ATLANTA – Alabama head coach Nick Saban has not been shy when it comes to his feelings on name, image, and likeness.

His verbal sparring match with Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher drew national headlines. Saban wondered out loud if some schools, specifically Texas A&M, were using potential NIL monies to “buy” players.

Although the war of words with Fisher was apparently settled in Destin at the SEC Spring Meetings, there were still plenty more questions for Saban when it comes to his thoughts on NIL.

“I don't dislike name, image, and likeness. I'm all for the players. I want our players to do well. Our players made over $3 million in name, image, and likeness. I'm all for the players being able to do as well as they can and use their name, image, and likeness to create value—their value is going to be enhanced because of the value that our brand can help them create.”

However, some of Saban’s initial concerns remain intact.

“The thing that I have sort of expressed, not concerns about, but there's got to be some uniformity and protocol of how name, image, and likeness is implemented. I think there's probably a couple factors that are important in that,” Saban said. “How does this impact competitive balance in college athletics? And is there transparency to maintain fairness across the board in terms of college athletics? How do we protect the players? Because there's more and more people that are trying to get between the player and the money.”

Saban acknowledged reporters and fans should feel no need to feel sorry for the Crimson Tide.

Indeed. Again, Saban revealed that his players received over $3 million in NIL monies last year

“The biggest concern is how does this impact and affect recruiting? On the recruiting trail right now, there's a lot of people using this as inducements to go to their school by making promises as to whether they may or may not be able to keep in terms of what players are doing,” Saban said. “I think that is what can create a competitive balance issue between the haves and have nots. We're one of the haves. Don't think that what I'm saying is a concern that we have at Alabama because we're one of the haves.”

However, he said others will not be so fortunate unless some changes are made.

“Everybody in college football cannot do these things relative to how they raise money in a collective or whatever, how they distribute money to players,” he said. “There is no competitive sport anywhere that doesn't have guidelines on how they maintain some kind of competitive balance. I think that's important to college football.”

…Saban’s most amusing question was regarding any advice he would give four student journalists from Texas and Alabama who would be covering the game between the Crimson Tide and Longhorns.

His answer was fairly amusing.

“First of all, I would say that there's nothing in my job description that would indicate that I'm qualified to answer that (laughter),” Saban said. “But, look, I think fair and honest always works. I think it's a great opportunity for these young people to be able to cover a game of significance. Texas has a great program. Sark's done a really good job there, and it's going to be a very challenging game for us.”

…With both Fisher and Kirby Smart becoming the first former Bama assistants to beat their former boss last year, Saban was asked if that surprised him.

“This is not something that is surprising to me. A lot of people are at really, really good schools. They've done a really, really good job. They've used their own personal imprint to maybe take a few things that they learned that we do that helped us be successful along with their imprint of what they want to do so they can have successful programs,” Saban said. “It was sort of expected actually. I'm happy to see each and every one of those guys do extremely well. Not extremely well against Alabama, but extremely well (smiling). I'm kind of proud of the fact that there are some of our coaches who have got some of the most successful programs in the country.”

Vanderbilt

…As far as the head-turning quote of the day, Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea pulled a winner out of his hat. “We know in time, Vanderbilt football will be the best program in the country.”

Mississippi State

…Quirky is a good way to describe Mississippi State coach Mike Leach, and he didn’t disappoint.

Following a rather lengthy introduction by commissioner Greg Sankey, Leach said. “I appreciate it."

When asked why he did not give an opening statement, Leach had this to say:

“Opening statements? Well, I hate opening statements. I really don't see the point of it. So as opposed to me sitting there and think of some flowery opening statement, which I've done before, and then at the end of the opening statement a number of people ask questions that have already been addressed in my opening statement,” he said. “I decided we'd just sort of cut out the middleman. You go ahead and ask the questions, and I'll go ahead and answer 'em.”

Also:

…Regarding his Netflix recommendations: “Yeah, I wish I'd watched more Netflix lately. And I haven't. Somebody said I need to watch "The Terminal List," which I haven't watched yet. I guess the hidden gem, which I think I said it last year, "Operation Odessa," that documentary, you need to watch that about these international criminals that try to buy a submarine for Pablo Escobar. That's worth watching. I wish I could tell you I watched more Netflix. I haven't watched a lot lately. During the season, it's good to watch to kind of get your head straight. I'm up to date on "Better Call Saul," I'm up to date on "Yellowstone."

…On operating the Air Raid offense against teams that have now seen it for two or three years: “But football has always been a game of execution,” Leach said. “There's not a lot of Roadrunner/Wiley Coyote, who you ambush, fool the other guy, then you walk away laughing like Muttley after the rock fell on the guy or something like that.”

South Carolina

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer said he doesn’t believe Oklahoma transfer quarterback Spencer Rattler will be feeling any pressure with the Gamecocks this fall.

Considering what he’s already endured, it should be a piece of cake.

“I don't know if there's pressure. I would say this. People forget, Spencer Rattler was the starting quarterback at Oklahoma. He had some pretty high amount of pressure replacing guys by the name of Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, and Jalen Hurts,” Beamer said. “The narrative I know was he got benched last year in the Texas game. He got sat down the year before, too. Then he came back in the second half, played his butt off, beat Texas in four overtimes, and he never lost a game as a starting quarterback again, and still hasn't as a starting quarterback.”

In other words, Beamer has no concerns.

“I don't worry about Spencer. There may be some outside pressure with him. He's been through the fire before. I saw firsthand how he handled it when he was at Oklahoma and started out 0-2,” Beamer said. “He never flinched and continued to get better. There will be some ups, certainly some downs this season. But I have no worry about him from that standpoint and being able to handle it.”

…As a former tight ends coach with Georgia and Oklahoma, Beamer was asked to assess the Bulldogs’ current group of tight ends, led by Brock Bowers, Arik Gilbert, and Darnell Washington.

“Talented, deep. I was there with Jeb Blazevich, Jackson Harris, Charlie Warner, Isaac Nauta. That was a deep and talented group that all contributed to that 2017 SEC championship team. You have different skill sets with those guys right now as well,” Beamer said. “I remember watching Brock Bowers' tape when I was at Oklahoma the first time, I think from a seven-on-seven camp or something like that that he went to. Some of the catches he made in that. He's freakishly talented. They complement each other well, got a deep skill set. They'll be a challenge.”