Alabama head football coach Nick Saban led a physical practice yesterday as the Crimson Tide prepares for a match-up against North Texas, the last non-conference game before Alabama opens up the conference schedule against Arkansas.

Although North Texas may not have as much talent as other teams Alabama will face this season, the coaching staff hasn’t let up in practice.

“As coaches, we never are satisfied with what we get out of our players,” Saban said. “It’s been a little hot, and it’s been hard to push them through the past few days, but we’re trying to get it right.”

Saban praises Depriest and Sunseri for their effect on special teams.

True freshmen Trey Depriest and Vinnie Sunseri have made an impact for the Tide this season, but not in the role they grew accustomed to last season in high school. Both have been seeing significant time in the special teams units.

This immediate impact could be attributed to the fact that both players graduated from high school early and enrolled in January, which gave each of them an entire semester in the football program before the rest of their recruiting class came to campus in the summer.

“I think it’s beneficial to guys to be here and go to school for a semester and get acclimated to it a little bit,” Saban said. “Going through the off-season programs gives them a lot more opportunity to learn. There’s less adjustments to make in the fall and summer.”

Saban realizes the strain that it puts on some players.

“I’m not one to advocate for that or to try to talk kids into coming to school in January,” Saban said. “I think it’s up to every individual. If you want to finish your senior year, if you want to play basketball, if you want to play baseball, if you want to go to your senior prom, you should do those things. I enjoyed doing all of those things.”

Alabama keeping status quo while preparing for Dunbar

In the upcoming North Texas game, the Tide defense will have to find a way to stop Mean Green running back Lance Dunbar.

Dunbar has been a big producer for North Texas for the past two seasons, running for more than 1,000 yards in each of them, 1,378 in 2009 and 1,553 in 2010. Dunbar ran for 17 touchdowns in 2009 and 13 touchdowns in 2010.

Even with Dunbar’s potential, the Tide isn’t doing anything special on defense this week to stop him.

“We do the same thing we do every week,” Saban said. “Everyone we play can run the ball. He’s really good at it, and they have a different kind of offense, and it’s going to be a challenge for us to stop what he does. We have to prepare for this team the same way we prepare for every team.”

There have been some practice adjustments, though.

“Obviously, we run more in practice, especially out of certain formations,” Saban said. “It’s a unique attack that they have, and it’s going to be difficult to defend.”