Alabama completed its fifth practice ahead of the holiday break and head coach Nick Saban met with reporters after to update a myriad of topics, including Wednesday's early signing period.

The Crimson Tide will hold two more practices before taking a break for Christmas and then the team will leave on December 27 for New Orleans.

"We've had really good work so far as a team," Saban said. "I've been really pleased with the energy and enthusiasm the players have had in terms of how they've gone about the work we did prior to practice as well as since we've started practice."

The work is also taking place off the field, where the Alabama coaches are having to juggle bowl practice with the early signing period that started today.

"From a recruiting standpoint, this is all kind of new for us. But the early signing period, I guess, is some kind of an indication what kind of recruiting that you're doing. We're very pleased and happy with the 15 players that we were able to sign to Alabama today. I think there's a lot to do to finish this class and we can only take 23 guys this year so we basically have eight spots left."

Here are the other topics Saban touched on:

  • Alabama began working towards Clemson Monday like a re
  • Dylan Moses suffered a foot injury that required a pin in his foot and he's out indefinitely.
  • Alabama will continue recruiting quarterbacks until February to try to find someone that fits.
  • Whether Damien Harris' role might increase in the postseason and how they'll handle the running back rotation.
  • Recruiting the defensive back position for this class.
  • Clemson's ability to play at a high level year-in and year-out after losing so many players.
  • How the coaching staff will handle the rest of the recruiting cycle.
  • Deionte Thompson's increased role on defense heading into the postseason.

You can watch Saban's entire press conference at the top of the page.

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