Jumbo Package: Saban “really, really proud” of Alabama alumni starting in NFL

Happy Friday, everyone. Saban had a brief “Hey Coach!” show last night.

— During a brief appearance during his radio show Thursday evening, Saban said playing six SEC games to begin the season was a “pretty steady psychological, mental commitment” and even though players “practiced hard” three times this week, they did not have the psychological pressure of having a game Saturday.

— Saban said the team used some practice time this week to prepare for what might be different schematically this season from Alabama’s remaining four known opponents — LSU, Kentucky, Auburn and Arkansas.

“I don’t think there’s any question about that,” said Saban during an appearance on Hey Coach on Thursday evening. “I’m glad you informed me of that. I never knew that. I know we have a lot of guys playing in the league, and they certainly did a great job and are great ambassadors of the University of Alabama. Every week, I get a report on how they’re all doing.

“Really, really proud of those guys. I think that because they’ve played well and represented their teams well that it really creates more opportunities for guys on our team now, which I think is a culture that you really love having in your program.”

If you believe that Saban didn’t really know that, I got some land for sale. There is no better recruiting metric than that one.

Ed Orgeron weighed in on the Alabama matchup next week.

During his Wednesday SEC teleconference, LSU coach Ed Orgeron was asked to give his early thoughts on the game and some of the strengths that lie on this particular Alabama squad.

“I was watching that offensive line and it’s one of the best offensive lines we’ve seen in a long time,” Orgeron said. “Najee Harris is a great back. Skilled wide receivers. A great system. I’ve know Steve Sarkisian all my life. Great play caller. I think they’re on track to have the same type of offense that we had last year from what I’m hearing with the same type of stats, so a tremendous offense.”

Yeah, that’s how the reporters chose to interpret his comments. This is what he really said.

ESPN is already firing up the narrative should Notre Dame upset Clemson.

The biggest question for this game? How Notre Dame can pull off an upset. The blueprint will likely be pretty traditional — Irish QB Ian Book will have to limit turnovers while the defense will need to make Uiagalelei look like a freshman and contain Etienne. Though the latter statement is more a testament to Etienne’s skill than a knock on Notre Dame’s eighth-ranked SP+ defense.

Historically, Notre Dame hasn’t fared well in these games under head coach Brian Kelly. The Irish are 3-8 against AP top-10 teams.

The stakes are also higher for Notre Dame than Clemson. It’s unlikely that College Football Playoff voters would punish the Tigers for a loss against a top-five team without Lawrence.

It’s the biggest ACC regular season game in years, and likely means nothing.

Jalen Milroe led his high school team to a massive win last night.

Milroe, a University of Alabama commitment, completed 15 of 21 passes for 211 yards and three touchdowns. McMillan caught eight passes for 146 yards and three scores.

The magnitude of what the Falcons accomplished won’t be realized until later. Many claim they want to end Katy’s reign, Milroe said, but his team was serious about doing so. Tompkins lost to Katy 35-30 last season. On Thursday, Milroe said he saw something few opponents ever see on Katy’s sideline in the fourth quarter.

“We feed off of energy, and one of our core values that we have on our wrist is high energy,” Milroe said. “We’re always going to play with high energy. No matter what it is. When we saw their heads drop, that was key for us to keep pushing.”

Sounds like Jalen is already versed in making asses quit.

Last, with politics dominating the news this week, there has been quite the kerfuffle over Twitter censorship of certain elected officials. Well, they are already attaching warnings to Tommy Tuberville’s tweets.

Just spectacular trolling there.

And no, since everyone is on edge right now, that isn’t real. Someone made it as a funny and it is.

That’s about it for today. Have a great weekend.

Roll Tide.