkansas football head coach Bobby Petrino, Saban was asked if he restricted his life outside of football to avoid such incidents.

“I try to enjoy life,” Saban said. “I still waterski. I ride them jet skis as fast as they’ll go, and every two years, I get the fastest ones they make to replace the last ones. Every year, Miss Terry [Saban’s wife, Terry Saban] has a fit, but that’s just the way it goes.”

Despite the contrast between his public and personal personas, Saban said he would continue enjoying his personal life.

“I try to not be stupid, but I’m not going to not do things that I enjoy doing,” Saban said. “You could get hit with a golf ball, and I like playing golf, too. You could have a fatal accident there, but I’m not going to not play golf because of it.” The thought of Saban waterskiing was tough for his players to imagine.

“I really can’t [imagine coach Saban on a jet ski],” Lester said. “The only action I see of Coach Saban is when he’s chewing someone out on the field.”