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Great NFL compliments for Saban and staff in this article...Coach

System, Saban give Alabama players an NFL edge
By Don Kausler Jr. -- The Birmingham News
February 26, 2010, 8:54AM

INDIANAPOLIS -- Spread of­fenses and 4-3 defenses are com­mon in college football. Pro-style offenses are so named because they are standard in the NFL, and the 3-4 defense is spreading through pro football.

Alabama runs a pro-style of­fense and a 3-4 defense. Does that give Crimson Tide players an advantage as pro prospects?

It certainly doesn't hurt, said Scot McCloughan, the San Fran­cisco 49ers' general manager.

"It makes it easier for us to fig­ure out what they can and can't do, on tape," he said after talking to reporters from a podium at the NFL Scouting Combine. "It doesn't mean there can't be a tight end flexed out in the spread who can't come in and be a blocking tight end.

"It's just a system. But it makes my life easier when you watch an Alabama or a USC, you can see them more at a position where they would be playing for us."

But the real advantage Ala­bama players have is Nick Saban, their coach who has extensive ex­perience in pro football as well as the college game.

"He gets them not just ready from a standpoint of understand­ing offense and defense, but mentally, he makes them tough, he makes them competitive, he makes them strong," McCloug­han said.

"That's what's so impor­tant for young guys coming into the league," McCloug­han said. "It's not that the physical doesn't fit in. It's the mental toughness. It's the hard work. It's the un­derstanding that each day is a new day and you've got to bust your (rear), which is what Nick instills in them. That's great.

"You feel better about taking a guy like that know­ing what you're getting for sure."

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ESPN to televise A-Day
By Chase Goodbread Sports Writer
Published: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 2:31 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 2:31 p.m.

TUSCALOOSA | ESPN will televise the University of Alabama's annual spring game, A-Day, on April 17, the school announced.

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