Nick Saban Went On One Of His Classic Rants About His Football Team Not Being A Democracy

There's something special about watching Nick Saban, with a Coke bottle in front of him, ripping on a local reporter for what he deems a dumb question. It's just one of those unique, beautiful things about college football. 

This one came to us yesterday, fittingly a week before the regular season begins. It was a perfect reminder that football is not only coming, but pretty much here. 

Just for context: Nick Saban was being asked about TE Jahleel Billingsley. The Chicago native was thought to be the starting TE after the 2020 season, but he has found himself in Saban's doghouse. This has a lot to do with Billingsley missing a decent amount of fall camp due to COVID protocols, and I assume just poor performance. 

SOURCE-“That’s up to him. That’s not up to me,” Saban said Saturday. “He knows what he’s supposed to do in practice. He’s known what he’s supposed to do. This is not a democracy. Everybody doesn’t get to do what they want to do. Everybody doesn’t get to do what they feel like doing. You got to buy in and do what you’re supposed to do to be a part of the team and do the things you need to do in practice every day. Sense of urgency, play fast, execute, do your job.”

When asked about Billingsley earlier this month, Saban said the athletic tight end needed to “buy into the principles and values of the team” and “be a good teammate.”

From what I've heard about Alabama, there are two groups of players. The ones that are there to become great at Alabama and move onto the NFL and then there are the ones that came to T-Town to enjoy the life of being an Alabama football player. The guys who play on Saturday are the ones that want to become great. They aren't the ones that go out every chance they get. Thanks to keeping an eye on their players at all times, Saban knows which players are in which group. It is possible that Billingsley may be enjoying the life of being an Alabama football player too much from Saban's comments:

“It’s a privilege to everybody to go out there and create value for yourself,” he said. “We have scouts at practice every day. Everybody thinks it’s just about playing in the game. It’s not just about playing in the game. They watch practice film. They watch guys every day.

“You guys on ESPN, you evaluate what happens in a game. Aight? But [the scouts] evaluate what happens everyday, what you do every day. So what are you doing everyday to create any value for yourself? And you got to create value for yourself so that your teammates and everybody gains confidence in you. Aight? So you have their confidence when you go out there and play.

“That’s up to every player on the team. I don’t make that decision for everybody on the team. I try to get them to do it. I try to point out the importance of them doing it. But it’s up to them to do it. Maybe that’s not my question to answer.”

My read is that Saban is using the media to motivate Billingsley. He knows he has the talent to become a great player, but if he doesn't buy in to being an Alabama football player? He can enjoy "the life" as a backup TE who goes out with the backups and walk-ons 3-4x a week and Saban can spend his time on another 4 or 5-star TE he has. Doesn't make a difference to him. Aight?