Alabama ahead of schedule

Top-ranked Alabama’s transition from a 13-13 also-ran the past two seasons to this year’s 12-0 run has been a change that arrived faster than nearly everyone anticipated.

Nearly everyone. Alabama players may not have predicted the program’s first perfect season since 1994, but they knew the potential was there.

Players and coaches acknowledge many reasons for the change. More than anything, most said changes off the field were probably more crucial than the ones on it.

Attitude. Work ethic. Mental preparation. These are intangibles that successful teams possess. They were missing in Nick Saban’s first season, especially when Alabama hit rock bottom by losing its final four regular season games to finish 6-6.

“It was just conflict amongst the team,” senior safety Rashad Johnson said. “It wasn’t like confrontations or things like that, but you could just tell that some
guys were going to do it their way and other guys were going to do it Coach’s way. ... That definitely caused some problems in the last games of our season.”

But things turned for the better in the aftermath of that slide.

“We saw where that got us,” Johnson said. “... I think that was the biggest turning point — when everybody saw what we’re doing, it isn’t working. We need to make a change. Everybody needs to buy in, and I think we did a great job of doing that in preparation for the Colorado game.”

Quarterback John Parker Wilson said experience, better attitudes and better character on the team hastened the turnaround.

“I think everybody on our team felt we were going to do pretty well,” Wilson said. “Of course, nobody else did.”

The quarterback said fall preseason camp marked another change. Rather than bash last year’s team, he noted the biggest difference he sees.

“There’s a lot of difference in a team that has each other’s back, that care about each other, that want to do good not for themselves, but for the team,” Wilson said. “The offense likes the defense to do good. They come off the field three-and-out and we’re excited. Defense is excited when we do good. Everybody’s got each other’s backs. It’s a big difference. You can feel it. You don’t have to see it.”

Wilson said more attention and intensity at practice has been key. His teammates say the same about their quarterback.

“It’s not waiting until Saturday; it’s doing everything throughout the week that’s going to make us a good team and make us a winning team,” Wilson said.

Saban said players working to achieve high goals makes Alabama a fun team to coach.

“It’s probably better to aim high and miss than to aim low and hit,” Saban said. “... But I think it’s more important to buy into the things that it takes to be able to do that and believe in those things and trust in those things.

“I think that’s what this team has done so well. They just didn’t believe that they could do it, they believed in the things that they needed to do it. That’s where their commitment, their perseverance, their hard work has paid off for them. And that’s what has made this one of the best teams to have the opportunity to coach.”

It wasn’t an overnight epiphany for this team. Saban said he noticed those attitude changes after the bowl victory over Colorado. But work habits and commitment to strength and conditioning and bonding takes time.

“It’s day to day. Having the kind of character, attitude, team chemistry, these are not one-time occurrences, these are not only dates,” Saban said. “This is relationship building that happens between players — respect, trust and being responsible for your own self-determination, trying to do things right.

“I think the biggest thing is everybody on the team cares. That’s important. ... I think it’s reflected in how the team plays and how they respond to challenges. This has been a really fun team to coach.”

Of course, on-field improvement has played a big role, too.

Junior offensive lineman Mike Johnson, who moved from right tackle to left guard, said he has confidence in his teammates.

“I knew we had the talent level. I knew we had guys with ability on this team,” Johnson said. “Our offensive line has a lot of talent. We have great running backs. We had some young guys at receiver who I knew could step up. And JP’s a great manager of our team. I know we had the ability. It was just a matter of putting it together.”

Rashad Johnson said the team’s emphasis on executing the game plan has paid off this season.

“When we’re out there playing, we’ve got in our mind it’s all about what we do, no matter what the other team tries to do,” Rashad Johnson said. “As long as we go out and play our game, we actually believe that we can win any game.”

That clearly wasn’t the case down the stretch last season.