Nick Saban's first season didn't feature a championship of any kind, but it gave glimpses of what was to come in Tuscaloosa.
The Crimson Tide, in its first season under newly-hired head coach Nick Saban, finished the year 7-6. There were no trophies hosted outside of the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, no trips to New York for a Heisman finalist, no weeks spent at No. 1 in the AP Poll.
"He came in there and didn’t ask anybody about us, he had no previous knowledge of any of us, so everyone started with a clean slate," linebacker Eryk Anders told BamaCentral. "If you were a bad guy, you could be a good guy now. It was a new opportunity for everybody, and he assured us everybody would have the opportunity to compete every day in practice. Every day was a battle for your position.
"I went to the press box, and I had no idea what was fixing to happen," Orr said. "I remember sitting there saying ‘Hey there might be 70,000.’ A few minutes later, ‘There might be 75,000. There might be 85,000.’ Before you knew it, they’re hanging from the rafters. They were filling the walkways, they shut the gates, and supposedly there were 10 thousand outside lurking around. It was an incredible, incredible event.
"And this was just the spring game, so what are they gonna be like during the season?" Anders said. "It’s the Saban Effect, everywhere he goes, and everything he does, he’s a winner." "I got chill bumps just talking about this," wide receiver Mike McCoy said. "But that first A-Day, when I tell you the air just smiled different. The grass was just a little greener. There was like an itch. You knew Saban had a point to prove.”
The Crimson Tide then won consecutive games against Houston and Ole Miss, bringing a 5-2 record back home ready to play host to the Volunteers.
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