Saban Calls For Four-Week Offseason Program

How long does it take to get ready for a football season? With COVID-19 shutting down spring practice and players and coaches barred from having contact with one another, football season maybe on the brink. People across the sports universe have offered their opinions on the matter. Some want more fall camp to make up for lost time in the spring, some want to just begin fall camp as normal, some suggest delay. Six-time national championship coach, Nick Saban, offered his opinion on the matter on ESPN Radio this past week.

"We always have four weeks of offseason program before we go into spring practice. If we could have four weeks, you know our players are always in, I think, maybe the best condition that they're ever in for spring practice because of that offseason program. I think if we had four weeks in the summer we could certainly get ready for fall camp. I think there's plenty of opportunity in fall camp to do the contact part of it. I know some people wanted to extend fall camp or have more practices or whatever. I just think that's the most concentrated time where you have more contact because you have more practices in a short amount of time. A lot of statistics bear out that there's more concussions and more injuries so I don't think we want to get into that world just because we're rushing to get into a season. But I do think we have plenty of opportunities to get ready to play," said Saban.

Alabama is scheduled to begin its season on September 5 against Southern California. The Crimson Tide has not announced a scheduled start date for fall camp but it usually begins around the first Thursday of August. Should camp begin on time, coach Saban's four-week offseason program request would need to start on July 9.

Will football start on time? Only time will tell but the great Alabama coach has laid out his desires to make up for spring practice and have his team prepared for the September 5 opener.