Guest speakers give the Crimson Tide a lift in fall camp
By WVUA 23 Sports Reporter Jake Smith
With fall camp done and the season starting in less then a week, coach Nick Saban throughout the camp has been preparing the players to be game ready with speakers that are at the top of their professions. With such high profile speakers in a room full of aspiring athletes, the biggest takeaway that Saban said that he hopes the players should be understanding is a way to stay motivated without external factors.
“Mostly everybody is trying to get people to understand how they can elevate themselves, elevate their game, elevate whatever it is they want to accomplish and what they want to do, but not really be depending on somebody else to motivate you to do it,” Saban said.
Speakers ranged from NFL hall of famer Michael Strahan to baseball legend Pete Rose, and even motivational speakers such as Inky Johnson and former ESPN anchor Sage Steele all share one thing in common: all of them got to where they are today because of the fact that they wanted to be the best at what they do without any distractions.
“The key to the drill is to not be affected by any of that (outside) stuff,” Saban said. “The guy you’re playing against, ‘I’m playing against an All-American this week so I’m really going to be jacked up to play the best I can play and play a great game.’ And I’m gonna say to the guy, ‘Why didn’t you play that way last week? If you’re capable of being that good, why aren’t you that good all the time?’ So that’s kind of what I get out of what all the great people who’ve accomplished great things, they’ve all done it because of that. Not because of some external factor that gets them to want to do it.”
The full list of Alabama fall camp guest speakers that we know visited the team:
-Michael Strahan (Former NFL player turned TV personality)
-Pete Rose (Former MLB outfielder)
-C.L. Shepherd (Former NFL player turned writer)
-Inky Johnson (Former college football player turned motivational speaker)
-Doc Rivers (NBA coach)
-Ken Griffey Jr. (Former MLB outfielder)
-Sage Steele (Former ESPN SportsCenter anchor)
