Nick Saban Says Mental Preparation is Paramount To Tide’s Success

The pressure is on the Alabama Crimson Tide as the defending national champions are just one day away from kicking off the 2021 campaign. The Crimson Tide dynasty shows no signs of slowing down as Alabama is once again ranked preseason No. 1 by the Associated Press, Coaches Poll, CBS Sports and more.

This is a great start to the season, but what is the team doing to mentally prepare for the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff against Miami?

“I think the big thing, which I've said before in the first games is, you have to be able to play the next play,” said Alabama head coach Nick Saban during his Wednesday press conference. “Sometimes unexpected things happen in first games, things you weren’t prepared for. I also think it's really important that everyone keeps the right mindset. I think from this point on, you know, mental focus, mental practice, mental preparation is really a big part of eliminating errors in a big game. We can’t practice much more on the field, but we can practice a lot mentally and I think that can have a huge impact on how we can play and how we get onto what we hope is a very good start against a very good Miami team,”

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Friday will be a travel day for the Tide, limiting the amount of on-field work that the team can do ahead of its matchup with the 'Canes. It is vital that the Tide takes advantage of the final few hours of preparation to ensure mental errors do not derail its goal of successfully defending the 2020 national championship.